Sula Expects Bumper Harvest This Year With 12000 Tonnes Of Grapes In Their Nashik Vineyard

An update by Sula Vineyards reveals that the Nashik vineyards have entered the pre harvest stage called veraison. This ripening stage helps the grapes to turn red from green and turn naturally sweet. The onset of this stage has led to expectancy of 12000 tonnes of grapes being crushed to make wine this year by Sula. Speaking about the Nashik region the growth is expected to be 10 lakh metric tonne making it a bumper harvest this year.

Lush Grapes In Nashik

Sula is even planning to crush 15 to 20 percent of extra crop owing to the abundance in harvest.  “To meet these targets, we have increased our cultivation by 400 acres from 2017 to 2018. A lot of existing farmers with Sula have expanded their cultivation and many more farmers have joined in,” explains Karan Vasani, Senior Vice-President for wine-making and production operations at Sula Vineyards.

“Since Sula controls almost 65 to 70% of the Indian wine market, what it does impacts the entire wine scenario of the country,” Sanjeev Paithankar, Senior Vice-president of Public Affairs at Sula Vineyards. “We have a very clear domestic focus and about 500 grape growers are working with us today. This year we are hoping to crush 12,000 to 13,000 tonnes of grapes and cross our record-breaking sales figures of 2018 as well. We are planning to sell almost 1.2 million cases in 2019.”

Jadhav also added that, “Unlike table grapes, the quality of wine grapes is defined by smaller grape bunches. The yield is also expected to be bumper. Sula not only gives farmers an assured income but it also handholds us throughout the process. I was growing vegetables before 2003 which was an unprofitable business, but since I joined the Sula contract farming circle, I have been able to live a better life.”