Baramati in High Spirits

Touted as the biggest wine project in the country, the company is looking at a chateau winery with a 330-acre vineyard with a capacity of five million bottles at the end of five years innbsp;the area, 65 km from Pune.

With the company having 500 acres under contract farming in the region, with plans to scale it up to 2,000 acres in the next two years, the share allotment is all set to start with 500 farmers and the plan is to gradually go up to 1,000 acres as the farming expands, a senior official of Four Seasons Wines said.

The entire project, which is to run for five years, will cost Rs 100 crore. For this, the Bangalore-based company will also be imparting training in viticulture as they grow the table grape variety.nbsp;

The whole idea is to inject a sense of equality among the farmers. 8220;They are locals, andnbsp;the sense of belonging comes when they are made partners,8221; explains the official.

The company is of the belief that farmers are important stakeholders in the project. 8220;They are the ones who know about the crops as they have been doing grape farming for years now.nbsp;The company will invest Rs 80 crore this fiscal year to help attain this target and in the first year, they are projecting a turnover of Rs 30 crore,8221; henbsp;adds.

The company recently launched its first Indian-made wine, Zinzi, under the Four Seasons Wines Limited, which again is a joint venture of USL and the local farmers and is in the process of setting up a state-of-the-art winery at Baramati, which will soon take up its first-ever 8220;harvest8221; of the 2008 vintage.

Built over a plot of around 300 acres, including the land cultivated by local farmers, it is all set to be the country8217;s best winery with eco-friendly and tourism-friendly features.

The official explained that the winery, modelled on the French chateau style, will house 16 suites, a large deck that can accommodate 1,000 people, a swimming pool and a special wine tasting room. All the critical plant and equipment, including crushing and bottling lines, have been imported from Italy. The winery is likely to be ready by October.

The official says the tie-up with farmers will act as a catalyst in the socio-economic development of the local community by generating approximately 1,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. The company has also acquired another 50 acres, 50 km away from the current location. The plan is to continue with the plantation and the target is to sell one million cases.

With the Maharashtra government making concessions like zero excise duty, reducing licence fee to just Rs 5,000 per annum and simplifying licensing of procedures, the wine market is growing at jet speed. The size of wine market is about 8 million bottles per annum, said an excise officer.