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Blue Star Wines on an expansion spree
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Saturday, 11 November, 2006, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Dhwani Pandya, Mumbai
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Blue Star Agro & Wineries Pvt Ltd, located in the picturesque Chakan near Pune, launched two new wine brands in the market last week -- Bluefolds Cabernet Sauvignon and Bluefolds Zinfandel Blush. Bluefolds Cabernet Sauvignon is a two-year-old red wine, which is matured in oak. Further it is deep intense ruddy red coloured, has nice bouquet, spicy aromas and is heavy bodied. Bluefolds Zinfandel Blush is made from Zinfandel grapes. It has great rose or pink colour and is a little sweet in taste with a vanilla aroma.
Promoted by a passionate group of technocrats and supported by wine specialists having over two decades of experience, Blue Star offers a bouquet of fine, world-class premium wines and red wine. The company's winery at Chakan is surrounded by two acres of idyllic vineyards. It houses one of the most contemporary wine producing plants. Imported from Italy, the 300,000-litre winery comprises stainless steel tanks with chilling jackets, perfectly suited for sub-tropical wine-making. After launching its wine products in 2005, the company has seen tremendous growth and did a business of Rs 35 million in the last financial year. This year, the company aims to achieve a business of Rs 100 million. In the current year Blue Star has already produced 3 lakh litres of wine. It has a strong distribution network in Maharashtra, Goa, Pondicherry, Rajasthan and Daman.
The company has charted out an ambitious expansion plan in the country's fast-growing wine industry. It has recently entered the markets of Karnataka & West Bengal with its present Bluefolds brand of wines like Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Evita Gold & Evita Ruby Red. It shall expand its present installed capacity to hold wines from 3,00,000-bulk litres to 6,00,000-bulk litres by January 2007.
While Indian wine industry is in its boom period, Kalyan Katare, chairman, Blue Star, said, "The categorisation of wine as agro-based product by the Government of Maharashtra and the ministry of food processing would go a long way in promoting the wine industry in India. With the acceptance of wine for its medicinal values and the changing lifestyle, wine industry has become very lucrative."
Though the wine consumption scenario in India is changing at a fast pace, the per capita consumption of wine in India is a meagre 10ml. Katare stressed, "If the same is raised to 100ml, the present volume would proportionately increase 10-fold. Developing wine culture, availability of quality wines at reduced price should help the industry grow faster."
"The grape growers should be encouraged to grow wine varieties of grapes at most competitive prices. Banks should come forward to meet the working capital needs of wine companies," he added.
The basic technology being used for making authentic and genuine wine the world over is "slow fermentation low temperature" in stainless steel tanks. "However, many advanced technologies are being used for filtration, grapes crushing, and bottling where human touch is avoided. Much advancement in ageing/maturation of wine in oak has taken place. The packaging stuff like bottles and corks have made rapid advancement in shape, size and material," informed Katare.
Blue Star is very keen on utilising the latest technology for wine making. Katare said, "The implementation of R& D and the resultant advancement certainly pave a way for producing quality wines with persistent consistency and reduced cost. Our company is keeping pace with the advancement in wine making and many of them are actually been used and implemented in our winery to raise the quality of wines."
Looking at the huge potential in the wine industry of the state, the Government of Maharashtra has taken several encouraging steps. The state government has created wine parks in Sangli & Nashik to facilitate the wineries to use the common amenities for sale in Maharashtra. Katare informed, "In order to encourage the local wine manufacturers the state government has levied a special excise duty of Rs 200 per bulk litre on the wines imported in Maharashtra."
He hopes the proposed establishment of a Wine Board to set standards and specification for the wine manufactured in India and a wine school to award a degree in wine making would go a long way in creating the wine culture in the country.
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