Forget ‘miraa’, Meru is home of super fine wine

Samples of wines  from  Mukululu wine produce  plant which owned by Catholic Church at ,Igembe Central in Meru County  .PHOTO KIBATA KIHU/STANDARD.

Meru County is known for many things; but miraa growing stands out. You will however be surprised to learn that the expansive county is also home to one of the best wines in the world. Yes, and it all happens at Mukululu Consolata Shrine, a serene environment along the Maua-Meru highway.

It is here that fine wines and sherry, under the Meru Wine label are produced after a rigorous and meticulous processing of grapes to packaging the final product.

Altar wine used by Catholic churches in Kenya also comes from this little known shrine. Sauvignon (white table wine), Barbera (red table wine) and Meru Mukululu Martina (Sherry), are some of the drinks produced and bottled at Mukululu Consolate Shrine.

The brilliant idea is the brainchild of brother Giuseppe Argese, of the Consolata Fathers Missionaries. On the day of this interview, the Smart Harvest team is ushered into the shrine by Father Andrew Mbiko, the administrator of the Meru Catholic Diocese that houses the shrine.

“This project was set up by Argese in 1976. He arrived in Meru in 1957, from Italy, to help locals access education, water, churches and other services. Locals nicknamed him ‘Mukiri’ (the silent one),” he explains.

Mbiko says the priest who is now 83, is settled into a quite life in Meru but is still actively involved in the wine making.

“Argese is a structural and water engineer. He came to support the church and to liberate us from hunger and diseases. He sunk boreholes to help with the water problem,” says Mbiko.

Argese started grape farming, and in 1980 after seeing the huge potential, he tapped into wine production.

Started small

“With the winery, to taste the waters, we started small focusing on making wine for church use, but with time, the market grew,” he explains.

The first vines were planted in Liliaba in Igembe Central and Ruiri in Buuri sub counties.

Initially, the grape farm idea was hatched to help the communities in Nyambene facing acute water shortage.

Locals working in the church’s water projects had to be paid, he explains, and so there was need for an extra source of income to take care of workers’ salaries. That is how the grape farming started. Grapes was the ideal project because they thrive in dry areas like where the shrine is located.

The project started small but it has blossomed.

Grapes used in the production of the wines and sherry are delivered by from the three Igembe sub counties who grow grapes on a large scale farming and the Catholic Diocese of Meru which has an eight-acre grapes farm in Liliaba.

“We have farmers who have between 20 to 30 acres under grapes. We have two leading suppliers who grow it on large scale. But we also get a lot of grapes from peasant farmers who have much smaller parcels of land,” he says.

The wine is sold locally, some is exported and some supplied to Catholic churches for religious purposes. “Bishops agree that locally produced altar wine is better. The ones imported from middle-east have preservatives and are expensive,” he says.

A 750ml bottle of Barbera and Sauvignon goes for Sh400 at the factory, while the altar wine is sold at Sh550.

 Shortage of grapes.

“The demand for wine is huge, but we are not getting enough grapes. The market is boundless, with a lot of it consumed in Europe and other continents. International visitors attending the just concluded Meru Investors Conference also bought a lot of wine,” says Mbiko.

Institutions and people from other counties also flock to Mukululu to learn how to grow grapes, he says.

Desert crop

So what is the process of growing grapes? Mbiko says grapes grow well in dry areas, where the soil is sandy and warm. The crop thrives in altitudes of between 500m and 1000m above sea level.

“It is not labour-intensive. All you have to do is ensure you keep a very close watch over the crop, for 240 out of 340 days, removing any weeds, pruning, removing cuckus and spraying the leaves with ThiovitJet, a fungicide to keep away insects,” he says.

Mbiko says there are two harvesting seasons per year, September to October and April and May.

The priest says proper planting of cuttings and tending, is key for bountiful harvest. He says the trenches should be dug three feet deep and two feet wide.

The cuttings are planted five feet from each other, with poles to support the tendrils. Manure can either be cow waste or even banana leaves.

“Out of 360 days, you have to check on the plants 240 days, to make sure they are growing upright and to remove weeds. You have to look at the plant as it grows throughout,” Mbiko says.

He says they are experimenting various methods of growing the white and red grapes, to come up with bigger and quality grapes.

The stems for the white and red grapes came from Italy, and now the Catholic Diocese is encouraging more farmers to plant the crop.

The Meru Mukululu Martina (sherry), is named after Martina region in Italy, a major grapes-growing and wine production area.

Mark of quality

“The climate in Martina and Liliaba (Igembe Central) is the same, and so is the soil. I have been to Martina, and I can tell you its climate is the same as Igembe’s. Grapes do well in dry, hot areas, though there are some varieties that do well in cold conditions. The vines take a long time to grow down, ‘looking’ for water, and they are drought-resistant,” says Fr Mbiko.

He continues: “You can grow 500 trees on one acre. If you tend it as required, one tree is capable of producing 10 kilos of the fruit. We buy a kilo at Sh80, and that means you can earn Sh400, 000 from each harvest,” he says.

He says the major challenge they are facing is the shortage of grapes.

“The demand for wine is big, but we are not getting enough grapes. The market is boundless,” says Mbiko, adding that institutions and individuals from other counties flock to Mukululu to watch the wine making process.

Regina Kiunga, the officer in charge of administrative duties at the winery explains that after they receive the grapes, a delicate production process kicks off.

To ensure the wine is top range, Giovanni Collucci, a wine expert from Italy, frequently jets in to ensure every process is followed to the letter. As the processing begins, the grapes are carefully washed before they are crushed.

“We put them in a pressing machine to extract the juice. We then put in barrels and fermentation process begins. Fermentation happens without adding sugars, water or anything else. This is to get the best and natural results,” she says. She says grape juice takes six months to mature after being stored in barrels. The sherry takes four years while the altar wine takes four years.

All the wines from the Mukululu Winery have the Kenya Bureau of Standards mark of safety and quality.

“They check the product every month. We cannot put anything in the market without approval of Kebs,” Mbiko says.