Local wine makers laud MDA govt’s decision to legalise wine making in Meghalaya

“So whatever the allegations against the government, we would like to say hats off to the chief minister Conrad K Sangma and his government for finally legalizing wine making in the state and now local wine entrepreneurs can sell wine openly and we can also export,” President of the Forever Young Michael Syiem told reporters.

In 2020, the state government had legalized winemaking by making the rules of manufacture and sale of homemade fruit wines rules 2020.

“It was after 17 years of struggle and campaigning with different governments, this government had finally legalized wine making,” he said.

11 wine makers took part in the festival displaying varieties of wines made from locally produced fruits.

He however said many wine makers could not take part in the festival as they are yet to get the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) license, which would allow them to sell or export their products.

When asked, Syiem said, “In order to promote and encourage local wine makers, the government should have a single window agency to help the people especially from far away villages as local entrepreneurs find it very hard to get FSSAI certificate as they have to bring the samples and send it to Calcutta and this takes a lot of time. After that they have to register with the excise office hence the government can simplify so that it will help a lot of people especially local entrepreneurs from the village to get a license to make wines and sell them.”

He added, “With tourism picking up in the state, wine making is also related to tourism development because a lot of people when they come here they only want to take on local wines and food. With more and more people taking up wine making, the revenue will also go up, and the employment problem will also be solved to some extent.”

Speaking to the owner of Khasi Wines, Biolinda Marbaniang said that her company which has 25 flavours has participated in Shillong wine festivals for the last three years now and all her wines are made mostly from local fruits.

Marbaniang said that such a festival helps her company as it helps in advertising her products to people both local and people who come from outside the state and country that throng such festivals.

She added that wine making in Meghalaya is growing day by day as now people are coming forward to take part in wine making from local fruits and this in a later stage will also go abroad for people from other countries to taste the wine of Meghalaya.

“The government has helped us very well and all of us are home wine making and the government since 2019 has taken initiative to help in promoting local wine like Nasik, Mumbai and other cities of India” said Marbaniang.

Deimon Dkhar from Tuber Shohshrieh said that her company Makhane wine was established way back in 2008 with initially strawberry wine but now Makhane wine has many varieties of wines Goose Berry, Amla, Apple etc.

Dkhar said that her family owns a strawberry yard and during heavy rainfall and cyclones most of her fruits get destroyed hence the idea came to her mind so that her fruits are gone to waste during heavy rainfall and cyclones.

Meanwhile Liang Sangma from Tura said that they have joined the wine making in the month of March 2022 and they look forward to producing more local wine in the future.

Sangma said that as of now his company Charlie wine has only four varieties of wine which includes Rice, Mulberry, Wild Berry and Jamun.

He added that his company produces about 50 mt in a month and as of now they are selling their products in Tura and Shillong and they are looking forward to having more production in the future.

“Government has done a good thing as local winemakers are getting assistance from NECTAR and the department of food processing so I feel the government is doing a good job” he added.

By Our Reporter