Source: The National, Friday, February 22, 2013
Winestar, an Eastern Highlands-based company, uses local produce and fruits such as ginger, tamarillo (tree tomato), strawberry, lemon and elderberry to manufacture mild fruit wines.
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| Proudly PNG-Made Winestar products.-Picture by MALUM NALU |
It is a subsidiary of Nowek Ltd, a long-established company in the highlands owned by Goroka Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Terry Shelley, whose prime interest is in coffee.
His daughter Sarah Shelley, who is the master brewer and brain behind Winestar, has travelled extensively throughout the world studying the art of wine-making and wants to take wine-making to the next level in PNG using local produce and fruits.
“Since the start the of company’s operations towards the end of last year, it has provided markets for the locally-grown produce and fruit, employment opportunities for mainly single women from the Kamaliki/Masumave area in Goroka and also has been involved in community activities in Goroka and Kundiawa,” she said.
“There are four different flavours – Roots Mangi Ginger, Strawberry Blonde Simbu, Mama Mia Tamarillo and Besti Elderberry – which come in a 3l pouch (a first for PNG), 2l bottle, and 370ml bottle,” she said.
“The wine product has been tested by the National Analysis Laboratory based at Unitech in Lae and the alcohol content is under 11% per volume, which is under legal requirement for public consumption.
“I intend to expand my operations to Kundiawa in the coming months, and hopefully to other centres such as Mt Hagen, Lae, and Madang before the end of the year.”
Alcohol consumption in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea has always been an issue. Regardless of the cost, people will always manage to have access to it. There are more alcohol related violence, deaths, tribal warfare, general disputes etc. time and time again as it has been witnessed over the years. I might be wrong in generalizing the alcohol related problems in the Highlands but part of the Highlands that I come from, there is NO two ways about this, and Alcohol abuse/consumption has and is the primary cause behind some of the worst deaths, tribal fights, and savagery so forth.
ReplyDeleteI remember in 2001 when the local alcohol beverage, Liva-Lave first broke into the market scene and how cheap it was. Consumption went public. If memory severs right, there was an increase in law and order problem in Lae, Morobe Province and the then Provincial Police Commander attributed the escalation in law and order problems to the cheap, easily accessible and abusive consumption of Liva-Lave.
From a business point of view, thumbs up for Winestar for they will make a fortune but on the contrary, if peoples attitude towards alcohol consumption does not change, cheap, easily accessible alcohol on the store shelves are as good as selling hand-grenades openly.