Day trip to Sula wine land

There was a huge cylindrical drum, a little less in height, and purple juice oozing out of the grapes, as I stomped on them along with a few friends.

I had a smile on my face, and least cared about the fact that my legs were getting dirty. Once when I was a kid, I had seen a picture of some foreigner stamping on grapes in a drum, since then I wished to do the grape stomping myself. I always assumed that such facilities I would get only in foreign locations. When I got the information that I can experience it in India and that also at a place so close to Mumbai, I was in seventh heaven

The place which fulfilled my long time pending wish is Sula Vineyard. It is located on the outskirts of Nasik about 180 kms from Mumbai. It took us about three and half hour to reach here. The vineyard is spread on about 30 acres of land. The road leading to the main building from the entrance is covered with grape fields on both the sides.

The grape stomping facility is done in the main building along with the other facilities they provide. “Madam, you can stomp for certain time limit only. Grape stomping happens only in the crushing season that is November to February,” informed the person in charge.

Subsequently we went for the factory tour and tasting session. The leader of our touring group enlightened us about the history of Sula wines, process of making wines and their variety. In the tasting session he handed out five assortments of wines and briefed about each variant’s characteristic.

The weather was pleasant; the scenery before us was serene and peaceful. We sipped our wine, enjoyed the beauty of the grape fields as we sat at the viewing gallery.

 The sky went to its twilight colour, it was preparing itself for sunset, realization dawned upon us that we had stopped running with time.

We headed back home leaving the extra ordinary vineyard with a splendid experience.