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 During the last two years I visited Bangalore three times and visiting SDU Winery was each time on my agenda as the latest kid on the block. But I could not get beyond tasting their wines as I was told that the winery had a policy not to allow visitors until their Italian winemaker consultant Andrea Valentinuzzi was present or authorised the visit. An opportunity arose late last month when Mohit Nischol, Business Head of the two-vintage old winery confirmed that the owners would be available at the winery on November 27 and would love to show me the winery and taste the range of their wines over lunch.
I had tasted the Deva labelled wines from the 2012 and 2013 vintage and thought they were quaffable-even though there had seemed to be a lot of PR hype and hullabaloo about them. But this year when in the professional blind tasting in Mumbai the maiden release of SDU Shiraz Reserve 2012 and Chardonnay Reserve 2012 scored very high (the former even topping the list), I was very keen to visit the winery and therefore accepted the invitation even though it meant only a few hours stop in Delhi on return after a gruelling foreign trip before catching the morning flight to Bangalore.
SDU Winery
Located in Chikkaballapur District in the southwest region of Karnataka, about 70 kms from Bangalore and two-hour drive away, SDU claims to be India’s first new age boutique winery, in the Nandi Hills Appellation.
 Driving directly from the airport with Mohit I had time to discuss the history and background of the winery-including the name which by earlier accounts reflected the active owner Shaambhavi, son Dev and her husband Umeish. Nischol insisted it stood for ‘Strategic Dynamic Universal’ and SDU was in fact a group of companies run by Umeish Hingorani, a successful businessman of Bangalore with multifaceted businesses that included real-estate and mineral water bottling.
It took us an hour and a half to reach the winery directly from the airport. The first thing that grabbed my attention was a big lawn on the right, with a lot of possibility for future wine tourism activities. Just as you alight from the car at the main entrance to the winery, you see a beautiful operational tennis court at the back. I was to learn later that the whole family loves to play tennis and decided to make it an integral part of the winery.
 I was charmed by the warm reception by Shaambhavi Hingorani who is the daughter of Mr. S. M. Krishna, former Foreign Minister of India. She does not show it and has no airs about coming from an illustrious family or being the wife of the business magnate who tried to convince me during the afternoon that he had nothing to do with the wine business being run only by his wine- passionate wife. But being the man holding the check-book he seemed to be totally in sync with the industry and its travails, competition and the long term vision of the company.
It was clear just as we sat down in the veranda-an extended portion of a big room on the first floor- also the current tasting room and overlooking the tennis court, that they planned to flourish as a boutique winery. The comfortable and elegant cane furniture from Bali and the decor was the first indicator that the place had a great potential in wine tourism.
Two Vineyards
 SDU Winery owns two vineyards, one closer to the winery towards the city bought in 2002 is in ID Halli
and the other
in TG Halli
about
30
kms away
was bought
later. Shaambhavi tells me they had bought the land initially to make it into a farmhouse. But as they travelled abroad a lot and visited several vineyards she decided to develop the land into vineyard and the first plantings were made in 2003. Initially, the grapes were being sold to the wineries in Karnataka and Maharashtra-including Sula I was told, but the recession of 2009 motivated them to start their own winery. They visited Vintage Wines (Reveilo label) in Niphad near Nashik and met their consulting winemaker, Andreas Valentinuzzi from Friuli, Italy. Surprisingly, they are currently growing only the French grapes Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz (and call it the French Syrah) and the Burgundy-famed Chardonnay.
The first vineyard which I visited later with Mohit Nischol on way back to the city is beautiful not only because of the red soil and the healthy roots but also because of the breathtaking landscape with hills in the background. This would make an excellent spot as part of the winery and vineyard tours once Hingoranis look at this angle.
SDU Wines
The company makes a total of 6 labels from 3 varieties. Starting with Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah for the popular segment and labelled as Deva (divine) are priced at Rs. 500-600—while the SDU Reserve label released earlier this year for 2012 vintage are priced at Rs. 800-900. Commenting on the labelling Shaambhavi says, ‘we had intentionally kept the label name ‘Indian’ that signified divine (most people believe it was named after their son Dev) but some of the restaurants were so snooty that they did not want to keep an Indian sounding label but are very happy with the Reserve label which has been well accepted by the market.’
Umeish adds, ‘we believe that if we kept it Deva Reserve, many people would have related to the cheaper priced Deva and would not have been attracted to the SDU Reserve label. Interestingly the Deva labels do not indicate vintage- only SDU Reserves do. This could come under the lens in the proposed wine laws. In most countries, all the appellation wines must declare vintage (except sparkling wines) but table wines are not allowed to mention them.
The yields on the grapes are kept low- at 2-3 tons per acre according to the instructions from Andrea. ‘We used to go up to 5 tons from Syrah when we sold our grapes but now to keep the quality high, we stick with much lower yields. The Reserve wines are made from plots that have older vines,’ says Umeish.
Wine Tasting with Lunch
We tasted all 6 wines at a sumptuous lunch organised by Shaambhavi in a true ‘Jungle mein Mangal’ style with a proper menu selected and food organised from a fine caterer in Bangalore.
Deva Chardonnay 2013 was very fruity, clean and easy drinking, zesty wine. The SDU Reserve 2012 version was drier and equally crisp but with oak too predominant-perhaps because new oak barrels were used. Both were market with low alcohol at 12.5%.
 Deva Syrah 2013 was fruit forward, spicy and with soft tannins-simple but delicious and with no pretences. ‘We make our wines softer for younger people to enjoy. For many it is an investment to buy a bottle of wine and we like to make the experience pleasant so they repeat in future, ‘says Shaambhavi. One can have it even with vegetarian food or light snacks. SDU Reserve Syrah 2012 was a beautiful balance of oak, tannins and fruit. A complex wine with good structure and persistent taste it is not meant to age for many years but a couple of years might make it even mellower since there was plenty of fruit. To use the Cliché, it was bottled poetry and gave heightened sensuous and olfactory experience as a match with the lamb dish.
Deva Cabernet 2013 was a clean and fruity medium body wine with floral aromas and red fruit flavours with tannins slightly more pronounced and after-taste adequate for a simple wine. But Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva was certainly cranked up a few notches with fine balance and structure. Oak slightly more pronounced but it could age slightly longer. It is definitely a food wine with red meats and non-spicy dishes.
Wine Tourism
 The wines really added synergy to the excellent food because of intelligent pairing. This was another sign that the winery should focus on the wine tourism with a restaurant in tow. Shaambhavi has an enviable talent in food and wine matching and the hospitality end of business and with the infrastructure already conducive, with the locational advantage they could well take the lead in Karnataka where Grover missed the opportunity years ago due to whatever reasons. Today that lead has been taken by Heritage Winery. Although over 95% of their wines are fortified wines, this winery on Bangalore Mysore Highway has already taken the lead and filled the pent up demand.
SDU already has a wine tavern and boutique license at the winery. ‘This entitles us to serve wine at the premised by the glass and also sell by the bottle. We offer a discount of 10 percent on the bottle sales at the winery,’ says Nischol.
Whether the wines are divine or not, you decide for yourself but check out more details at www.sduwinery.com.
For earlier related articles, click
Divine Indian Wines from Italian Winemaker in Karnataka
India’s 'Top Ten' Indian wines
Subhash Arora
Voluntary Disclosure- Air-Ticket was provided by the winery. Hotel accommodation was organised courtesy The Paul, Bangalore- a business hotel where one can truly relax after the day’s business |