Want to guzzle French wine, look to Bijapur

Bijapur, Karnataka, Jan 12 (UNI) A silent 'French revolution' is on in the backyard of the world famous Gol Gumbaz in Bijapur district of Karnataka, where a Kannadiga entrepreneur is realising his dream of growing exotic varieties of French grapes for making wine.

The success saga is that of Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinigi, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Member of Parliament from Chikkodi in Belgaum district.

The rapidly increasing demand for wine in the country has made Mr Jigajinigi venture into cultivating grapes for wine rather than the table variety. He has chosen six varieties of French grapes for the purpose.

Today, he has successfully grown several varieties of French berries and is making French wine of export quality. The winery will be formally launched by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and his Deputy B S Yediyurappa on January 16.

The 55-year-old farmer-turned-politician firmly believes in hard work. ''When I took up this vineyard, I was a bit shaky because of uncertainty over the growth of the crop due to vagaries of weather.

But my determination to grow the French variety of grapes has yielded success beyond my imagination,'' a beaming Mr Jigajinigi told a group of reporters from Bangalore, guiding them through his winery and vineyards.

He says good wine can only come from good grapes, and grapes can only be as good as their terrain - the magical combination of geographical and climatic conditions - permits.

Bijapur, being located in the hot tropical region, the major problem was soil and water salinity, besides drought. Berry growth is impaired and in certain locations pink blush develops sometimes on green berries due to temperature that drops to a low of eight degree centigrade.

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