Deccan Plateau Vineyards

THE FACTS

Location: Burkegaon village, near Pune
State: Maharashtra
Founded: 2008
Major shareholders: Shinde family
Total area: 20 acres (8.1 hectares)
Area under vine: 20 acres (8.1 hectares)
Production: 60,000 to 70,000 litres
Google map: click here

THE STORY

The Shinde family is not new to agriculture having built the Agrowera group of companies into one of India’s largest producers of frozen vegetables and the largest manufacturer and exporter of sweet corn. The expertise gained through the management of the family’s 200 acres of land and an additional 2,000 acres of contracted growers did not go amiss when Deccan Plateau, their winery subsidiary, was set up.

 

Nitin Shinde, one of two brothers, is in charge of the winery and is aided by his wife Survi, who is responsible for wine tourism and marketing. After earning a plant science degree in India, Nitin headed for Australia to complete a postgraduate oenology course at the University of Adelaide before gaining practical experience at McLaren Vale, Rhode Island in the USA, and at Sula in India.

 

The young and well-travelled man, who was a true country boy at heart, is now a father of two and an agricultural businessman spinning multiple plates. After the first vintage in 2008, Deccan Plateau Vineyards was developed into a small but neat outfit with unfairly low brand recognition in the market. The anticipation was that Shinde, reinvigorated whenever he was en route to his vineyards, would make Deccan Plateau known amongst Pune’s wine lovers by creating tourism and catering facilities for cellar-door visitors. As of 2023, all this remains but a plan, the winery projecting the image of a rural Maharashtra farming business rather than a winery with doors open in welcome to tourists.


THE ESTATE

Just 30 kilometres north-east of Pune, Deccan Plateau is in close proximity to India’s automotive and IT hub. The location is as much an opportunity as a threat to the winery as the burgeoning city pushes land prices up and comes ever closer to the vineyards, a situation well known to both Pessac-Léognan in Bordeaux and Nandi Valley in Bengaluru (Bangalore).

 

The Shindes have 20 acres of land with soil that is remarkably different from most Indian vineyards: brown loam with patches rich in limestone. Once a thriving vineyard, it was barren when seen in 2023, because Nitin had decided to pull up the vines. This had to be done as the vines were on their own roots, which had left them vulnerable. During the 2023 visit I was told of plans for replanting with imported vines. In the meantime, grapes are bought in from contract growers located in and around Nashik and Pune.

 

Deccan Plateau seems to have lost its ambition. Instead of the once simple, honest and straightforward wines, in 2023 I tasted a mixture of qualities. The Chenin Blanc and the Cabernet-Shiraz blend from the 2022 vintage were basic quaffable wines. The single varietal Merlot and Shiraz showed a lack of ripeness with a green, stalky and astringent profile. In addition to the monthly 300–400 cellar-door visitors and customers at some wine shops in Pune and Mumbai, the wines are consumed by officers of the Indian Army.

 

The lack of direction and leadership at Deccan Plateau is reflected in the crushing of Thompson Seedless for clients who need cheap base wine. It is also reflected in Shinde experimenting with fruit wines instead of focusing on replanting the vineyards and realising his original vision of a neat, well-run boutique outfit just outside Pune. A non-vintage strawberry wine is made of crushed fruit pulp and a base wine, whilst wine made purely from the indigenous jamun (Indian blackberry or Malabar plum) is an increasingly popular new product in India. To the western palate, jamun can be rather tannic at first, and its flavour is reminiscent of freshly sliced kohlrabi. It is definitely an acquired taste!


THE LABELS

Deccan Plateau: the following varietal wines tend to be simple, the reds may show excessive stalky character; all are made from bought-in fruit

  • Chenin Blanc
  • Zinfandel rosé
  • Merlot
  • Shiraz
  • Cabernet-Shiraz

 

Trivalli: produced in 2009 for the last time. During a tasting in 2023, this wine was no longer suitable for consumption.*

 

* Similarly, the 2023 tasting proved that Deccan Plateau wines from previous vintages, such as 2009, 2010 and 2018, were all beyond their best.

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