Sula Vineyards crushes over 50% more Grapes in Harvest, 2019 compared to 2018
Sula Vineyards, India’s leading wine producer, announces the numbers for this financial year’s harvest season. Sula’s vineyards see a jump of more than 50% in the number of grapes crushed to be used for production for the coming year with a total of over 9000 tonnes crushed during the harvest stage. The harvest, slightly delayed, started by mid-December and went on till the first week of April. The result was the production of 50% more than what was seen in the Harvest season of the year 2018.
Nashik district is the largest producer of grapes in India with nearly 1.75 lakh acres under vineyards. Being particular about the quality and mechanical process of picking the grapes is what has been instrumental in Sula Vineyards controlling almost 65-70% of the Indian wine market. The grapes are handpicked, and machine harvests everything from grapes to the stems. This ensures quality control starts from the field itself. They have almost 510 farmers working with them from Maharashtra and Karnataka which will only increase given Sula Vineyards’ expansion plans. In FY 19-20 they have planted 300 new acres of farms which will soon expand to 600 acres of farm area thereby adding to the employment numbers of Nashik, Maharashtra and the country in general.
The harvest marked the commencement of ‘Veraison’ which is one of the most important moments in a grapevine’s annual lifecycle. It is the onset of ripening when the grapes turn from green to red and naturally begin to sweeten. This French term also occurs in white grapes, but without the colour changes–white grapes simply become more translucent.
Karan Vasani, Chief Winemaker, Senior Vice President – Vineyard and Winery Operations says, “The distribution amongst the varietals was around 55% of redvariety grapes and 45% of white grapes crushed at this year. Most of the grapes are crushed and produced in Nashik and the Southern part of Maharashtra although some harvesting and crushing is also done in Karnataka for the wines to be made and sold in Karnataka by Sula Vineyards.”
Kādu, India’s first ‘Wine for a Cause’, (pronounced Kaa-du) is the first premium wine offering from the Sula’s Karnataka vineyards. Sula has decided to take up the cause of the magnificent tiger with Kādu. With each bottle sold, Kādu will contribute towards tiger conservation in Karnataka.
Sula Vineyards’ ‘Purpose’ has been ‘Sustainability’ for a few years now. The usual production and crushing processes see a lot of waste generation. Sula Vineyards’ has always worked towards eradicating any sign of it which means taking an extra step to recycle and do it right. Sula Vineyards follows the seed-to-skin process thereby using every component of the grape. After the grape goes through the juice extraction process the seed is used to make grapeseed oil and the skin and mulch of the grape is used for composting.
Sula Vineyards is also doing its bit to limit the effects of climate change and global warming by planting more and more trees and covering more land across Maharashtra and Karnataka this year to give a boost to Agri- Sector.