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 During a casual conversation about 5 years ago with Dr. Hildegarde Heymann, a fellow judge at the annual wine competition Mundusvini in Neustadt, Germany where both of us have been judging for several years, I learnt that she was a Professor in sensory evaluation at the University of California, Davis. I also knew that Karishma Grover, eldest daughter of Kapil Grover who was then the majority shareholder of Grover Vineyards, had studied there before returning to India and joining the winery as an assistant winemaker in 2008. When I had I asked her if she remembered Karishma. ‘Oh, yes,’ was her instant reply, ‘she was a very good student.’
A graduate in Viticulture & Enology (V&E) with a Minor in Managerial Economics, Karishma had completed the prestigious wine making degree from the acclaimed UC, Davis. Her coursework included viticulture, winery operations and sensory evaluation. Upon completion of her degree, Karishma interned with Cakebread Cellars in Napa Valley, California. She has worked closely with renowned French consulting enologist Michel Rolland, consultant to GroverZ. She has also interned in France and actively participates in all the tastings and experiments that are conducted during his visits to India.
She had been under our radar since then and we have watched her carve out a place for herself in the winery and wine industry in general over the years. Moreover, as she was directly involved in the processing of wine, she had been our natural choice as one of the Top Ten Women of Wine in India List when we started the project in 2013.
‘She is the one who first championed the Viognier for our company. She felt it would do well in India, given its fruit expressiveness and also introduced art collections with designer labels for Grover Wine’, says Kapil proudly. Today, Viognier has become an important wine grape in their portfolio, including Vijay Amritraj Collection (both white and red variants).
She has been more and more involved in the winemaking, shuttling between Mumbai, Nashik and Bangalore. She enjoys the challenge and is actively involved in their marketing and public relation departments. Her priorities are to maintain a high level of quality and keep on educating Indians in wine culture. Be it the winery or a wine festival, you can see Karishma right in front talking about her wines and tasting with various groups.
Karishma has been instrumental for Grover Zampa in winning numerous international accolades. Recent ones include 9 awards at The Decanter Asia Wine Awards 2014 which includes a first time International Trophy for its Art Collection Sauvignon Blanc 2014 and 3 silver medals for La Reserve’ White, Chene Grand Reserve and Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection White. This was a historic moment for the company and a tribute to the Indian wine industry.
Continuing her efforts with a winning streak, Grover Zampa also starred at the 2014 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition where they won 7 Silver medals and 9 Bronze medals. At the competition, the company broke all records of medals for Indian wines and created history by bagging 15 out of the 19 coveted medals, an all-time record for an Indian wine producer.
With 8 years of relevant direct wine making experience, assistance in marketing and PR and a guaranteed continued presence in the wine industry she is our natural choice for the second edition as well and we are happy to welcome Karishma Grover again as one of the Top Ten Indian WOW 2015.
Subhash Arora
For an earlier article on her, visit WOW: Top Ten Women of Wine in India 2013- Karishma Grover of Grover- Zampa
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