Indian wine in five facts and five wines

Last August (2025), I started a whirlwind tour of four Indian wine regions as the monsoon was drawing to its end. During the nine-day trip, I travelled nearly 3,000km domestically and tasted over 150 wines to assess the 2025 vintage and recent bottlings from previous vintages. I also got to review another 30 wines from Bangalore and the southern region a few days before New Year’s Eve, en route home after another trip to India. Overall, the 2025 vintage offers ripe, round and well-polished wines that are easily approachable if made for early drinking, or will likely mature into playful and smooth reds of fine structure. With that context in mind, if you’re wondering what else there is to know about Indian wines, here are five key facts, presented in a non-textbook style. Scroll down to find five Indian wines to try [subscriber-content] Where flavourful reds shine Indian reds generally offer rich, ripe flavours, because gradual improvements in vineyard practices have helped eliminate burnt rubber tones and overly greenish characters. Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon may traditionally be the dominant grape varieties for red wine making, but Indian vintners are also crushing an increasing number of other black grapes, including Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Grenache and Cabernet Franc. Despite the inclination to assume that there is no vintage variation to speak of, even just comparing the 2024 and 2025 vintages makes the case for paying attention to vintage when drinking Indian wines. [caption id="attachment_574613" align="alignnone" width="1300"] Rupali Bhatnagar Raghorte, senior winemaker of Sula Vineyards. Image copyright: Peter Csizmadia-Honigh[/caption] The ‘unthinkable’: Pinot & Chardonnay in a sub-tropical climate Once considered notoriously difficult to grow, the tide seems to be turning for both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Though trialled in the sub-tropical climate since the birth of the Indian wine industry, very low yields made Pinot and Chardonnay production uneconomical. With rising viticultural knowledge, yields and fruit quality have improved, and seven producers now make Pinot Noir, while 17 cellars offer Chardonnay. Stay & sip: Wine tourism at its best Nashik, 180km north-east of metropolitan Mumbai, is the premier wine region in the country. Originally attracting visitors for its many temples and the Hindu pilgrimage of Kumbh Mela, held every 12 years, Nashik is now renowned as India’s wine country. Producers, both small and large, offer a taste of the wine lifestyle, and travellers gladly imbibe in picturesque settings. The concept of wine tourism is central to the offering of nearly all producers in other Indian wine regions too. Reliable staples of Indian wine A handful of producers – Sula Vineyards, Grover Zampa, Fratelli Wines, Big Banyan and Chandon India – are household names amongst Indian wine consumers and produce labels now regarded as classics: The Source, La Réserve, Sette, Limited Edition and Chandon Brut. All these labels reliably deliver quality and enjoyable wines from vintage to vintage. [caption id="attachment_574615" align="alignnone" width="1300"] Peter Csizmadia-Honigh tasting with Ajoy Shaw of Plateaux Vintners. Image copyright: Peter Csizmadia-Honigh[/caption] New kids on the block The Indian wine scene is relatively small. New producers, however, set up shop regularly. Here are three of the new kids worth noting. Plateaux Vintners , a tiny outfit created by Ajoy Shaw, formerly of Sula Vineyards, produces a few hundred bottles a year and focuses on orange wines from Chenin Blanc. 2018 was the first vintage I tasted from Nipha Estate Winery , a small family business with cellar-door sales only. Delicious pizza and excellent coffee are on offer from the entrepreneurial teenage daughters of proprietor Ashok Surwade. Myne has been set up by Prashanth Nair to herald the quality and unique character of Indian wine. Having tasted Myne wines from the 2023 vintage onwards, the reds are the most impressive, with generosity of fruit and richness. [/subscriber-content] Five Indian wines to try [wine-collection] Related articles Thailand: A wine lover’s guide Ningxia: China’s rapidly emerging fine wine region Japanese Koshu: History and top wines worth seeking out

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Indian wine in five facts and five wines

Scroll down to find five Indian wines to try

Five Indian wines to try

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