Feb 07: The 11th edition of the annual 2-day SulaFest at Sula vineyards and winery concluded on Sunday the 4th February, successfully delivering what it promised- plenty of music, wine, food, shopping and bonhomie with friends for over 12,000 people estimated to have attended the fest that saw a drop in numbers, primarily since the last year was a 3-day special event, writes Subhash Arora who attended for the 5th time, 3rd year in a row and observed mark improvement in logistics-the big bottleneck and who believes events like this help improve wine tourism in India
The music part of the festival has been well curated for years now, with professionally organised Acts at the main Amphitheatre, Atmasphere and now the ‘Tinder’ stage-on the roadside for dancing to the DJ music near the operating winery. Dozens of stalls in the food court, and Sula stands and the Tasting Room pouring wine and other Sula Selections-imported beverages, were the back-bone of the event, coupled with the usual grape stomping, shopping bazaar, massages etc. Keeping with the times, there were several selfie spots all over the fest grounds.
The whole event was very well-organised-Sula has created a well-oiled machinery over the years for successful planning and execution of the profit-making event seeing increasing numbers –of well over 16,000-18,000 last year. This was the first time when the old, senior team including Rajeev Samant, Founder CEO was practically unavailable for organisation. Cecilia Oldne and a few other senior employees have left the company since the last edition. So the organiser’s mantle had fallen on the relatively new Ken Pritchard, the SVP of Marketing for Sula.
Music-the Soul of SulaFest
There were not many visible structural changes, for those who have not attended the last couple of editions (Vivo had left as the main sponsor earlier). Of course, the quality and the repertoire of music has been getting a notch higher every year. If it was Kailash Kher who regaled the crowd last year and Lucky Ali in 2016, laurels were won by the current rage of Bollywood, Amit Trivedi and his group of 8 talented musicians who had the crowd eating out of their palms, with hundreds of arms going up and people singing along with him and his troupe. Starting with soft numbers that initially made me a bit nervous about the success of the performance, the group went on to more peppy and popular numbers as the evening progressed. As he had mentioned earlier in the Press Release, Amit had divided his set into two parts- ‘the first only for the ears and the next would be for legs’.
Many popular numbers like Iktara, Love You Zindagi, ‘Emosanal Atyachaar’ had the crowd spellbound and singing with the group. To give a little twist, the group also sang a Rajasthani number followed by a Gharba with the musicians dancing to the music with Gharba sticks and the crowd dancing wherever they could find space.
As Rajeev Samant told me last year, they used to have the Bollywood big night on Saturday but this year it would be on Sunday. Saturday was reserved for an evening with another feature group- Parov Stelar (the leader whose real name is Marcus Füreder) from Austria. Apparently very popular with the younger wine lovers, they sang the numbers that had even the older people like me on their feet, dancing away and asking for more. It was surprising to see many in the VIP stand sing along during a couple of songs. 
Coincidentally, it was in 2008 that Amit Trivedi joined Bollywood singing and composing for Bollywood while Parov Stelar went international and became popular internationally-both not looking back, and featuring at SulaFest2018..
There was live and DJ music throughout the day since 12 pm till the closing hour of 10 pm on both nights. Including several groups that performed on the two days, around 100 Indian and international artists from 30 different countries took part across 25 genres.
Infrastructure development around SulaFest
Numerous shacks, banquets, restaurants have come up besides the full-fledged Soma Vineyard Resort 3 kms. away- the major chunk of which had been leased by Sula till June last year. The Source at Sula built by dismantling the old winery was not fully built up last year but was completed this year and had full occupancy. Sula has been working on improving the car parking and logistics to the venue and this year it was perhaps the best during the last 3 years of explosive expansion in the number of people attending.
Wine-Foundation of SulaFest
An interesting observation: there were many more of the younger crowd and several children with their parents-which bode well for the wine culture. One saw no fights or arguments, people moved around with fascinating sense of self-discipline; no underage boys or girls were seen drinking till they dropped. I felt the average age was around 30-32 years this time, compared to 33-35 years in the past.
There were winery tours and tastings as usual. One could taste in the Tasting room by booking in batches and enjoy guided tasting. Media was invited to a special Tasting of four wines conducted by Kerry Damsky, Senior Consultant Winemaker and Director of Sula and Karan Vasani, senior winemaker. Two of these- Sula Rasa and Dindori Reserve have been around for years. Blanc de Blanc Brut Chardonnay 2015 which I tasted in SulaFest2016 while ageing and SulaFest2017 when it was ready for the market at 
Rs. 1800 retail price, is the most expensive Indian sparkling wine now.
The most charming wine of the current crop of Sula wines is ‘The Source’- Rose 2017 made from Grenache grapes. With Karan’s footprints on it, I had tasted it earlier while interviewing Rajeev Samant in his office and found it to be addictive with its juiciness, soft and tender demeanour and racy acidity. So, I chose not to attend the tasting but focussed on other tasting points. I find it a very good buy at Rs. 875 a bottle.
Proof of the pudding....
Perhaps since he was not actively involved with the organisation, Rajeev Samant was at his relaxed best and had time for everyone who wanted a chat with him. Ken Pritchard seemed a bit anxious during the two days but had happy smiles at the end. The day before the event, he gave a pep talk to the group and all went off well.
You saw it all if you were there. If not, now is the time to pencil in February 2-3, 2019 the first weekend of February - to visit what I call ‘the mini Woodstock’ of India (minus the drugs plus lots of wine and food).
For a few of the several Articles written over the last few years, visit the following to get the flavour of SulaFest.
SulaFest 2018: And the Beat Goes on
SulaFest 2017: Smooth and Seamless Show for Music Lovers
SulaFest ready to Rock n Roll for Tenth Year
SulaFest 2016: Another Memorable Feast for Music and Wine Lovers
SulaFest-Truly Fashionable Musical Event of 2015
Heady Sulafest ‘13 for a Fix of Music, Wine and Fun
DWC: Celebrating 10th Year in Nashik Vineyards
Sulafest-Mini Woodstock in Nashik
Subhash Arora
Hospitality was extended by Sula for the trip-editor
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