Introduction
Tage Rita is an agricultural engineer from Ziro Valley and is India's first kiwi wine brewer. In 2018, she was honored with the Women Transforming India Awards, organized by the United Nations and NITI Aayog.
Early life and education
Tage Rita Takhe was born in the Ziro Valley in Arunachal Pradesh. She is part of the Apatani tribe. She studied and was trained as an agricultural engineer.
Career
In 2017, Rita invested in a boutique winery - Naara Aaba. In doing so, she also found the solution to a local problem. She would brew wine from Kiwi, a fruit that was found in abundance in the valley where she lived. She sourced the fruit from her personal orchard and the Kiwi Growers Cooperative Society in Arunachal Pradesh. The farming sector was greatly benefitted by this venture, as they now had assured buyers. Her winemaking process is also unique as she follows traditional methods. It took her six years of research and planning to carefully prepare the right procedure and the correct concoction. The winery has a plant capacity of 40,000 liters per batch. The process takes about four months from crushing the raw material to bottling. The wine tastes best between six and eight degrees Celsius. Her wine is made of organic fruit. Her bottle of wine, today, sells at INR 1,200.
Honors
- North East Entrepreneur Award
- Winner of the Women Transforming India Awards 2018, organized by the United Nations and NITI Aayog