Nine different rice varieties and broken rice (locally available) were screened for their suitability for rice wine preparation using Diastase aamylase as saccharifying agent at optimized parameters to obtain maximum reducing sugars. The standard yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae var ellipsoideus 101 was used for fermentation @ 5 per cent inoculum level. The rice variety, Doddiga showed highest amount of alcohol production (6.65%), followed by Amruth (6.56%) and Intan (6.45%). Colour and brightness were found to be least in wine from Intan, followed by Doddiga variety. Based on the chemical analysis and organoleptic evaluation, it was concluded that good quality rice wine can be obtained using Intan and Jyothi rice varieties.