Indian wine country on the rise as award-winning vineyards draw tourists and domestic fans
At Nashik International Airport, there are so many posters advertising vineyards and wine tastings, you could be forgiven for thinking you have landed in California's wine country rather than India's west, 160km (100 miles) north of Mumbai.
Yet in the past two decades, Indian wine production has become a thing, and Nashik is its epicentre.
The greater wine industry is taking notice: Sula Vineyards, India's leading winemaker, won the gold medal for cabernet sauvignon at the Global Wine Masters in May 2024, the highest honour an Indian bottling has received at that annual competition.
A viognier from Grover Zampa, which has vineyards in Nashik, and Bengaluru in India's south, was named best of show at January's Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America competition.
Sula Vineyards in Nashik is the largest Indian wine producer, making more than half of all wine consumed in India. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS
Beyond winning awards, Nashik is fuelling a thirst for wine in a country where alcohol consumption is restrained and mostly limited to
whisky
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