If you’ve read my Nashik travel guide, you already know we squeezed a Sula visit into our itinerary and I left a quick review there. But the tasting deserves its own honest breakdown, so here’s the fuller story of what to actually expect if you’re planning to do it.
About Sula Vineyards
Sula is a classic story of an Indian returning back to his homeland and starting something unique. Sula Vineyards was founded in 1999 by Rajeev Samant, a Stanford engineer who left his job at Oracle in California, moved back to India, and decided to plant grape vines in Nashik. He named the winery after his mother, Sulabha. What started as an experiment became India’s first commercial winery, and today it’s the country’s largest wine brand. Sula essentially put Nashik on the wine map and earned it the “Wine Capital of India” title.
The estate sits about 15 km from the city center, on the banks of Gangapur Lake at the foot of the Sahyadri hills. It’s huge, vineyards rolling across the slopes, a tasting room, a wine bar, a restaurant, a merch store, and the amphitheater that once hosted SulaFest (India’s biggest vineyard music festival, discontinued after 2020). Even if you don’t drink, the setting alone is worth it. That golden-hour light over the grapevines makes the whole place look like a European postcard.
The Wines
The tasting flight walks you through Sula’s core range, and the wines themselves are genuinely good. Expect their crisp, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc, the off-dry Chenin Blanc (India’s very first, and a Sula classic), and the crowd-favorite semi-sweet Zinfandel Rosé that converts even non-wine drinkers.
On the red side you’ll usually get the oak-aged Dindori Reserve Shiraz and the bolder Rasa reds, before finishing on the celebratory Sula Brut sparkling. It’s a nice spread, light whites to bold reds to bubbles.
The Tasting Experience
I’ll be very honest with this one, and this opinion is based solely on my previous wine-tasting experiences in Sonoma (California), Boise (Idaho), and Woodinville (Washington). From my experience, there are generally two ways to enjoy a wine tasting. One is through a tasting flight, where all of your selected wines are served at once so you can enjoy them slowly at your own pace. The other is a winery tour, where you walk through the facility and taste wines along the way.
Here, the experience was a little different. We started with a tour of the winery, where they explained the different barrels, temperature control, the winemaking process, and more. It was informative, well-paced, and we had enough time to look around, take photos, and explore the barrels ourselves.
After that, we were taken to another room with tables and glasses, where the tasting flight began. People were brought in batches, and while one person explained each wine, another staff member poured the next one in parallel.
This is where the experience started to feel rushed. By the time I was finishing one wine, someone was already standing in front of me ready to pour the next. It got so rushed that I actually skipped one pour because I couldn’t keep up. After the tasting ended, I had to go back and ask for the one I missed, and I honestly felt a bit awkward doing so.
So while I genuinely enjoyed the winery tour, I didn’t enjoy the tasting experience itself.
This was my first wine-tasting experience in India, and I truly had high hopes.
Overall thoughts about Sula
The property delivered: gorgeous seating areas, lush gardens, lake views, plenty of wine to choose from. The tasting, on the other hand, was rushed. We were practically told to gulp the wine down, and when we mentioned it felt too fast, the winemakers completely ignored us.
It felt like the only goal was pushing each batch through the wines as quickly as possible, no room to actually enjoy or understand the tasting notes. So if you’re visiting, I honestly don’t recommend the tasting tour. Instead, take a tasting flight at the wine bar and enjoy the wines at your own pace while enjoying the stunning green hills of the Sahyadri Range. Same wines, better experience, and you get to drink them like a human being.
The only redeeming bit after this horrible tasting experience was the store credit that came with the tickets. A little retail therapy did made us feel better and we used ours on a t-shirt that’s now our staple for wine tours. Small win. You can watch the Sula Vineyards video on my YouTube channel.
