Soon, wine park to come up in Karnataka

BANGALORE: Reiterating that an integrated wine park in the state would boost the wine industry, Agriculture minister of Karnataka Umesh Katti said that the project would soon take shape in Bijapur.Speaking after the inauguration of the International Wine Festival in the city, he shared that nearly 150 acres of land had been earmarked for the project, where Research activities in wine making would be encouraged. He added that the project would be set up with Public Private Partnership model. The Karnataka Wine Board had claimed a Year on Year (YoY) growth of 25 per cent and also increase its current wine grape cultivation from 2000 acres to 5000 acres by 2015. Adding to this, Excise Minister MP Renukacharya said that wine was an ‘acceptable healthy drink’ and all efforts must be pursued to promote the same. He shared that they (government) had also given considerable subsidies to the tune of `45-50 lakh for the growth of the sector. The event also saw as many as ten Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) being signed between the board and wine makers.Karnatakas’s wine consumption had grown from 13 lakh litres (2007) consumption to 20 lakh litres (2011), taking the total wine consumption in the country to 130 lakh litres per annum.  The board had earlier stated and pointed out that the state had earned  revenues to the tune of100 crore in 2011  alone.