One day trips! Hard to find? We plan but never go? You know what we should just go! Planned, unplanned..

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you’ll look back and realise they were the big things”

So ofcourse by the title you know that Sula happened! 

Sula Vineyards in Nashik is India’s most famous & most accessible winery. It all began in 1997, when a young, energetic Indian entrepreneur (Rajeev Samant) had a crazy idea of setting up a winery in India. 

The winery is open to visitors, who can enjoy a guided tour, tasting sessions & attend Sula Fest which happens in late February. They’ve also done well to break the myth that wine is for the elitist.

We started out from Mumbai early in the morning at around 8 am & reached Nashik after 4 hours being a weekday. It was a long drive despite usual traffic. Greeted by a bright yellow logo of a sun with a twirling moustache at the entrance, we knew we had arrived at our destination.

After reaching the vineyard & clicking pictures we went through the whole property, all excited ready to get ourselves soaked in wine! Not really! We straightaway booked for a guided wine tour + tasting sessions, which took us through the whole process of wine making & the rooms were filled with huge barrels of wine stored in it. (The older the better). They charged 250 bucks for that! Pretty cheap with tasting of six wines. Also we were taught the technique of tasting a wine.

• Hold the glass by the stem or base of the wine glass.
• The colour reveals a lot about the age of the wine. 
• Now swirl it in the glass to let some air mix with it.
• Smell the wine, take a sip and keep it in your mouth for a while and drink it all!
• This is how wine enthusiasts have their favourite wine.     

Sula Vineyards has a amphitheatre which is beautifully maintained & this transforms into a lively stage during Sula Fest. The garden area is intricately designed with widespread wooden railings, a lotus pond, bright coloured walls & the natural light does wonders with photos.

Lotus pond without lotuses!

The Amphitheatre.

For lunch we went to Soma which is a neighbourhood vineyard famous for its Indian Restaurant, it drizzled at that time which made it more pleasant. We tried this drink called ‘The Pink Elephant’ which was amaze. Sitting on the first deck overlooking the vineyards was immersive. Further we went to the backwaters which is along Gangapur dam, few minutes from Soma worth visiting.

For your take home memorabilia, Sula has a souvenir shop. They also have a wine shop where one can purchase Sula wines below MRP.

Unfortunately, there was no grape stomping during our visit. The season for stomping is during March. Stomping is done for fun and the grapes you stomp are table grapes & not wine grapes. February is a good time to visit, since Sula organizes their annual Sula Fest. Grape stomping is one of the many things to do at the fest with art, music, dance, food and more WINE! 

Overall it was a happy day 🙂

Update : Next visit up in February. Here are some pictures we clicked. Have a look.

So have you been to any vineyards in or around nashik? Tell me your experience in the comment section below.

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See you later tweets!!