A pleasant guilt trip every non-alcoholic must try near Mumbai offbeatgetaway

Day 1

Sula Vineyards

Sula is a property which was developed into a wonderful vineyard by Rajeev Samrat. It boasts of being the first of its kind in Nasik. The place is indeed a pleasure for not only the wine buds but also the eyes. You can enjoy a pleasant day exploring and eating other than guilty indulgence.

Mumbaikars are pretty aware how scorching March can be. Early Jan to early March is the season for visiting Sula Vineyards. However, we chose to give it a try around March end.

Travel time: It took us a 3 hour drive from Thane (Maharashtra) to Sula Vineyards (Nashik).

We had started around 9 am and reached around 1 pm (delay was due to breakfast).

Cost: A hired car drove 6 of us to our getaway for 6000 INR. You need to pay 200 INR per person which is redeemable inside, at the barrel-shaped counter near the entrance ( cool, ain't it? )

You already start to get the trippy feel out of the place.

Photo of Sula Vineyards, Gangapur-Savargaon Road, Nashik, Maharashtra, India by Debapriya Banerjee

A yellow car will drive you from the gate to the tasting building which stands true to its name. If you are not a fan of alcohol, you can simply take the tour by the guide to discover the place and the process that goes in the making of wine.

Let's discover the buildings -

1.We had lunch at a restaurant within the area called the "Little Italy".

The food here is delicious and pocket pinch can be around 500-600 for a dish. The quantity was quite less than we expected.

I walked through the Vineyard to kill time before our tour session in an attempt to grab hold of some grapes but alas! the season was over!

2.The Vineyard houses a resort called "The Source At Sula" where you can enjoy a stay.

3.The building for wine-tasting is artful. There are stacks of inverted wine bottles turned into eye-catching showpieces at multiple places.

View of the vineyard from the bar on the first floor is a pretty affair. A vast field with pink flowers on one side whereas the Sahyadris gasping from another, small yellow windmills and placards with descriptions of the place. All this sums up the vineyard.

There are fancy rooms with fancier names. We hopped into "The Bottle Shop" yo grab a bottle of our favourite kind of Sula. "The Gift Shop" is one you may want to give a visit to take back something as memoir.

The Ultimate Wine Tasting!

This is the part of the trip that grabs all the eyeballs and deserves it. The tasting sessions are there at an hour interval.

We headed to the booking counter. There was a Season's special offer of wine-tasting and tour which we picked up for 400 INR.

The wine tasting experience is pretty awesome as an expert will elaborate the process over a microphone. But the group was big and the speaker was faintly audible from the back.

They take you to 2 rooms primarily:

1. The Tank Hall ( where wine is processed inside the tank ).

2. The barrel room ( This room is for storage. The temperature is as low as 19.7°C ).

We said cheers to 6 different variants of wine one after the other poured into the wine glass, learnt how to hold the glass, swirl the wine and so much more! The "Sula Rasa" is an exquisite red wine variant that is a speciality of this winery.