Our first visit to the beautiful  Sula Vineyards,  https://sulawines.com  spread across 30 acres of land turned out to be interesting  and educational, not to mention the fact that we got to taste their different types of wines every hour of the day. In fact the mini bar filled with Sula wines were all complimentary.

We were invited for a staycation recently to India's first heritage winery resort and what's not to like about a place that gives a superb view of the majestic Aravalli mountains and the weather that is to die for during the season.

We flew from Delhi to the fairly new Shirdi Airport and travelled by car for one an half hour to reach The Source at Sula vineyards. The drive was beautiful with many of the local fruits like pomegranate, guavas, oranges being sold all over the roadside.  Today Sula wines are known all over the country and exports to some international wine loving countries as well. It has contributed largely and managed to change the wine map of the country from a non-wine drinking to a wine loving country even though it may just be in the cities.

The check in at The Source, was a smooth affair and our room was large, airy with a view to the vineyard with a pretty balcony. All the way from Delhi, the air felt fresh and clean and it felt like we could sit in the balcony for ages. But of course we were raring to go for the wine tour, learn the history and taste some more wines at the tasting session.

The wine tour, can be part of your stay after booking a slot at the reception. They also provide wine tasting and appreciation courses. Our tour was excellent as went about knowing the ageing and the barrelling process of the wines. The tour ended with the tasting of the wines as were made to taste some of their red, white and the Rose collections. Our particular favourite was the Brut Tropicale, the Sula Dindori Reserve Shiraz and the Sula Riesling.

Interestingly the founder of the Sula wines Rajeev Samant had no inkling that he would be getting into the world of wines until a chance visit to the family owned land in Nasik when he realised that Nasik was well conducive to growing table grapes. Before long he was spending time at his friend and mentor Kerry Damskey's (now Sula's master wine maker" winery in California and was already planning to change his family owned land into a winery. Today it is one of the largest vineyards in India.

You can opt to stay at the beautiful tree houses that gives you the entire view of the vineyard. The evening spend in the balcony here is unforgettable. The vineyards has a total of 51 rooms including four tree houses and currently they are adding more villas to the resort which should be ready by next year. In addition they have 10 more rooms at Beyond by Sula that overlooks a beautiful natural lake. It is apt for luxe vacation with your family. It very private and has its own restaurant serving Indian and continental cuisines.

The wine brand is also known for popular Sula Festival which is hosted every year, where more than 15000 people from all over India gather to appreciate good music and food. It takes place in their amphi-theatre. It's a must anticipated and awaited event.

Photographs courtesy: Sula Vineyards, Monika Adlakha and Divya Chadha