AIZAWL:
Soon oenophiles in the state may have to part with their beloved glass of local wine as the drafting committee of Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Rules has proposed a prohibition on manufacturing of wine from homegrown grapes, leaving hundreds of grape growers in shock.
“We were shocked to learn about the drafting committee’s proposal. Prohibiting the processing of wine from our harvest would deprive us of our livelihood,” said Hnahlan Grapes Growers Society in a statement issued on January 30.
Sources feel that the church’s resolute stand on alcoholic drinks and it’s “noxious effect” on society may have had pushed the drafting committee to draw up the proposal. The powerful church in Mizoram fears that grapes with high alcohol content would serve as a substitute for hard drinks in the dry state, said a church leader on the condition of anonymity.
“When beer, which has lower alcohol content, can be a menace, imagine what grape wine with high alcohol content can do. The church’s stand is that all types of alcoholic drinks should be banned in Mizoram,” he said.
Earlier, there was a proposal to allow making of wine from grapes with 5 per cent alcohol content under the Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Rules, however, the drafting committee on January 24, after deliberate discussion, proposed not to allow grape wines, as “wine can be abused just like hard drinks”.
Since 2003-04, close to 800 families in Hnahlan and Champhai area in eastern Mizoram have been planting Bangalore Blue varieties of grapes under the National Technology Mission and according to the statement, there is currently a stock of two lakh litres of grape juice to be processed into wine. Notably, Bangalore Blue can’t be consumed as fruits, but is good for making red port and sacramental wine.
Informing that if the grapes are not manufactured into wine, the fruits would not do well in the market, the statement added, “As the drafting committee’s proposal is to be looked into by the State Council of Ministers, we still have hope that the it will take a decision in our favour,” they said.
In 2007, the Mizoram government had relaxed the Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1995, allowing the manufacturing of wine up to 14 per cent alcohol content.