Castel Winery is expected to bottle wine for export form its vineyard in Zeway early next year. The French company is the first foreign winery in Ethiopia after the socialist regime.
The French wine maker has installed 28, 430 hectolitre, Inox tankers for the production of its first bottles of wine according to Robel Seido, Sales and Marketing Manager at Castel.
The wines will be bottled over the next 3-6 months and will be available to the market shortly thereafter said Seido. The first wines to reach the market are expected to be white wine he added.
Total production from this years harvest of grapes is expected to be around 450,000 bottles according to Seido. Castel aims to export more than half of its wine.The French wine maker harvested its first Chardonnay grapes on the first of November. The winery hopes to begin production around the New Year.
Castel has made an estimated 305 million investment on its vineyard and factory in Zeway. It has employed 120 hectares of land to grow four different grapes to produce white and red wines.
The different types of grape include Chardonnay, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon said Olivier Spillbout, wine maker at Castel.
Most of the grapes raised will be Syrah while Chardonnay grapes will take the least number.
Wine production would normally take five years from planting to harvesting the first vines but this time has been reduced to three and half years in this instance because the Ethiopian climate has proven to be highly suitable explained Spillbout.
Source: Capital
