Rajeev Samant, Sula Vineyards, Nashik, India
Rajeev Samant has always been a visionary. After returning home from the US, he saw great potential in making wine in Nashik district of Maharashtra. This incredible foresight led him to pave the foundation of Sula Vineyards.
Along with his friend Kerry (our master winemaker), Rajeev turned this simple land into a beautiful vineyard, vine by vine, stone by stone. His passion for Indian winemaking, coupled with his commitment to keeping the process local and sustainable, has taken Sula to new heights.
The Mondavi of Mumbai
The Stanford University alumni magazine published an article about Samant a few years ago, calling him the “Mondavi of Mumbai,” a reference to Robert Mondavi, who was also a Stanford graduate. It was a bit of journalistic hyperbole then, but the title is not without merit today.
Samant seems to have followed the Mondavi blueprint in many ways, both in breaking new ground in wine production and promoting his products and the region through wine tourism. The Sula Vineyard winery includes attractive hospitality facilities and hosts concerts and festivals, too.
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Sula Vineyards White Wines
SULA VINEYARDS Red and Sparkling WINES
More About Sula Vineyards
SUSTAINABILITY
The region of Nashik experiences an extremely dry period, and a critical monsoon season each year. During the critical monsoon period, we harvest up to 90% of the water we use in the year. We reuse treated water to cut down on our carbon footprint and have installed drip irrigation, which helps us reduce water consumption by approx. 40%. Apart from this, we also use solar energy immensely.
As a socially equitable company, we respect human right and donʼt employ any form of child labour in our operations.
- More than 60% of our power comes from solar.
- 99% of our packaging is recyclable.
- We recycle over 3640 million liters of water per year.
- We adhere & respect all human rights.
BELIEFS: Sula Vineyards’ winemaking philosophy is very simple and straightforward: it takes great grapes to make great wine.
Rajeev Samant began Sula Vineyards in 1997. After graduating from Stanford, he returned home to India with winemaking on his mind, turning his attentions to a family-owned plot of 30 acres in Nashik, India’s most important table-grape growing region. The terroir and climate there were, in fact, ideally suited to growing wine grapes, but nobody had really considered the idea as a viable business proposition. Rajeev teamed up with Kerry Damskey, a leading winemaker from California’s Sonoma Valley, and planted the first vines in 1997. Despite a great deal of initial resistance—the wine business in India was practically nonexistent, and getting a winery license was difficult—Rajeev’s distinctly Californian philosophy of a winery open to the public has sparked a wine revolution, leading to an excellent atmosphere of cooperation between the growing number of wineries in the area.
History
- Sula Vineyards is India’s leading wine company and is leading the charge of Indian wine across the wine world.
- Sula Vineyards’ winemaking philosophy is very simple and straightforward: it takes great grapes to make great wine.
- Rajeev teamed up with Kerry Damskey, a leading winemaker from California’s Sonoma Valley, and planted the first vines in 1997
Vineyards
- Premier wine growing region, 80% of India’s wine production comes from Nashik
- Sustainable estate, Sula spreads over 3,000 acres in Nashik, India’s Napa Valley
- The cool nights of Nashik ensure high level of acid in the grapes, while warm days ensure optimum ripeness of the grapes
- Nashik’s soil is of volcanic origin, ranging from weathered basalt to red laterite to heavy clay