Authored by Olympia Bhatt
Travel sometimes happens for the strangest reasons. Like having two dates of consecutive months falling on the same day. No wonder the flights seemed cheap when I was booking the return tickets.
Despite only having plans for a weekend getaway, before I knew it, my departure was on Friday of the first month, and my return on the Monday … a month later. We could do nothing but laugh at our ticket bungling primarily because it didn’t cost much. But then we had an idea.
Why not travel to Bombay twice? Instead of cancelling nonrefundable tickets, why not spend a little more and travel again? This is exactly what we did, and our unintended second trip meant the discovery of Sula vineyards in Nasik.
An Unintended Trip to Sula Vineyards
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTtH2O4Fz0u/?taken-by=sula_vineyards
A 3 to 4 hour drive from Mumbai, Sula Vineyards is the oldest winery in India. It is a fabulous way to unwind from the hectic bustle of city life, where you can discover the place where Indians first experienced wine.
In 1996, Rajeev Samant planted the first wine grapes in Nashik and today this region is India’s premier wine-growing region, producing 80% of the country’s total wine.
Spread over a total of over 3000 acres, Sula’s vineyards are home to some of India’s finest grapes, so if you’re looking for a place for your next wine tour, you should visit Nashik, in Maharashtra state.
This is India’s Napa Valley; after Sula Vineyards was established in 1999, 35 other wineries followed suit in the region over the next decade. It’s quite incredible how one man paved the way for the emergence of India’s Wine Capital.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUb0kGylT-V/?taken-by=sula_vineyards
An Evening of Wine
Having left Mumbai around 6pm, we arrived late evening for our stay. A world class heritage winery resort with boutique accommodations, we decided this would be the perfect weekend getaway. With unbeatable vistas of the scenic estate and gentle hills rolling away to placid Gangapur lake, there’s nothing quite like it!
There are two restaurants onsite whose menu and cuisine is defined by the quirky predilections of our food habit. The restaurant Little Italy serves vegetarian Italian; two words which could come together consecutively only in the Indian dietary imagination.
The other restaurant Soma served Indian food with meat, and of course, eating on a vineyard, the wine in both restaurants flowed freely. We discovered that Riesling went really well with fish tikka and Dindori reserve Shiraz with mutton kebabs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXsaRX4lv_3/?taken-by=sula_vineyards
The Accommodation
After a long night drinking in the vineyard, we returned to our lodge. In spite of the travel, we bonded over wine and conversation until the early hours of 5 am. The vineyard and wine-tasting tour we had planned the following day seemed a faraway possibility.
Having embraced a sleep-in until late morning, we adjusted our plans to catch a wine tour in the afternoon. Fortunately they run every hour. By 1pm we were bright and ready for an education in Indian wine.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTETLzPl5mx/?taken-by=sula_vineyards
Wine Tasting
After a short 20 minute tour that ranged from the origins of Sula, a vivid description and demonstration about the variety of grapes used and Sula’s particular oenology; we walked into the wine-tasting room.
The tour included tasting of four wines – one Riesling, one Shiraz, one sparkling and one dessert wine (though admittedly I was unable to swallow because of it’s sugar overload!).
The tour came with a basic taste-bud training of how to tell the good stuff from the bad. And afterwards, it was all too easy to unwind with a glass at The Tasting Room overlooking the rolling vineyards with panoramic lake views.
Later in the day, a visit to Gangapur dam was truly serene, and a wonderful place to meditate and listen to the gentle lapping waves, enjoying the soft enwrapping breeze. A perfect end to our Nasik journey, which was just what we needed before beginning our journey back to the madding crowd.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaWQCVmFZKn/?taken-by=sula_vineyards
How to Get to Sula Vineyards
A visit to Sula vineyards in Nashik is an enjoyable experience for people of all ages and carefully curated to give you an inside peek into the winemaking process while allowing you to make great memories along the way.
Nashik is 180 km from Mumbai, reachable by car, bus or train and 210 km from Pune, reachable by car or by bus. You can find detailed directions on the Sula Vineyards website.
EVERY WINE LOVER NEEDS THESE: CLICK PHOTO↓
|
|
|
SPREAD THE WORD! PIN THIS TO YOUR TRAVEL PINTEREST BOARDS ↓
-
- Sula Vineyards
-
- Sula Vineyards
If You Liked This Post You May Also Like:
14 Comments
Wait… so they really make wine in India?!? I have to taste that (I’m french).
And in Thailand and Bali ? I have written about both. New latitude wines! Interesting how they managed to grow them in such temperatures after years of testing. Also interestingly, they have more than one harvest a year (up to 3!)
As I consider myself a oenophile this post is really very informational for me. Thanks for sharing this amazing post.
I had absolutely no idea they make wine in India. How awesome. Since I lived in Cape Town, surrounded by vineyards, I became kind of addicted to visiting wine farms and try all the great wines and lovely food they have to offer. And it seems Sula Vineyards offer great wines and tasty food as well. This will definitely be a place to visit when in India.
Happy to read about Sula, it was the most affordable brand I found in India and I enjoyed their Shiraz. I’d love to go wine-tasting on my next visit to try the rest of the range though!
This sound like a sublime way to spend a couple of days. I didn’t know where Sula was, but I have tried some of their wine.
I had a delicious bottle of bubbly, in Udaipur, on New Year’s Eve watching the fireworks.
A tasting is always interesting and a good way to learn about the wine. Dessert wine goes much better with dessert or cheese :-) so I can understand that drinking it on its own is a sugar overload.
I have been to Nasik but for a different itinerary altogether. Yes, Sula wines are the pioneers of winemaking in India and they have single-handedly created a wine industry in the region. I call this adopted innovation – where you pick up an idea from anywhere in the world and adapt it your circumstances. I great case study in Adaptive Innovation.
Haha I like the story of how you unintentionally landed up at Sula Vineyards because of a mistake in booking your ticket :D You know, I lived in Mumbai for 3 years and it is such a shame that I never visited Sula Vineyards (not that I didn’t know about it but I guess I wasn’t much of an explorer then!) but I can always plan to go back on one of my next trips back home. The Source as Sula looks fantastic!
I’d never heard of Nashik and Sula Vineyards – what a wonderful find so close to Mumbai! The idea of a vegetarian Italian restaurant really is such a laugh, but I’m glad you found food complimentary to the wine. I struggle with dessert wines too, I prefer a nice dry white!
Visiting vineyard has always been a fascinating thing to me. When you get to see and appreciate the hard work put into producing the final product. And did I mention that vineyards are always beautiful? The pictures of Sula’s Vineyard is prove me right. I wonder what it’ll feel like touring this vineyard plus the wine tasting session. I’m not surprised Olympia and friends chatted over the wine till 5am. Wines are powerful. There’s so much to India that I can’t wait to explore.
Nicely written. Reminded me of my own time at Sula. Consumption of wine in India is still very low compared to ‘hard’ liquor. However Kudos to Sula vineyards in their effort to re-introduce wine in the bar selection. It would be interesting to know wow it compares with wines of France, Napa , Australia or other place.
It’s always the mistakes in travel that make for the best experiences and finds. I love that you found the vineyards by accident. It’s so interesting that wineries weren’t established in India till almost the turn of the millennium.
I would have never thought of India as a wine destination. As big as India is, it’s impressive that one region produces 80% of the wine in the country. I wonder how the crop conditions are compared to other regions that are known for producing wine.
Yay! Wine! My partner and I love wine so much but he’s more knowledgeable to recognize wine taste well! As for me, I’m just like, yes, I like it, let’s order and drink! I didn’t know tho that India has something like a wine destination? It’s an interesting fact! I’ve never been there but when I come and visit I’m definitely not missing this out!