Pawars may buy 49% in UB wine co

Mumbai: Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's family is all set to take up 49 per cent stake in a winery of Vijay Mallya's UB Spirits.

According to a senior UB official, the Pawar family could take up to 49 per cent stake in UB chairman Vijay Mallya's Four Seasons winery at Baramati, Pawar's home turf.

Four Seasons will be a chateau winery in the midst of a 330-acre vineyard. The winery will have a five million-litre capacity.

Pawar is a strong proponent of liberalising the wine industry, which saw Maharashtra come up with a progressive wine policy benefiting areas like Nashik and Sangli.

Pawar has a significant clout in the state's grape growing belts.

A report says, the cultivators have named a popular seedless variety after the Maratha leader ‘Sharad Seedless’.