UB has taken the opportunity in Bihar, offered by India’s National Litchi Research Centre (Muzaffarpur, Bihar) to produce wine from lichi fruit, a local bounty. A scientist in Himachal Pradesh has developed the process for making wine from Seabuckthorn berry, a local produce. The Maharashtra Govt. has offered support for research on making wine from Karwanda, a local crop. A coconut farmer in Kerala has a patent to his name for making wine from coconuts. India may be a newcomer in the global wine industry, but it sure is quick to contribute to it!
Now, a team of scientists led by Neelima Garg at Central Institute of Subtropical Research (Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh) where has created three different wines from three famous mango varieties grown here — ‘Dussehri’ , ‘Langra’ and ‘Chausa’.
Institute director H. Ravishankar feels, ‘with a range of seven to nine percent alcohol content, this unique wine would surely be a big draw with all fond of good liquor’.
He was, however, apprehensive about taking the production to a commercial level.
‘Since the cost of large scale production would initially be high, any commercial production would require major excise concessions to make it compete with the existing wines in the market.’
If the winemaking technology is put to commercial use it will give a fillip to mango orchard owners and farmers, in the Malihabad mango growing belt, on the outskirts of Lucknow, as a lot of the crop ripens quickly and spoils before it can be transported to far off cities.