NASHIK, NOV 27: Nashik’s farmers have discovered how an idea matures with time. Only, in their case, the 4.5 lakh bottles of rejected champagne they manufactured ten years ago has now been labelled as wine of the "best" quality by experts in California. And suddenly, the unit set up to make Pimpagne (Pimpalgaon's Champagne), which was closed for five years, looks like it could spring back into business boosted by the sales from its forgotten cellar.Fresh attempts are now being made to revive the desi champagne project and at a recent meeting of grape farmers, called by founder-director of the Pimpagne project Madhavrao Khanderao More, some concrete proposals were thrown up.The Pimpagne plan was conceived in 1989 at a distillery located at Jawulke-Wani village, which began as an export-oriented unit. Over 4,000 farmers were shareholders in the project to manufacture desi champagne and to export under the brandname, "Pimpagne". The promoters even received concessions from the government for the project, including a waiver of the import duty worth Rs 3.5 crore on machinery.However, the final product did not come up to scratch for the international markets. And when the proposal to sell the product in the domestic market was shot down by government, there was no alternative but to close down the unit.An attempt was later made to sell the plant to an Indian manufacturer of foreign liquor, but it did not work out. The unit remained one available for sale for about five years. Meanwhile, about 4.5 lakh bottles manufactured in the distillery lay unsold on the premises for ten years.Founder-director More then took the initiative to revive the project and sent the wine to a California laboratory where it was found to be of the "best" quality.More points out that the period of ten years had added to the value of the brew. A fresh move is being made to explore the possibility of exporting the wine and making the Pimpagne project financially viable from the sales of the wine.The project, which was started as a cooperative venture and was generously funded by the state cooperative bank, has an accumulated liability of about Rs 22 crore. Attempts are being made to seek concessions in repayment and arrange an additional Rs 15 crore to restart the project. The stake of the state cooperative bank in the Rs 32 crore project is about Rs 19 crore.More says he has consulted NCP leader Sharad Pawar and Minister for Horticulture Ajit Pawar and both have shown an inclination in reviving the distillery. More says the project will be a boon to local grape cultivators as it will provide a lucrative price of about Rs 30 per kilo of grapes. He estimates the distillery will get back on he ground during the forthcoming grape harvesting season, providing everything goes as planned.
