Shaw Wallace & Co’s (SWC) Karnataka winery
project proposed in August 2000, is still under evaluation.
It may be recalled that SWC had planned a to set up a
joint venture winery with a vineyard near Bangalore. SWC had planned to develop
vineyards from root-stocklings imported from France and California, USA, in the
Kaveri river valley and the Nandi hill valley.
The proposed winery was to have a capacity of 2,500
tonnes per annum, which could be later expanded to the around 5,000 tonnes per
annum. The project was to facilitate production of port wine from locally grown
grapes – Bangalore Blue – and bottle imported bulk wine varieties.
However, this proposal has not yet taken off and the
project proposal is reportedly, still being appraised.