Wine whine

Nagare had in previous years raked in up to Rs 70 lakh; this year he only wants to cut his losses. The pressure to pay the yearly premium of Rs 18 lakh to the bank as part repayment of his loan is sitting heavily on him.

The crushing season usually begins in January and continues till April. This season, only a handful of the 33 wineries in Nashik,known as countrys wine bowl,is expected to crush grapes with around 70 per cent of their last years wine still lying idle in tanks.

In the event,wine producers foresee Nashik vineyards shrinking by more than 1,000 acres from the present 6,000 acres by this April. Wine grape growers say reduction in acreage will be more the worst-hit will be growers who have no contract with any winery but have huge loans to repay.

As of now,we have records of over 400 farmers in Nashik district alone who owed as much as Rs 18 crore in premium last year as their term loan amount. In addition,their crop loan last year was over Rs 19 crore, Nagare said.

I fear that at least 2,000 acres of vineyards will disappear by April if the government doesnt lend a helping hand to wine grape producers and growers, Nagare said.

He is informally leading a group of wine grape growers in Nashik and has made several representations to the state government seeking a bailout package.

India has 71 registered wineries with 68 of them being in Maharashtra alone. Most have come up in the past eight years. In 2001 there was only one winery in Nashik district; there are 33 now.

Growth of wineries nudged new farmers to take to cultivating wine grapes in 2007 and 2008. The returns were assured then.

The bad days began last year chiefly because of the slowdown,26/11 terror attacks impacting tourist flow,the governments erratic and steep duty structure for the Indian wine industry,and Karnataka levying an additional fee on Maharashtra wines leading to a drastic drop in sale of Maharashtra wine in Karnataka.

At Flamingo Wines Company Private Limited,situated at the Nashik Wine Park in Vinchur tehsil,100 per cent of last years stock 2 lakh litres remains unsold. I am not in a position to crush wine grapes even from my own vineyard, said Jagdish Holkar,chairman and MD.

Chateau Indage,a big player in the industry,has over 1.4 crore litres of its 1.8 crore litre capacity left from last year. In addition,the firm has tie-ups with several smaller wineries like Flamingo to sell their wine this runs into 1.8 crore litre on its own. But chairman Shyam Chougule said not one grape grower who has a contract with his company would be left high and dry. I have already told my growers that their grapes will be crushed. We will make space for them, said Chougule.

Farmers,however,are not as optimistic about getting payments. When the season started in 2009,wineries already had around 40-50 per cent of previous seasons unsold wine. And with elections approaching,many wineries say they were asked by candidates to increase the crushing capacity. So far,farmers whose crop were crushed,havent been paid.

Around 200 acres of vineyards disappeared over the past year,wine producers say. Growers put the figure at 450 acres.

The common fear is that worse is in store . Farmers are yet to receive their last seasons payment and the season is set to be delayed. Growers are selling their harvest at lower rates,they have no hope of making profits, said Dr Vasant Pawar,who heads a wine grape growers association.

Wine producers also want the government to give them the go-ahead to convert grape wine into grape spirit at least for this year. Many said that if distilleries were allowed to make brandy,the unsold wine in the tanks would automatically be utilised.