SHILLONG: The State Central Library premises was host to the Wine Festival organized by the city-based Forever Young Club (FYC) here on Saturday.
A yearly affair now, the festival provides a platform to local wine makers to display their products otherwise barred from being sold commercially. Wine prepared from a variety of fruits including pear, pineapple, blackberry, peach and a host of other farm products were on display at the festival.
The FYC has been organizing the event for 12 years now and the festival aims to create awareness not only about the art of wine making but also its commercial potential as an industry which will encourage the farming community to grow more fruits and help realize the horticultural potential of the State.
Spearheading the movement to legalise wine making in the State, FYC president Michael N Syiem lamented that despite submitting numerous representations on the issue, the organizers have failed to draw a positive response from the government.
Temporary bar licenses were acquired by the organizers to enable the local wine makers to display their products during the one-day festival.
Syiem lamented that while a ‘dry State’ like Mizoram has amended the Excise Act, 2007 to allow wine making, Meghalaya remains adamant on the issue.
The FYC president argued that legalizing wine making can provide fillip to fruit growers and entrepreneurs in the State besides attracting tourists.
He further said that the Food Products Order (FPO), which is a certification mark mandatory on all processed fruit products sold in India including packaged fruit beverages, is all that is required to make wine produced in Meghalaya legal.
Under the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, the FPO mark, issued by the Union ministry of food processing industries guarantees that the product was manufactured in a hygienic ‘food-safe’ environment, thus ensuring that the product is fit for consumption.
Echoing Syiem’s comments, many wine-makers demanded that the state government should promote the trade and declare wine-making a cottage industry.
They also said the government should waive the mandatory excise duty on locally made wines to promote the growing business.