Kinvah Vineyards located near nandi hills makes for an ideal day trip from Bangalore. We took an hour to arrive there from city on a sunday morning. Tickets for this can we found on bookmyshow or can be reserved on their website: Kinvah Vineyards
The package costs 1500 Rs (includes wine tasting, Tour, grape stomping, snacks and lunch)
Note: There are many other vineyards around this area (nandi hills) like grover, Myra , heritage winery etc.
We were greeted with a welcome drink Sangria and were led to a very pretty lawn. There was of course an infinite sangria refill tower.
The tour lady gave us a warm welcome. We were a group of 10 people from Bangalore. There was live barbeque which we helped ourselves to. Then we met the wine expert Shishi.
He has been in the wine making business for more than a decade and was a very informative person. He took us to the factory where the wines are made (Just around the corner) and also to the grape plants to share his knowledge of wines.
Something he said at the beginning of the trip we all agreed to at the end of the trip was that ‘Wine making is an art’
All about Wine
Viticulture is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. There are about 10000 varieties of grapes. About 600 used for wine making and in India we use 35 varieties of grapes.
Some interesting facts! Rose plants are planted around vineyards. Why!?
Bacterias that affect rose affect grapes and by surveying the rose plants diseases can be prevented.
Wines are named after the place it is grown in or the name of the grapes it is made from. Grapes are weird plants- It grows well in areas with sparse food and water . Only after 7 years we get quality.
There are only about 698 master wine tasters in the whole world. These people can tell the bio data of a wine just by tasting it(blindfolded). You need to pass 5 levels of courses to come to this level.
He further told us the difference between red/rose/white wine and how it is made. The factory made me nostalgic- with all huge reactors, pumps, and pipes. Reminded of my chemical engineering days. He explained to us by showing the machines- how grapes are crushed, how they are deseeded, fermented, cooled etc.
Oak chips are added to wine and they remain for 6 months remain to get a smoky taste. This also quickens the barrel aging time.
Barrel aging
I got a whole new respect for barrels after listening to him. Barrels are made from special oak trees which are aged 70 years or above. Those who make barrels are called coopers and they have to study this course for 8 years. Wines age in a barrel for 18 months or longer.
After a barrel has been used in the wine industry it goes to the whiskey industry! Each barrel costs 35000Rs to a lakh. A whiskey barrel costs 10 lakh rs. Next time you drink a scotch think of the hard work done by the barrel!
Wine tasting
After a lot of theory we went out to the wine tasting session. We were given 6 premium wines to taste. He taught us how to hold a wine glass, swirling the wine, the parabola test to identify light to full bodied wines. Also, identifying different smells from the wines- like pineapple,greenapple, honey, dark chocolate, ginger etc etc, different ways to drink wine-like really taste the essence of it and not just sip or gulp.
It was a super interesting session which made knocked us all out. We were dizzy after the session. It was lunch afterwards. It was a good spread of buffet food. After lunch there was a game session. Winners got a bottle of wine.
Grape stomping
This was the most interesting part for me. Stomping grapes!
There are apparently a lot of health benefits to it
- Acupuncture
- Antioxidants
- Relieves stress
- Detans legs- sort of pedicure
- Leaves you with baby soft legs
- And yes where else can you stamp edible grapes
Also this practice has been outdated. It is just a fun activity these days.
In this vineyard they use this crushed grapes are manure.
Cans of grapes were thrown into the oak crate. We had fun dancing, stamping around. It was evening by the time this got over. We got a cab back ad got home at around 6PM
Vineyard visit is a fun day trip from bangalore if you drink alcohol that is and if you are a wine enthusiast!
Browse through More trips
Agumbe – The land of King cobra
Makalidurga trek – Women Vs Wild
Recent posts
Exploring Life.. 