Wine: Sula Region: Nashik, India
Grape: Shiraz (red) Vintage (year grapes were picked): 2019
Price: ¥1628 (£12.24) Alcohol by volume: 13%
Background
Beer is still certainly the alcoholic drink of choice in India with wine trailing way behind, understandably so given how refreshing it is to crack open a cold one (beer) on a hot day. That being said, the popularity of wine has been increasing recently due to the good work put in by wineries like Sula in promoting wine and wine tourism and India now even boasts one of the world’s 400 or so Masters of Wine, who predominantly are from Europe and America. So it’s definitely a nation in the ascendance in terms of viticulture.
Climatically though it has to deal with high temperatures and monsoon seasons so production can only take place in certain regions and even then growers have to be careful not to be caught out by the extremes. Planting at altitude can help where temperatures are cooler as well as having the vines planted on slopes which offers better drainage for excess water.
The Wine
The juice has a pleasant medium ruby-purple hue to it although already it looks a little thin for a Shiraz. The bottle recommends I drink this wine slightly chilled which is understandable given India’s heat, yet it does feel a little dishonest doing so.
I’m not going to lie, this has to be one of the most confusing wines I’ve tried to date. At times on the nose it doesn’t smell like a serious wine – it has that homogenous sweet cherry smell reminiscent of a kind of budget Haribo. And yet when I whiff again, there seems to be some more recognisable Shiraz notes of dark fruits and spice which seem a little more substantial.
To taste it seems to combine these two disparate identities, it clashes the sweetness of the former and the dryness of the latter which here results in an unbalanced wine because these two things don’t happen at the same time in harmony – it’s one, then the other, and it’s all very sudden and jarring. You’re hit with a short blast of something like dark fruits bubblegum which then quickly turns to a wash of sour, unripe black cherry. The best analogy of this wine I can think of is that it’s sweet, then sour.
I’m sure there are other Indian wines with more of a local identity and that equate to an overall more together wine, but this one sadly doesn’t achieve either of those things. I’m struggling to pinpoint any nuances specific to India here and it generally lacks any discerning characteristics of being a Shiraz either.
There seem to be reviews right across the board for this one and I won’t let this bottle deter me from trying again with Indian wine. Sula seem to do a wide variety of wines and spirits so maybe next time I’ll have more luck when trying their Chenin Blanc.
Where To Buy
MEGA Don Quijote. I got mine from the one in Tsurumi although I’m sure they will stock it in others.
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