March 01: Somanda vineyards known also as Soma Vine Village is positioned very close to Sula Vineyards and favoured by batches for theme parties and weddings, writes Sheetal Kadam who visited the vineyard recently and met the owner Pradeep Pachpatil and the travelling winemakers from Italy, Luca Tessari and Alessandra Beni and chatted with them at length over wine tasting
Soma Vine Village as a boutique winery with 25 acres of vineyards, offering you tastings of a range of whites, reds, rose as well as sparkling wines. It’s a perfect place to enjoy adventurous activities like rock climbing, go-Karting, zipline, high rope and low rope activities, and many such fun packed ones to make your visit memorable.
Take your pleasure to dive in the vineyard pool, or a laid-back bicycle ride on the winding country roads. Rejuvenate your senses with relaxing massages and yoga. Grape stomping is yet another attraction during the harvest. Regenta Resort Nashik- a part of Soma Complex, welcomes you for a sojourn with lavish deluxe suites and standard suites to match your need. Also, there are well- equipped service apartments to suit your budget without compromising your comfort.
Challenging diversity in climate
It was indeed pleasant to taste Soma wines over a chat with Mr Pradeep Pachpatil, the Soma Vine Village owner and his Italian Winemakers Alessandra and 
Luca. According to them, viticulture in Nashik is challenging for them due to the diversity in the climate. Vines here experience less dormancy or resting period; besides, higher photosynthesis increases the vigour of vines leading to weak health of the blend. “So there is a lot to learn technically” says Luca.
Luca Tessari loves the free hand he gets to experiment with the wine to make it better. He loves Indian food and believes that the Soma wines really match up well with the Indian food. “Pleasure for work is the mantra” says Alessandra Beni. She is full of energy and has strong passion for work in wine. She may be pruning in the vineyard and at the same time would like to rush to the winery to attend the visitors.
Tasting Soma Wines
We started our wine tastings with Riesling followed by the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir- all Reserve.
The tropical Riesling is aromatic and refreshing. Tastes like nectar of apples, peaches, apricots and pears and floral notes. It was crisp with high acidity.
I found Chardonnay impressively presenting herself out of the wine glass. The single grape varietal wine was dry with medium body bright golden colour, tropical citrus fruit flavours. It was smooth textured wine as it has been distinctly fermented. The chardonnay reserve tasted so well with 
corn tikkis and the hara-bhara kebabs.
According to Pradeepji, he is the first and the only Pinot Noir wine producer in India. The stunning Pinot Noir is a classic new world style wine. It has pale red berry colours with soft tannins; a medium bodied wine with rich dark cherry, brown spice and clove notes. This Pinot Noir was a very enjoyable match with the chicken tikkas.
About the wine style Pradeepji says “It is neither Old world wine style nor New world wine style, it is Pradeep Pachpatil (PP) wine making style.”
Explaining his point of view he mentions he doesn’t want to follow a Californian or New Zealand style of wine making. He exactly wants his wines to be, soft tannin simple red wine. Light and easy to drink wines pertaining to Indian Palate and food.
His attempt is to connect the grapes, the wines and wine tourism.
This is the outcome of twenty-five years of his experience in the Indian Wine Industry, he exactly knows the customer preferences and market demands, and accordingly he knows what he has best to offer. It was impressive to see a boutique winery producing such value- added wines.
I would like to sign off by referring to the cumulative effect of the terroir, grapes and the PP wine making style as a “Nashik Pink Tinge” .Still lingering on my mind, predominantly found in the Soma Reserve wines.
Sheetal Kadam
If you Like this article please click on the Like button