Latest news with #SonalHolland
Time of India
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Master of Wine to mastering balance: Sonal Holland uncorks some wisdom
As the first Indian to get the Master of Wine title — one of only about 512 globally — Sonal Holland not only knows her wine but also sake, shochu , and global beverage culture. In her memoir 'One in a Billion', she offers insights into her journey — one that involved juggling travel, study, and raising her adopted daughter, who was just a year old when her MW course began in 2010. The book's title, in fact, comes from her daughter's reaction to her achievement. In a chat with Kritika Sharma , the 52-year-old reflects on the importance of open conversations around alcohol In your memoir, you write about how your parents were both supportive and progressive when you ditched the hospitality industry and became a winepreneur. How has that affected the way you parent? I'm deeply inspired by the way my parents raised my sister and me with a balance of traditional and progressive values. They instilled in us the importance of family, festivals, and friendships, while also being humble enough to admit they wanted us to grow up in a better environment than they had. They never dwelled on failures and were always solution-oriented. My father strongly believed that our environment shapes who we become, and that's a principle I try to pass on to my daughter. My husband is British, and English is the primary language spoken at home. There is nothing very Maharashtrian about our household, but we still host Ganpati every year, we celebrate all Indian festivals with the same zeal as we celebrate Christmas. My daughter, who is 16, is being raised in a household where there is cultural confluence. We allow her the space, freedom, and encouragement to make her own choices — whether it's the tuition she wants to take or the extracurricular activities she wants to try. We're not the kind of parents who hover constantly. We guide her, mentor her, and offer advice, but never impose. I genuinely believe that the best parenting style is one that advises and mentors without controlling. How are you supporting your daughter's aspirations? She's very interested in music and sports, but not particularly academically inclined. She recently appeared for her Class 10 board exams, and all I told her was: this is an important year, so give it your best and leave the rest. We've never pressured her to excel in maths or science. Instead, we've chosen to focus on nurturing her interests — music and football. She has a piano teacher who comes home for lessons, and she's extremely passionate about football, so she's enrolled in the school's sports team. This means staying back after school for extra hours, which can be logistically challenging since she can't take the school bus back and has to be picked up by car. But that's the kind of infrastructure you need to build around your child's aspirations. We do all of this because we genuinely want to support and fuel her dreams. Somewhere along the way, that spark will lead to her roadmap — and hopefully, to her 'one in a billion' moment. I truly believe we all seek that moment where everything aligns, and we feel: this is it, this is my calling. But you can't get there without trying your hand at a hundred different things. You have to be willing to experiment, to fail, to try again — until you stumble upon that one pursuit that truly ignites your passion. As parents, our role is to be supportive — to give them space, freedom, and most importantly, respect. You can't turn around and say, 'Why music? Unless you're going to be a world-class singer, how will you ever make money from it?' As a parent who educates others about wine, how do you educate your kids about alcohol? Like they say, the children don't learn from what you tell them. T hey learn from your actions, not your words. As someone working in the alcoholic beverage industry, particularly in education and consulting, I hope my daughter sees that I am a very moderate consumer of the very beverage I advocate and popularise. I drink responsibly, and I consistently promote moderation, both through my personal choices and my public messaging — whether it's through social media or articles. You will never really see me drunk because I want my daughter to understand that I'm not an abuser of alcohol, but rather an advocate for moderate, responsible drinking. My daughter is 16 years old and, of course, she's underage, so I'll be careful in how I choose my words here, but I really do hope that she has her first drink, or first few drinks, in our presence. I don't want to make this a taboo. I'm open with her, in the belief that if I hide nothing from her, she won't feel the need to hide anything from me. The reality is that at some point, she will try alcohol. India is the third-largest alcohol market in the world. If I make a big fuss about it, chances are she'll end up drinking in secrecy — which is common, but not ideal. I'd rather she be in a safe environment, not vulnerable, not out of control, and certainly not in a situation where she can be taken advantage of. I want her to understand and appreciate alcohol for what it is — and to know how to enjoy it responsibly. As someone who has an unconventional career, what is your advice for parents who are always looking for safe career choices for their kids? The whole career landscape has changed so much. I want to tell all parents that your children are seeing a world you have not been exposed to, and they may have a certain line of thinking that is beyond our scope of imagination. So, we must therefore be humble enough to accept that and allow them to experiment and try a few things because who knows what might come out of it. If my parents hadn't allowed me that freedom or bet on me, I wouldn't be where I am. Allow them to fuel their dreams and give them wings. But equally, allow them to fall back on you if it fails. If children make a wrong choice, don't respond with, 'If you do this, the doors are closed on you forever.' Don't be dramatic. I think that's one of the worst things a parent can do. Instead, always leave the road open for them to return — to your shelter, care, and protection — especially in moments of failure. That's when they need you the most. Only then will they be able to refuel themselves into trying something else. How did your parents react to your unconventional career choice? My father was extremely supportive of my choice. All he asked me was what does Andrew (Sonal's husband) think of it and when I told him that it was his idea that I pursue a career in the alco-bev industry, he was convinced. My mother, on the other hand, has been a teetotaller all her life and she did not understand my choice at that time. Of course, now she is proud of me, and we laugh about her reservations at that time. But the fact that I was married to a sensible, older man — not someone my age who had no idea what they were doing with their life — really helped my case. You have stepkids from your husband's first marriage. How does that shape the family dynamic and does it in any way affect your relationship with your daughter? W e are one big happy family who love going on holidays and spending time together. There is no concept of stepkids or stepmother in our family. And that has happened over time and organically. I never forced the kids to get along with me or to accept me as a part of their family. When I first got introduced to Andrew's children, Christopher and Charlotte, they were nine and eight. Now, they are 34 and 33. At that time, they were too young but all I told them was to treat me like their friend and not stepmother. That really helped and over time, our relationship grew organically. During their growing up years, they started coming to me for advice. It's a beautiful relationship now. Christopher is getting married next month in the UK and in the marriage certificate, he has given two names for mother, his biological mother and mine and that is such a huge honour for me. What more do I say about the relationship? When it comes to our daughter Rianna, she is fonder of Christopher and Charlotte than me. She tells everyone that she has two other siblings.
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
How Sonal Holland shortened the distance between Bombay Central and Bordeaux
At thirty-three, Sonal Holland stood at the edge of a comfortable life—successful, stable, predictable. As Director of National Sales for a Fortune 500, NASDAQ-listed company in India, she was at the top of her game. But inside, she felt hollow. Stagnant. Frustrated by the lack of excitement or meaning in her work. Looking westward, she asked: what are they doing that we're not? That's when she saw it—wine. A vibrant culture and profession thriving in the West, virtually untapped in India. There were no wine professionals of global repute here yet, but change was coming. India was growing, evolving, and someone would need to lead the way. So she invested in herself, chasing an education that could equip her for the future—and how. She uncorked a new chapter, poured herself into a métier she barely understood but already loved, and stepped toward a horizon as strange and beckoning as a vineyard glimpsed through morning mist. Wine wasn't just a drink. It was a calling—a whisper in the oak barrels of her soul, a passion fermented in silence, finally ready to breathe. What makes her story even more astonishing is where it begins. Sonal was a middle-class Maharashtrian girl from Bombay Central, who walked the streets of Byculla to school, dreaming simple, safe dreams. The kind of girl expected to work hard, earn decently, stay in her lane. But she refused to stay boxed in. From that modest childhood in Mumbai's cramped heart, she now hobnobs with the tastemakers of the planet, swirling glasses in salons and vineyards most people only see in glossy magazines. That journey—ordinary girl to global authority—is why her story matters. Because it isn't just hers. It's a story all of us can live. This memoir reminds us that the distance between Bombay Central and Bordeaux, between Byculla and Burgundy, is not as far as it seems—if you're willing to walk it. Her odyssey became a surreal carousel of discovery and surrender, of being utterly present in each moment yet lost to something larger. In wine she found a teacher—patient, cruel, revealing. She learned to watch the blush of vineyards in spring, the green vines crisscrossing hills like veins on a living body. She learned to inhale the perfume of cellar, damp and ancient, a library of memory in each bottle. She learned to sip, to spit, to taste not just wine but the hands that grew it, the sun that kissed it, the storms that humbled it. Each glass became a biography, a region distilled into ruby or gold. And she marveled at how, in wine houses across the world, among strangers speaking in accents she'd never heard, she still felt at home—because wine needs no translation. Yet it wasn't easy. She mothered a young daughter while chasing her dream, spending birthdays, Diwalis, even her own milestones alone—often with nothing but a warm champagne in a plastic cup aboard some forgotten train. A blasphemy, perhaps, but also a testament to her grit. She chose the promise of a future over the comfort of immediate gratifications, making peace with the loneliness and absence because she knew what mastery demanded. Her daughter, too, understood in her own way—and they found small ways to make up for what was missed. On rides to remote vineyards, through dusty roads and winding passes, she thought of how life's journeys are just like these: bumpy, breathtaking, better for the unexpected turns. Each sip carried not just grapes but histories—rooted in region, personality, nationality—yet fleeting, ephemeral. Like gossamer. For wine, in its finest expression, belongs to no one tongue, no one tribe. It is a spirit without borders, a symphony without a conductor. At dusk in Napa, under stars in Rioja, on sun-dappled afternoons in Burgundy, she disappeared into the rhythm of the land, the people, the wines. Every bottle, every vineyard, every vintage revealed itself as singular as every human being. Just as no two wines are quite alike, no two people, no two callings ever quite overlap. She kept coming back, each time discovering wine could be bigger, bolder, more daring than before. She began to see herself in its evolution—from grape to glass, from shy student to Master of Wine. That title—awarded by the Institute of Masters of Wine in the UK—is the highest honor in the field, earned by fewer than 425 people worldwide. India has only one. Sonal. She carved her name into that list through sheer will and love for her craft. She is one in a billion. Not just because her daughter called her that, but because it is true. One quiet morning, her daughter walked up to her, with the simple, unselfconscious wisdom only children possess. Her father had suggested she congratulate her mother. And so he said it plainly: 'Mom, you're one in a billion.' The words struck Sonal like a cork popping loose. A phrase as intimate as it was immense. A toast, a benediction, a mirror held up to her struggle and triumph. And in that instant the title of her memoir was born. One in a Billion. Because the story isn't just hers. It's for the wine aficionado tracing the scent of oak through a labyrinth of glasses. For the wanderer who longs to take a surreal journey through life's intent and its wild, inexplicable reality. For anyone standing at the edge of their own crisis, staring down who they are, what they could become, what new chapter they still have the courage to write. Her memoir is for them. For all of us. Because Sonal's story is also a story of what it means to believe you are not one of many, but one in a billion. Every page is a lesson—not in the way of chalkboards and lectures, but a lesson you sip, swirl, let linger. She teaches the truth she learned in a vineyard under a foreign un: there is always a calling. A moment. A success story waiting, ripening. But you must notice it. Grasp it. Invest in it. Own it. And she writes it all in prose as layered as a fine Bordeaux, as voluptuous as a Barolo, as daring as a New World Cabernet. Her narrative is cinematic: you can feel the travel underfoot, smell the crushed violet in the air, hear the faint clink of glasses in the distance. Her words spill in a rhythm that seduces and startles, lush with alliteration that turns over the tongue like a well-aged Pinot Noir—silky, shimmering, soulful. She shows how wine and life are both allegories. Every human being is a bottle waiting to be opened, revealing notes you couldn't have guessed, complexities you never expected. We are all products of our terroir, of the climate and culture that shaped us—yet more than our soil, more than our weather. We are what we choose to become. Sonal Holland's journey proves you don't have to settle for being one among many. You can choose to be one in a billion. If she can do it—leaving the safety of the known for the risk of the remarkable—then maybe you can too. Life itself is a tasting flight: pours and pauses, each fleeting, each precious. Some bitter, some bold, some soft and sweet. But all worth savouring. Her memoir is not only about wine, though wine runs through every page like a deep red river. It is about the human spirit, fragile yet resilient, singular yet universal. rave enough to chase a horizon that scares you. Humble enough to spit out what doesn't serve you. Present enough to savor what does. And as you close her memoir, you feel it—a warmth in your chest, like the first sip of wine after a long day. Seeing her recently, sitting beside her daughter at a book signing in Bandra, was a reminder of everything she embodies: Master of Wine, master of her household, master of humanity. The daughter beamed, saying she loves her mum; the mum, adoring her daughter. And you realise: life, like wine, is not meant to be perfect. It is meant to be poured, shared, savored. And in that, Sonal Holland reminds us: there is always magic to be found. Always another bottle to open, another chapter to write. Always, if you dare to believe it, another chance to be one in a billion.
The Hindu
08-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Sonal Holland, India's first Master of Wine, launches her memoir
In 2016, Sonal Holland become the country's first Master of Wine. The prestigious qualification is considered to be highest standard of professional knowledge in the field. After 20 years in the industry, Sonal has released her memoir, One in a Billion (Westland Books). The book charts her professional journey with personal anecdotes about family and motherhood. 'In these two decades I have walked an unconventional path,' Sonal says over a call from Mumbai. 'I believe my story is unique. My obsessive journey to get this title, and the sacrifices that went behind it... I wanted to chronicle it all.' Sonal says the book is aimed the three kinds of people: people in the trade who are curious about what a 'master of wine' is and how does one get to be one. 'Second is for consumers who want a glimpse into the industry, through my lens. As I call it, my rosé-tinted glasses.' And last, she says the book is for anyone who is looking to reinvent themselves and change paths. The book is dedicated to her father, whom she calls her 'first champion'. It begins on Ganesh Chaturthi of 2016, the day that the results of the Master of Wine exam are due. She is rightfully nervous. 'Consider this: way more people have scaled Mount Everest or travelled to space than have become Master of Wine (only about 512 since 1953).' 'The Indian wine industry then was nascent' Sonal grew up in Mumbai with her parents who had government jobs. 'The first 32 years of my life, I lived in a Reserve Bank colony in Mumbai. I had a very humble upbringing, a typical Maharashtrian childhood. I am a first-generation wine drinker in my family.' The book charts her rebel teen years, her initial career in hospitality, and how she met her husband. In 2006, she decided to leave her corporate job. 'Wine as an idea just came to me as a lightning bolt. The Indian wine industry then was nascent.' She looked up what was the highest qualification you can get and came across the Mater of Wine issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom. At the age of 33, Sonal embarked on a journey to study wines. 'Alongside that was my parallel journey into motherhood. I had a lot of problems with pregnancy. In 2009, I adopted my daughter.' When she started her course in 2010, her daughter was one. 'I have missed so many important milestones.' One in a Billion goes into these vulnerable moments. The book has added inputs from her sister, her mother, her stepchildren and from the folks at the Institute of Masters of Wine. Writing the book, with her business, was hard. It took over a year to pen. But through her life journey, Sonal wants to inspire other people who are craving a second act. One in A Billion is published by Westland Books and is priced at ₹438
Time of India
11-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Sonal Holland: Pioneering Wine Experiences and Empowering Women in the Beverage Industry, ET HospitalityWorld
Advt Advt By , ETHospitalityWorld Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis. Download ETHospitalityWorld App Get Realtime updates Save your favourite articles Scan to download App For Sonal Holland who left a high-paying corporate job in her early 30s to pursue a passion and a career in wine and spirits—her new venture, Holland House , a 5-bedroom luxury branded villa in Nashik, India's premier wine region—is another'reinvention of sorts in her entrepreneurial career.'Personally, I like to reinvent myself regularly and also want to inspire others to reinvent,' she said, starting the conversation speaking about the spirit behind her new project, Holland House, which was inspired by her travel to wine growing countries and regions and hospitality experiences in exclusive chateaux, private villas amidst vineyards and the world's best wineries.'It's really for anyone who is looking to reinvent themselves, looking for a second act and daring to make unconventional choices,' she about Holland House, which is operated by amã Stays & Trails , she said it was an encapsulation of all her travels and stay experiences in the world's best wine regions into the design and service aspects of the property, which was badly missing in India's premium wine growing region, Nashik.'I felt that there should be a place where the truly discerning wine lover can come, stay, book the entire villa if they want, and we can curate like a 360-degree wine experience which involves visits to your nearby wineries, barbecue evenings with wine and cheese, curate dinners, and even organise educational programmes like a master class where they want to learn about wine. I found that the scope for something like this was enormous and I couldn't find any other place like this in Nashik. I was anyway looking to build a second home, but I didn't want it to be a white elephant,' she House, she said, is a culmination of everything she has learned and loved over the years—from immersive wine experiences in Napa to the elegance of French chateaus and the tranquillity of five-bedroom property features grand living spaces, curated landscape gardens, a heated pool with a deck and cabana, a plush bar lounge, and seven public lounging areas that encourage guests to unwind beyond the confines of their rooms.'I could've built ten bedrooms. But I wanted to create an expansive, indulgent atmosphere where guests feel free to explore, relax and connect—with nature, with wines, and with themselves,' Holland commercial wine tourism setups by branded vineyards limited to their own labels, Holland House aims to deliver an elevated, globally inspired wine experience.'True wine aficionados appreciate variety and depth. At Holland House, we offer access to some of the best wines from around the world, not just one brand,' she said that they curate different activities depending on the number of nights guests spend at the also spoke about the transformational role she played in bringing more women into the alco-beverage industry at different levels over the last decade.'When I started my career 20 years ago, there was resistance. It was very unique—and challenging—for a woman to step into the world of wines and spirits,' she said, adding, 'Over the years, I've seen more and more women join this sector—not just as sommeliers, but as educators, content creators, marketers, winemakers, and even retail specialists.'Her own wine and spirits academy offers special scholarships for women in advanced WSET courses to encourage more female participation in the industry.'There are scientific reports suggesting women are better tasters. While I don't officially endorse that, I believe women bring immense value across the board,' she also spoke about the trend of premiumisation and high end wine and spirit exploration that is happening in the country beyond the metro cities.'There is a lot of emphasis on etiquettes and lifestyle around drinks because of increased exposure through travel and aspiration for western lifestyle,' she said, sharing her experiences of hosting events in cities like Ludhiana, Belgaum, etc.'When we talk about premiumisation, it doesn't exist in our cities. It truly exists in pockets in smaller towns. There's so much wealth there and there's so much hunger to embrace a certain lifestyle. There was so much curiosity and they wanted to have the best dreams and they wanted to learn as well. That's where the true premiumisation wave is,' she stated.
