Mahua longifolia is an Indian tropical tree found largely in the central and north Indian plains and forests. It is commonly known as mahua, mahwa or Iluppai. The flowers of the tree, which have a unique fragrance, are used to produce alcohol and provide livelihood to thousands of people.
There are various types of alcoholic beverages and the concentration of ethanol differs across preparation. Alcoholic drinks prepared by using yeast to ferment various sugar containing plant products usually have a low concentration as yeast ceases to grow when the concentration of ethanol reaches about 15 percent. Stronger liquors, on the other hand, are prepared through distillation.
The chemical composition of wine is complex. A typical wine contains more than 300 components in addition to alcohol, often including minerals and vitamins not found in other fermented beverages. Alcohol concentrations may vary from 10% to 14% for table wines and up to 20% for certain aperitifs. While the prevalent alcohol is ethanol, glycerol and more than a dozen other alcohols have been isolated from wines.
The market is being driven by domestic consumption rather than exports. Domestic sales of wine grew by 20% in 2015. Wine is largely consumed by the urban population in India and close to 80% of the wine consumption comes from the metro cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. As a whole it is a good project for new entrepreneurs to invest.
Few Indian Major Players are as under:
· Charosa Wineries Ltd.
· Four Seasons Wines Ltd.
· Grover Zampa Vineyards Ltd.
· Hyderabad Distilleries & Wineries Ltd.
· Indage Vintners Ltd.
· Jagatjit Industries Ltd.
· N D Wines Pvt. Ltd.