Now a mango wine to take you ‘high’

LUCKNOW - If the several mango drinks available in the market are not enough to give you a kick, a group of scientists here have developed wines made of mangoes that can take you really ‘high’.

This unique product is a success story of the Lucknow-based Central Institute of Subtropical Research where a team of scientists led by Neelima Garg have created three different wines squeezed out of the three famous mango varieties grown here — ‘Dussehri’ , ‘Langra’ and ‘Chausa’.

“Just as each of the mango variety tastes different, each of the wines too vary in taste as well as flavour,” said Garg, who had been working on the project for quite sometime.

“Unlike grapes, which gave birth to wines, mango juice is very thick and therefore, requires to be treated before being put to use for brewing wine; but the end product could one day give the traditional grape wine a run for its money,” she feels.

According to her, “the process of fermentation is not very tough as mango contains huge quantity of sugar, which is the basic source of alcohol, but balancing the viscosity is what needs to be done very carefully.”

Asked what inspired her to undertake this new project, she said: “Well, we thought if France, Italy or Australia had made a mark for themselves in the wine industry, essentially because of their large grape produce, why don’t we try our skills with the abundant mangoes in this region.”

She said “the success of the grape industry in Maharashtra also encouraged us to go ahead and attempt”.

Institute director H. Ravishankar feels, “with a range of seven to nine percent alcohol content, this unique wine would surely be a big draw with all fond of good liquor”.

He was, however, apprehensive about taking the production to a commercial level.

“Since the cost of large scale production would initially be high, any commercial production would require major excise concessions to make it compete with the existing wines in the market.”