About 50 wineries, including ten international names, are participating in the three-day International Wine Festival (IWF) starting from March 2 in Bangalore.
The festival, organised by the Karnataka Wine Board, aims at benefitting all stakeholders of the grape economy — grape growers, wineries and wine connoisseurs.
IWF 2012 is a Karnataka Government initiative to increase wine grape cultivation in the State. The aim is to add 3,000 acres under wine grape cultivation and take the total acreage under to 5,000 acres by 2015. The State also aims to double wine production from the current 2.50 million litres. “We are promoting grape cultivation and setting up wineries to cash in on the growing consumption of wine globally,” said Mr K. G. Suresh Chandran, Managing Director, Karnataka Wine Board.
During the festival, the State will also sign MoUs with new investors who have shown interest to set up new wineries in Karnataka. In the last four years Karnataka has added 12 new wineries.
The State's grapes economy is second only to Maharashtra both in terms of total grapes cultivation and wine production. With grapes being a highly perishable crop, the Government intends to move up the value chain by establishing processing industries for making raisins and also setting up wineries.
Apart from wine tasting and food pairing sessions, the festival will also have seminars on topics such as nutrition and irrigation management in grapes, management of disease in wine grapes and viticulture practices in wine grapes and development of vineyards.