Check out Sula Vineyards' most recent exposure in the press.
Nashik-based Sula Vineyards, which recently diversified into the hospitality sector by setting up a 25-room hotel near Gangapur Dam near Nashik, is looking to set up wine bars across the country. The emphasis of the company is to primarily grow in tier II cities.
(more...)
By Anand Narasimhan and Aparna M. Dogra for The Financial Times, Dec 5, 2011
The story. When Rajeev Samant left India to study and work in California, he also found himself learning about wine thanks to that state’s burgeoning industry.
(more...)
www.business-standard.com, December 12, 2011
Nashik-based Sula Vineyards, a leading premium wine brand company in the country, is looking to set up wine bars across the country. Moreover, the firm is planning to expand its presence in tier II cities too.
(more...)
Alok Chandra - www. business-standard.com, November 26, 2011
While Sula rules the roost with both the best Indian wines and the highest sales, there are an increasing number of other good quality wines vying for shelf space and listings — time to check them out.
(more...)
Geeta Anand - blogs.wsj.com, June 22, 2011
As the rain pours down on Mumbai, India Real Time presents recently
tried and tested destinations near Mumbai where you can find a little
respite.
(more...)
Lisa McLaughlin - www.foodrepublic.com, May 16, 2011
When you think of the great wine regions of the world, India does
not spring immediately to mind. Although crisp, racy whites are often a
great match for Indian food, the region can be difficult environmentally
for viticulture, and the distance from the fine wine growing regions of
the world and the humid climate also make importing wine expensive.
(more...)
www.decanter.com - May 17, 2011
Asia has emerged as a surprise winner at the Decanter World Wine Awards as the competition publishes its 2011 results today.
(more...)
Girish Mhatre & Dr Rajesh Rasal- fnbnews.com, Tuesday, April 05, 2011
First the bad news: The Indian wine industry is facing the biggest
challenge of its young life – it desperately needs to sell more wine.
Wine consumption is increasing year over year but is not close to
meeting the relentlessly optimistic forecasts – unquestioningly bandied
about by the press and government officials for years - that lured many
entrepreneurs into the field.
(more...)
James Lawrence - www.wineandfoodtravel.com, April 4, 2011
The key to surviving on the roads in India is your horn power, not
your horsepower. I discovered this within 15 minutes of landing at
Mumbai airport–the din from the sound of every driver constantly beeping
their fellow road users outside the airport was deafening. The horn
tells the other driver and the pedestrian everything: that you are here,
you want to over take, get out the way or simply to say hello. Just
what you need after 28 hours without sleep.
(more...)
James Lawrence - www.wineandfoodtravel.com , April 15, 2011
Determined not to let my jet lag beat me, I was sure I could get up
early and go for a walk before breakfast at the Sula Spa hotel. After
all, jet lag was nothing new and I must be getting used to it by now.
(more...)
James Lawrence- www.drinksbusiness.com , 23 March 2011
The global winemaking map may soon be due for another expansion, as
plans are being laid to build the first winery in Costa Rica.
Kerry Damskey, Napa Valley winemaker and consultant to Sula
Vineyards in India, has revealed that he is currently assessing the
suitability of a particular site in Costa Rica for viticulture,
confident that the altitude of 6,000ft will present good growing
conditions.
(more...)
BestMediaInfo Bureau, March 18, 2011
ET NOW & Bajaj Hindustan present ‘Leap of Faith Awards’, an
award ceremony that recognizes Young Enterprises and Outstanding
Individuals from the various sectors of Indian industry and aims to take
the viewers through the hearts and minds of true-blue entrepreneurs who
have carved a niche for themselves and their enterprises in the
competitive market place.
(more...)
Gayatri R Shah - cnngo.com, 2 February 2011
Rajeev Samant, founder of Sula Vineyards and self-proclaimed 'wine
evangelist,' tells you how to make the most of the upcoming weekend By
New Delhi had its art summit. Jaipur had its literary festival. But not
all the fun goes north.
(more...)
Missmalini.com, Feb 2011
Over the weekend MissMalini went to the Sula Wine Festival and
decided to do some fashion spotting. Doesn’t she look amazing in a
simple Moroccan inspired sheath dress from Mango? Looking at her album,
the vibe was very laid back and chilled out, which reflected in the
dressing. The weather is warming up, so a lot of girls opted for summer
dresses and a big surprise… Hats!
(more...)
Jay McInerney - Wall Street Journal, 3rd Feb 2011
I’d heard rumors of a fledgling wine industry in India before I
attended the Jaipur Literary Festival this past week, but my first
encounter, with a 2007 Chenin Blanc from the Nashik Valley at the
Trident Hotel in New Delhi, was not encouraging.
Things picked up in Jaipur when I encountered the wines of Sula and
met the proprietor, Rajeev Samant, a Stanford-educated native of Mumbai
who caught the wine bug while he was working for Oracle in the Silicon
Valley.
(more...)
Arun Janardhan - HT Mint, 10th December 2010
Sula Vineyards is set to double with new foreign equity. CEO Rajeev Samant tells us how he is changing wine tastes in India..
(more...)
www.vogue.in, Nov2010
Diwali may have come and gone but there is still Thanksgiving,
Chistmas and New Year lurking from the corner. Your gift list may have
just gotten longer with Sula Vineyards introducing their new Brut Rose.
(more...)
Rita Cook, International Travel Examiner - www.examiner.com, 12th October 2010
Wine and India, well, most people don’t think the two go
hand-in-hand. After all, even though we close our eyes and imagine all
kinds of wonderful things about India from the food to the meditation to
the exotic images it conjures in our mind, wine is not on that list.
Yet!
(more...)
Caroline Eden - www.thestar.com, 1st October 2010
As well as a good nose for business, Lilo Gurnani is also in
possession of a fiendish sense of humour, a vital quality for a man who
has invested over 6 crores, around $1,325,000, of his own money into
India’s newfangled wine industry.
(more...)
Harpers Wine and Spirits - James Lawrence, October 2010
Founder and Chief Executive of India's Sula Vineyards, Rajeev Samant
explains how his experience of farming mangoes turned into a passion
for winemaking.
Turn to page 10 of Harpers Wine and Spirits to read more on his journey.
(more...)
Shubham Batra - Financial Express,11th Sep 2010
Sula Wines, owned by India’s wine company Nashik Vintners, expects
to clock Rs 100-crore revenue by the end of March on the back of strong
demand and a 35% growth in revenues year-on-year.
(more...)
Tushar Pawar - Business Standard, Nashik September 20 2010
Nashik-based Sula Vineyards, a leading premium wine brand company in
the country, has now diversified into hospitality industry. The company
is setting up a 23-room resort near Gangapur dam here and it is
expected to commence within a month.
(more...)
Anna da Costa - www.theecologist.org , 10th August 2010
Viticulture is growing at a rate of knots in India, and the country's largest winery is leading by environmental example.
(more...)
Caroline Eden - GQ India , Aug 2010
He’s more or less put Nashik on the world wine map and changed the
way we Indians drink wine. But now Sula Wines chief executive Rajeev
Samant has turned his attention not to what we consume, but where we lay
our heads after an evening of fine food and drink.
(more...)
Rojita Tiwari - Indianwine.com , 28th July 2010
The Indian wine industry has recognized the importance of developing
wine culture in the country. Wine festivals not only serve as the best
place to convert non-wine drinkers to wine drinkers but also help boost
the culture as well as wine sales in the long run.
(more...)
Bhisham Mansukhani - Cnngo.com , 23 June 2010
Bhisham Mansukhani profiles six people instrumental in growing
India's wine business. Producers, importers, tasters, commentators and
ground breakers as interesting as they are influential.
(more...)
Bhisham Mansukhani - Cnngo.com , 22nd June 2010
Local oenophile and writer Bhisham Mansukhani hand picks the Indian
wines most likely to succeed in the new world, including where to buy in
Mumbai and how to store wine in this climate
(more...)
Imagesfood.com ,22 Jun 2010
The leading wine producer, Sula Vineyards's recently launched red
wine – Rasa Shiraz 2007, has won a silver medal at the recent
prestigious Syrah Du Monde competition.
(more...)
Sita Wadhwani - Cnngo.com, 28 June 2010
CNNGo Mumbai editor Sita Wadhwani escapes Mumbai for a weekend of
breezy sunsets, sizzling kebabs and hilly landscapes, all washed down
with some surprisingly rich Indian Cabernet
(more...)
Subhash Arora - Indian Wine Academy , 19th June 2010
While most wine producers blame the recession at the slowdown, tight
liquidity and their financial plight Sula has been racing ahead with
only one pit stop last year, with the company performing better than the
40% target to achieve the sale of 350,000 cases this year according to
the official statistics released by the company.
(more...)
Naomi Canton - Hindustan Times Cafe, 11th May 2010
Hundreds of wines are being launched, while many boutique wineries
are springing up in India. Money is being thrown at labels and
design.But the big question is, what do they taste like? We asked
professional independent wine taster Sonal Holland to taste 10 of the
new wines available in Mumbai, and give us her verdict.
(more...)
S Kalyana Ramanathan- Business Standard 23rd May, 2010
Indian wineries are no more looking to exploit Britain’s love affair
with Indian cuisine. They are looking to trounce the traditional and
renowned wineries with products that can compete with the best Britain
has in offer.
(more...)
Wall Street Journal - 30th April 2010
Despite a rough year last year, a vibrant Desi wine industry -- part
Indian agriculture, part Napa Valley-like tourism and tasting -- has
blossomed in the past decade in India, centered around the Maharashtrian
city of Nashik. Here is a sampling of the wine-making process and the
marketing that has grown up around India's vintners.
(more...)
Harshal Shah - The Telegraph, 24th April 2010
I was with a rather talkative friend of mine the other day, scoffing
a dish that turned out to be more spicy than sweet-and-sour, when she
asked about a wine pairing with that dish. My mouth was otherwise
occupied at the time but it did get me thinking.
(more...)
Tushar Pawar - Business Standard, Mumbai / Nashik, April 2010,
Nashik-based Sula Vineyards, a major wine producer and a leading
wine importer, has now added another international wine brand from
French company ‘Rémy Cointreau’ to its portfolio.
(more...)
Jennifer Murphy- Food & Wine, 20th April 2010
Only a true wine geek would make the four-hour drive from Mumbai to
Nashik to go wine-tasting in the 100-plus-degree heat. But some prodding
from F&W’s always-curious wine editor Ray Isle, coupled with a
meeting in Mumbai with Rajeev Suresh Samant, the wine visionary behind
India’s Sula Wines, convinced me it was my journalistic duty to leave
Mumbai's chaos and investigate what was going on in India's wine
country.
(more...)
...provided you have the passion for it and are prepared to put in some
really hard work during the harvest and the peak season.
(more...)
For all Sula lovers who missed being there, here is a sneak peek into what actually happened on that day
(more...)
Eventfaqs.com - February 05, 2010
Sula Vineyards is organising the third edition of 'Sulafest 2010'.
The festival will host a day-long celebration of music, food and wine at
Sula’s own estate vineyards in Nasik on February 20. The festival is
being managed by Oxygen Entertainment.
(more...)
Payal Kamat - Midday, Mumbai , Dec 2009
Sula Wines will soon complete ten years and on the anvil are plans
to set up five-six wine bars by 2010 and a boutique restaurant by 2012.
CEO Rajeev Samant looks back on the journey:
(more...)
Dileep Athavale, Times of India,Pune November 2009
Backed by a slow, yet steady economic recovery in the country and
across the globe, India's wine sector that was hit by last year's
recession and the terror attacks in Mumbai, which dried the flow of
foreign tourists to the country, is gearing up for a strong comeback
this year.
(more...)
Mac Margolis- NEWSWEEK October 2009
Rajeev Samant developed a taste for wine during his years in
California, first as a Stanford student and then as an engineer at
Oracle in Silicon Valley. So when he returned to his family's
picturesque farm northeast of Mumbai, he decided to try growing table
grapes.
(more...)
Grace Segran - INSEAD Knowledge October 2009
When foreign sommeliers come to India, they come with very low
expectations. After all, India is better known for its cotton industry
than wine production. However that is now changing.
(more...)
WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE September 2009
Because we are big fans of Indian food, a few months ago we set out
to try every Indian wine we could find in the U.S. There aren't many. In
fact, in the first six months of this year, the U.S. imported less than
1,000 cases of Indian wine.
(more...)
Mansi Agarwal - www.heritagewonder.com September 2009
Indian wine has gained immense popularity in recent years. Owing to
the same popularity, India is now receiving favored response towards
wine tourism. Most of the vineyards in India have tasting suites for the
wine lovers to enjoy the best of wines that India has to offer.
(more...)
Carmen Lichi - METRO LONDON September 2009
It’s the perfect scene for an afternoon of hazy, lazy wine tasting:
the sky is cornflower blue and a gentle breeze is ruffling the vines. I
could be in the Loire Valley, or maybe across the pond in California’s
Sonoma or Napa.But no, I’m thousands of miles away, in India, 110 miles
north-east of Mumbai, near the pilgrim town of Nashik.
(more...)
Subhash Arora - Delwine August 2009
Though official statistics are not yet available, Sula Vineyards
appears to have whizzed past the biggest, rival wine producer in India,
Indage Vintners which has seen a dramatic fall in its sales last year
and is undergoing a dire financial and marketing crisis this year, feels
Subhash Arora.
(more...)
By Antoine Lewis - Hi! Living Magazine
Wine production and its attendant tourism is unexpectedly growing in
India. LIVING does the swirl, sniff and sip ritual at some of the best
vineyards in the country.
(more...)
By Brinda Gill - Pune Correspondent for Sommelier India
Rajeev
Samant, CEO of Sula Vineyards,Nashik, has been passionately involved in
all aspects of the wine business. Sula has grown from 30 to 1,500 acres
(owned and contracted); from a production of 5000 cases to 200,000
cases; from two wine varietals to a portfolio of 18 wines since its
inception in 1999. Samant shares his thoughts about his company and the
Indian wine scenario with Brinda Gill of Sommelier India.
(more...)
'India's Wine Woes Now Will Benefit Consumers Later'
By Rajeev Samant, CEO Sula Vineyards for Wall Street Journal
At the biennial Vinexpo in Bordeaux last month, the world's largest
wine expo where producers, importers and other members of the wine trade
gather for a five-day bacchanal, it was almost funereal compared to the
frenzy of past fairs. Visitor numbers were down 10% from 2007 and a
number of booths looked deserted, with forlorn producers sipping
ruefully on their own wines and wondering what hit them. The global wine
business is hurting this year after many years of steady growth and,
frankly, producers need to share a healthy part of the blame.
(more...)
by Kamya Jaiswal of Money Today
Popular
lore and Hollywood have conjured an image of winemaking that’s nothing
short of exotic. Think succulent grapes dangling from vines, being
squished under pretty women’s feet and aged for years in wooden barrels.
Not so, says Rajeev Samant, CEO, Sula Wines. “Think a dated system of
regulations and harsh taxation,” he says, bursting the romantic bubble.
(more...)
By Rayna Jhaveri for Outlook Traveller Magazine
Nashik’s gradual transformation into wine country has finally moved
up a notch with Sula Vineyards’ luxury villa Beyond. Oenophiles no
longer need suffer rushed day-trips from nearby Mumbai and Pune — so
antithetical to the relaxed enjoyment of wine — nor commute from faraway
hotels within Nashik city to their favourite winery.
(more...)
By Sonya Fatah of the Toronto Star.
NASIK, India–Rows of grape vines wrapped around steel frames are set
in long, neat lines that stretch across the expanse on this side of the
horizon.
(more...)
By Joe Leahy for the Financial Times
Read the Financial Times take on the Indian wine industry.
(more...)
Business Standard November 2007.
It’s safe to say that wine has arrived in this primarily
scotch-drinking country. Rajeev Samant in an tête-à-tête with Business
Standard.
(more...)
By Rajeev Samant CEO Sula Vineyards, for The Times of India.
Read Rajeev's editorial in the Times of India on 4th August 2007.
(more...)
Japan, Asia's biggest wine market gets a taste of Sula.
(more...)
By Vikram Doctor & Kala Vijayraghavan of the Economic Times of India
'Big sip' - Future Group arm picks 20% in Sula Wines.
(more...)
By Sanaya Chavda for What's Hot magazine, March 2007.
The writer takes a weekend trip to the Sula Vineyards in Nashik and comes back a wine lover.
(more...)