'Indian wine needs to meet international standards'

Australian wine technologist Diana Davidson has expressed concerns over Indian wine not meeting international standards and predicted that wine-makers from China, Argentina, Chile and South Africa could easily wipe out Indian wine from the international market.

Davidson, a professional viticulturist said that Indian farmers needed to understand the perfect combination of soil and fertilisers to produce high-quality grapes to ensure excellent wine production.

Speaking to Business Standard at a workshop organised for farmers by the Indian Wine Producers’ Association in Pune, she said, “Some Indian wines are good but most are below international standards. This is because farmers do not have adequate knowledge about the variety of plants, the soil required, irrigation techniques and pesticides to be used in vineyards. Most grape growers use traditional methods of cultivation and non-existing wine-culture too affects the quality of wine production.”

 

The Indian wine industry is worth Rs 1,000 crore and is expected to grow to Rs 4,500 crore by 2011. Since January this year, Indian wineries have produced 22.5 million litres of wine, which is exported to countries such as France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Singapore and Belgium.

“The Indian wine industry has a huge potential to establish itself on the international map. However, it needs to catch up with the global wine quality and standards. If this does not happen, wineries from countries such as China, Argentina and Chile will easily wipe out Indian wine,” she said.

She also pointed out that countries such as South Africa and Australia have made major in-roads into the wine sector and were capable of overtaking Indian wine production.