Hema Malini uncorks champagne campaign

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">MUMBAI: Maharashtra''s grapevine is abuzz and with good reason. The beauteous Hema Malini has been invited to inaugurate the Nasik Valley Wine Festival which opens today.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">However, the grapes aren''t going to be pounded to a Bharat Natyam rhythm beneath her dancers'' feet—the actress, along with Miss India Sayali Bhagat, will take the more hygienic route of popping two bottles of worldclass Indian champagne.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">The Nasik Valley Wine Festival, in its second edition, is the only one of its kind in the country.A result, no doubt, of the fact that Maharashtra is the only state to have an official wine policy to motivate farmers to cultivate quality grapes and make wine.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Within three years of Maharashtra introducing its wine policy, 210 wineries have started production, mostly at Sangli and Nasik, the two designated districts where the crop quality is traditionally outstanding.</span><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">"The response from farmers to our campaign has been amazing. They want value addition to their crops," says senior IAS officer Bhushan Gagrani, joint commissioner of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), which has been entrusted with the task of wine promotion in the state.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">MIDC''s wine park technical coordinator, Jaideep Kale, says that 70 per cent of Indian grapes are produced in Maharashtra alone but most are consumed as table grapes.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Only 10 per cent of indigenous production is exported to countries like Italy, France and Australia, he adds.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">MIDC is not content with what it has achieved so far and wants more and more farmers to take up grape cultivation and wine production. "That is the intent of the festival," says Gagrani. "The first such event was held in Pune last year. Its success was breathtaking. This year''s festival will hopefully attract more farmers and capital."</span><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">The wine market in India is still to ripen but MIDC Is doing its best to give it a push. It has launched two wine parks—Krishan at Sangli and Godavari at Nasik— and has selected Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Ahmednagar, Pune, Nasik and Solapur districts for expansion keeping in mind the requirements of sunlight, acid and salt content that are needed for the production of vintage, worldclass wine.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">This evening, after Hema Malini has done the honours, there will be a wine-tasting demonstration. A local doctor will deliver a sermon on the importance of grape wine for health. No doubt before raising a glass (or two) to the health of the wine industry in Maharashtra.</span></div> </div>