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Taste Testing Classic Sula Sauvignon Blanc & Shiraz Cabernet; The Source Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blanc & Grenache Rose; Dindori Reserve Chardonnay & Rasa Syrah

 

 

India in its sheer size, diversity and deep heritage, has for the better part of its modernity been a country whose palates have been dominated by liquor spirits and beer - which it still is, as the world's largest consumer of whisky - which might sound immediately surprising given the absence of wine as an entire category in the mix. Yet the last three decades have seen a remarkable shift - today wine consumption in India is fast approaching 1%. 

Now 1% may not seem like much, but in a country of 1.4 billion, that is a scale that is enviable to just about any producer in the world, making that landmark 1% a massive achievement and milestone in the country's unfolding wine story.

This is in no small part thanks to Sula Vineyards, arguably the face of India's winemaking, and also the country's best selling Indian grown and produced wine.

 

Rajeev Samant, founder of Sula Vineyards.

 

Based out in Nashik, Sula Vineyards is the brainchild of Rajeev Samant, a Stanford graduate who had been working in Silicon Valley's legendary Oracle, and would subsequently leave the tech giant at the height of the Dotcom era to return to India to pursue his calling. As the story goes, Samant had returned to India in 1993 to attend a wedding when his father would show him the family's unused 20 acres of land in Nashik, seated in the northwestern part of Maharashtra in western India. Samant had immediately saw potential in the bountiful land that was already well known for its agricultural produce, and had wanted to do something of his own, which would first start out in the form of everything from harvesting mangoes to growing roses, and all the way to producing teakwood and table grapes - unfortunately, or perhaps in hindsight fortunately, none of these worked out. This prompted Samant to re-examine what might a viable business in Nashik look like, which was when inspiration struck. The flanking Dindori hills had reminded him on California's renowned Napa Valley, and given Nashik's notability for producing table grapes (not wine grapes!), along with the belief that India was in the early innings of an economic boom that would see his fellow countrymen (and women) likely develop a taste for finer luxuries, Samant would thus conclude on an attempt to produce wines here.

 

Mughal kinds were well documented as having enjoyed Persian wines as early as the 16th Century.

 

At the time in the early 1990's, wine consumption in India had been incredibly niche given the decades long prohibition that ran from 1947 up until the 1970's when Indian wine pioneer Kanwal Grover had broke the mould and officially reintroduced winegrowing in India. Yet, historically speaking, it's broadly understood that winemaking had existed in the vast and ancient lands of India from as far back as 4,000 years ago, with even myths and lores that reference wine drinking, whilst the Mughal kings of the 16th Century were recorded as having shown an appreciation for the wines of Shiraz, Persia. Whilst much of Western Europe owes their winemaking origins to the Romans, wine grape vines had instead been brought into India by the Persians, with at one point even a particular Goan Port fortified wine, so named after the state of Goa, that India had become known for, culminating in the country's wines even being showcased at the Great Calcutta International Exhibition of 1883. Unfortunately, much as was the situation in Europe, India too was not spared from the ravages of phylloxera, which when coupled with the passing of a new Indian Constitution paving the way for prohibition, would therefore so greatly suppress Indian winemaking that its longstanding winegrowing history had almost been forgotten in contemporary times. Any winemaking that existed from then on had come haphazardly and with table grapes, without either the ambition to make proper wines or the understanding of what it would take to do so.

 

Sula Vineyards.

 

And so when Samant had decided to plant the first Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc vines - also the first of their kind in India - whilst not being the first winegrower in India's modern wine history, was nevertheless still by and large a rarity that would go on to pave the way for the country's build up of a commercial winegrowing industry. Lying some 600 metres above sea level and nearby India's west coast, Nashik with its cooler climate, higher altitude and natural protection from the monsoons had at the time been simply an open farmland that was used for harvesting cash crops such as onions, sorghum and pearl millet. Yet its rolling hills of volcanic red laterite, basalt rock and clay offered not only a diversity of microclimates, but was also well-drained along the slopes, with also clean air and cool nights that allowed for a good combination of ripening, acidity and concentration, with the Dindori Hills as the gem of the region. Today, thanks to the work of Samant's Sula Vineyards - so named after his mother, Sulabha - Nashik has been completely transformed into India's wine capital, with half of all of the country's winemakers based in the region (the rest converging around the Nandi Hills of Bangalore).

 

Damskey with Samant.

 

Given that winemaking in India was sparse at best at the time that Samant had decided to establish Sula Vineyards, he would thus take on a 3 month apprenticeship in California with now highly regarded winemaker Kerry Damskey, who would eventually be convinced to become Sula Vineyards' winemaker. Damskey and Samant were determined to produce high quality wines - and wines that would pair well with Asian and Indian cuisine - that would could rival those of its international peers that were already being imported into India. Damskey had in fact long identified Nashik's potential as a winemaking region, having even visited the region to study it, and yet up till that point had no inroad to making wines there until his chance encounter with Samant. For a start, they would conclude that perhaps white and rose wines would lend better to the then largely non-existent domestic Indian palate, which led to their plantings of Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc, and they would practice winemaking with purchased grapes, which all culminated with their first harvest in 1999, the result of which (with the makeshift cellar then without a roof and all machines operated by hand) was an inaugural bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that Samant and Damskey would open and taste for the first time at the porch of Samant's home - they were immediately convinced in what became the lightbulb moment for Sula Vineyards. In 1999 Sula Vineyards was formally established as a pioneering, premier commercial Indian winery. They would sell their very first bottle of wine the following year after.

Yet the road forward was anything but easy. Everything from having to convince locals banks that a virtually unheard of Indian winemaking industry was a viable business that deserved to be lent money to for building out a proper winery, to compelling politicians to amend regulations around alcohol tariffs that were prohibitive for selling wines from one state to the next arguing for a case for supplying local employment and boosting industry, building out Nashik's infrastructure beyond the rural single two-lane road that cut through untamed grasslands, and even simply putting together every piece of packaging a wine bottle required which up till then did not exist in India given the absence of wineries - it was for many years an uphill battle that would eventually see the agrarian countryside speed its way into modernity with today proper power grids and phone lines; Sula Vineyards being India's first winery tasting room and also now the world's most visited vineyard with over 400,000 visitors annually.

 

The incredibly popular Sula Fest.

 

The next two and a half decades would see many firsts not only for Sula Vineyards but also for India. It would bring to India its first Zinfandel, Riesling and Shiraz - the Zinfandel coming from cuttings that Samant had made at Damskey's Californian winery on the day he was to return to India after completing his internship which he then smuggled back in a duffle bag, and is today the base vine for every Zinfandel in India - produce the country's first dessert wine (a late harvest Chenin Blanc) and wine in a can, and also become the first Indian wine featured in Wine Spectator magazine as well as the first of its origin to be listed at famed UK grocer Marks & Spencer, amongst many other first's. Sula Vineyards would conduct over 1,600 wine tastings every year, help establish the WSET course in the country and would also organise the major Sula Fest music festival that has drawn huge crowds to the winery, serving as the formative wine encounter for many of its attendees. This would significantly help to propel the perception of wine as a drink of choice for many Indians - particularly women, who had previously been socially locked out of drinking - as well as pave the way for numerous wine occupations from sommeliers to winemakers to be more seriously considered. What once took 6 months of door-to-door selling by Samant just to move 500 cases of Sula's wines (with his first breakthrough coming in the form of the Taj Hotel listing it), struggling to whet a non-existent wine appetite or vie against imported wines from abroad that were often sold either at significant discounts or priced as luxury items, has now become India's number one selling wine brand - the first Asian winery outside of China to move one million cases annually - dominating over 50% market share of India's premium wine segment and 75% of the overall Indian wine market, with its Sula Classic Chenin Blanc and Shiraz Cabernet ranking as India's best selling white and red wine respectively. In 2022, Sula Vineyards would become a publicly listed company on the Indian stock index.

 

Sula Vineyards opened India's first winery tasting room.

 

Given its twenty plus year growth trajectory, Sula has since expanded beyond Nashik, with vineyards now in Karnataka under the Domaine Sula name, together totalling 1,800 acres of estate-owned vineyards and a further 2,290 acres farmed under long term contracts that combine to a staggering 4,100 acres in full, crushing over 11,000 tonnes of grapes a year. Despite its size, sustainability is a key focus that is applied comprehensively with 60% of winery operations running on renewable solar energy, the use of drip irrigation in vineyards and an active approach to cutting down on water consumption whilst also using reservoirs to harvest rainwater, as well as optimised packaging with the use of lighter weight bottles and 99% recyclable packaging. Unusually, given India's tropical to sub-tropical climate, it is indeed possible to produce two harvests a year, and yet Sula has instead opted to prune twice a year instead, harvesting just once between January and March, which corresponds to the end of winter and the start of summer. This allows for vines to avoid exhaustion and for fruit to achieve concentration of flavours, and is in-line the with international consensus for winemaking in sub-tropical regions. As such, grapes are uniquely allowed to ripen over winter and are harvested into summer (instead of Europe's summer ripening), which is as Indian winters still registering high temperatures that are conducive for the phase. Interestingly, under the guidance of Damskey, Sula's early winemaking had largely focused on whites which were believed to pair better with local cuisine, yet that has since shifted on a bet that Samant had made believing that Indian palates would eventually shift towards reds instead, with today red wines forming the majority share of wines consumed in India.

 

 

Getting into the winemaking, Sula is often credited with bringing to India international winemaking practices - as well as guaranteeing naturally made wines (not natural wines, which is a category of its own!) that are vegan, gluten-free and without any additives - which has been applied across its substantial range of wines that range from whites, roses, reds and all the way to sweet wines and multiple styles of sparkling (from champenoise to asti and prosecco). And so each year during harvest, across the wide variety of grapes that Sula farms (that's Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Zinfandel, Grenache, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Tempranillo for the reds, and Chenin Blanc, Moscato, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier, Muscat Blanc and Riesling for the whites), the fruit is brought to the winery within 12-14 hours, where they are respectively fermented, vinified and aged according to their varietals and in accordance to the style of the expression within the Sula range which it is destined to become. Broadly, the white grapes are crushed with a pneumatic balloon press, with the red grapes put through a de-stemmer to be crushed, after which the juices are collected into tanks for filtering and fermentation (several wines within the premium The Source and Dindori Reserve ranges are partially barrel-fermented). Fermentation typically runs for 2-3 weeks for the reds, with ageing for both reds and whites lasting for anywhere from 3-4 months and up to 14-16 months and the most, taking place in French and American oak barrels.

 

 

The result of Sula Vineyard's extensive and wide-ranging farming and winemaking is some close to 30 wines being made each year across reds, whites, roses, late harvest and various styles of sparkling that - most of which are single varietal, which is yet another key focus for Sula - which can then be segmented into four ranges: Rasa, The Source, Dindori Reserve and Sula Classics. The ranges are as follows:

Sula Classics: Designed to be an entry point, with wines including Muscat Blanc (India's first low alcohol still wine), Tropicale Rose (Sparkling Rose), Brut (Sparkling), Sparkling Shiraz, Seco and Seco Rose, Zinfandel Rose, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, a Kabinett-style Riesling, Late Harvest Chenin Blanc (India's first still dessert wine), Shiraz Cabernet, Zinfandel, Merlot and Satori (blend of Tempranillo and Zinfandel).

Dindori Reserve: Showcasing Sula's winemaking skills, with wines including Viognier, Chardonnay and Shiraz.

The Source: Featuring select vineyard sites, with wines including Moscato (India's first and only made using the Asti method), Grenache Rose, Chenin Blanc Reserve, Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

Rasa: Pinnacle Indian red wines, with wines including Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Zinfandel.

 

 

And so with all that said, it's time to try a very wide selection of Sula Vineyards' wines! 

Let's go!

Wine Review: Sula Vineyards Classic Sauvignon Blanc

100% Sauvignon Blanc. 2025 Vintage.

This was India's first ever locally grown and produced Sauvignon Blanc!

 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: Bright tropical fruitiness, with bountiful and vibrant guavas, passionfruits, mangoes, papayas, mangosteens and jackfruits backed up by a good amount of creaminess. That all comes together in the form of tropical fruit meringues, whipped in with French vanilla. A slight green character of lime leaves and unripe mangoes too. There's also a touch of muskiness of sandalwood incense underscored by concrete, making for an incredibly perfumed aroma. 

Taste: Medium-bodied here, super plush and rich, really fresh too, filled in gooseberries, langsats, mangosteens and papayas. It's vibrant and tropical, still really creamy, with the acidity bright and gentle, wrapping around a concentrated core of tinned fruit syrup.

Finish: Those tropical fruits power through in the form of tinned fruit syrup, with now more mineral spring water showing up. It's musky and rich through the clean finish, keeping its concentration. Vibrant, musky and creamy fruit syrups linger on.

My Thoughts

This was quite impressive with just how vibrant it was, and with great concentration too, without heaviness or excess. For a starter wine, this definitely punches above its weight, with some complexity on the nose as well, all whilst maintaining a delightful freshness of the body and a clean and long finish. This definitely left a great impression!

Wine Review: Sula Vineyards Classic Shiraz Cabernet

85% Shiraz, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. 2025 Vintage.

This is currently India's best selling red wine.

 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Opens confectionary and almost toasty with French vanilla and French coffee, and then a more eclectic set of earthy umaminess of dried mushroom and bouillon cubes, with then a base of dark cherries and raspberries.

Taste: Medium-bodied, plush and rich, with a combination of dark red fruits and savoury umaminess, dark cherries, bouillon and dried mushrooms, with a crack of black pepper and a rusticity of animal hide. Backed up by vanilla cream, giving it some richness. Bright acidity, with giving, resolved tannins.

Finish: That richness carries through, with more umaminess here of dried mushrooms along with raspberry jams. Rich yet clean finish.

My Thoughts

Quite ready to drink, it's open and very much forward with its flavours, the fruit rich and generous, here very interestingly paired with a savoury umaminess that carries across, giving it almost a gourmet quality. It does nevertheless at times come off a little heavy, whilst the persistent umaminess takes some getting used to. The acidity is fresh and the tannins giving, the finish clean, with a good roundedness that makes for an easy going wine that has the body to stand against meats.

Wine Review: Sula Vineyards The Source Grenache Rose

100% Grenache. 2025 Vintage.

This is India's first Grenache Rose.

 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Light Pink

Aroma: Opens with exotic tones of guavas, watermelon, strawberry and rhubarb, weaved in with a bounty of creamy vanilla. Wafts of grassiness too.

Taste: Medium-bodied here, creamy, with those bright and fresh fruits of guavas, strawberries and dark cherries, mixed in with frosting. It's got a nice brightness and lift with that higher toned fruitiness, almost reminiscent of bubblegum, yet very fresh and with a good richness to its body. There's a touch of rusticity of animal hide and grassiness, with the acidity bright and gentle.

Finish: More creaminess, strawberries and pink guavas carry over, still a little confectionary with a really nice concentration, now joined by more musky gooseberries and mangosteens. Clean finish.

My Thoughts

A more bodied Rose that's approachable and comes with an enjoyable richness and roundedness, along with those vibrant fruits. It's easy to get into, keeps a great freshness, with a little bit of an exotic factor that lends for a distinct identity. Whilst it leans more confectionary, it doesn't veer towards being too much nor is thin or watery, which makes for a more palatable Rose that's just slightly rustic.

Wine Review: Sula Vineyards The Source Cabernet Sauvignon

100% Cabernet Sauvignon. 2024 Vintage.

This is partially aged in French oak barrels.

 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Combo of raspberries and dark cherry preserves, rich and riper, with then a touch of grassiness that's backed up by creamy vanilla.

Taste: Medium-bodied, the acidity bright and tannins softened, the body plush, rich and velvety, filled in with raspberries and dark cherry jams backed up by vanilla cream, as well as a touch of black pepper and greenness of bellpeppers. There's an umaminess of bouillon, as well as a rusticity of animal hide.

Finish: Those creamy, vanillic red fruits carry through, with a more prominent pepperiness. It's rich, alittle bit grassy and umami, with a riper finish and a light tannin grain.

My Thoughts

A pretty decent, straightforward Cabernet Sauvignon that ticks the boxes, and shows some finesse, although it definitely strikes a riper and richer, more oaky style that comes through more jammy and confectionary. The tannins are nevertheless well softened, and the fruit bountiful with a plush and velvety body that cleans out with a good balance of light dryness on the finish. It seems to carry that signature Sula umaminess of bouillon that is found across quite a number of its wines too. Whilst it does deliver on the fruits and richness, it would have been satisfying to see more structure, tension and complexity. Overall, a reasonably good pick, although one that might feel in contrast with today's more popular leaner and more chiselled styles. 

Wine Review: Sula Vineyards The Source Chenin Blanc Reserve

100% Chenin Blanc. 2025 Vintage.

This has been partially aged in French oak barrels.

 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Straw

Aroma: Opens with tropical fruits of lychees and mangosteens, touch of vanilla frosting, as it then gets alittle more musky with tones of jackfruit and soursop. Wafts of hay too.

Taste: Medium-bodied, it's musky tropical fruits galore, with lychees, mangosteens and gooseberries, all rendered with good richness and plushness. The acidity here is bright but smoothened out. Rather seamless and lush.

Finish: More musky still, with jackfruits and mangosteens, belying a current of vanilla frosting that underscores the persistent and vibrant, bright tropical muskiness. 

My Thoughts

A distinctly expressive Chenin Blanc that vibrant showcases musky tropical fruit tones galore, aromatic, precise and well-defined, with a lush body that carries with it a really beautiful bright and fresh acidity that is balanced by its richness. Here the ripeness works really well and brings out the full potential of the Chenin Blanc which has then be developed really nicely to give an expression that is quite stunning and at the same time so utterly approachable. Very splendid!

Wine Review: Sula Vineyards Dindori Reserve Chardonnay

100% Chardonnay. 2024 Vintage.

This has been partially barrel fermented and partially aged in French oak.

 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Straw

Aroma: Lightly honeyed with then a bouquet of musky tropical fruits of gooseberries and langsats. It shows good richness and creaminess. 

Taste: Medium-bodied, radiantly tropical with all heaps of gooseberries, langsats and mangosteens with a touch of lemon meringue underscoring the bright tropical fruit tones. Theres's an underlying vanillic creaminess that wraps around this concentrated core of tinned tropical fruit syrup. The acidity is fresh and gentle.

Finish: Those tinned fruit syrups and musky fruits power all the way through into a rich finish. Swaths of vanilla linger on.

My Thoughts

A really interesting Chardonnay interpretation, one that is well expressed, incredibly vibrant and radiant, with also a richness that backs it up. It again leans riper but does so in a rather phenomenal way where the fruits are concentrated and luscious but also clean and well defined, with no overt buttery or oaky quality beyond the vanillic creaminess that is well balanced and finessed here. It's fresh and vivid, with a really nice bodied approachability.

Wine Review: Sula Vineyards Rasa Syrah

95% Syrah, 5% Viognier. 2022 Vintage.

This comes from specially selected vineyards, and has been matured in French oak barrels for 12-14 months.

 

Tasting Notes

Colour: Deep Ruby

Aroma: Dark and deep, it's a mix of blackberries and cherries, with a leafy chewiness of mulberry leaves and licorice. Also a gamey meaty edge to the aromas, with again that umaminess of bouillon. It's wrapped up in French vanilla with a roastiness of coffee powder.

Taste: Medium-bodied, it's rich and rounded, immediately gamey and meaty, accompanied by dark cherries and blackberries, with that thread of umaminess of bouillon. The body is velvety and plush, creamy with a bright acidity, with giving tannins, spiced too with cloves, licorice and sarsaparilla. Some black sugar that's drizzled in as well.

Finish: More of that black sugar that gains prominence with the development, also the bouillon umaminess, along with blackberries, dark cherries, chewy mulberry leaves, licorice, here perfumed with rose petals. A slight grainy grip into the finish.

My Thoughts

A thorough compelling tropical Syrah! This was more fruit forward, with these chewy, earthy black fruits that comes with a leafiness and spiced quality, accompanied then with a tint of gamey meatiness that is melded together by that umaminess. It's rich and rather sensual with its plushness, well balanced with that fresh and bright acidity, with the tannins incredibly giving. It develops really nicely as it cascades towards the finish, showing black sugars and rose petals that tie in really beautifully, enhancing that dark, sensual core with this varied complexity. Enthralling!

 

Kanpai!

 

@111hotpot