Kinvah, Nandi Valley Winery
THE FACTS
THE STORY
THE WINES
THE LABELS
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Property developer K S N Raju set up the winery to fulfil a passion for wine, but it was, and will still be, a long and arduous journey.
The winery is located in the Nandi Valley, a prime sub-region outside metropolitan Bangalore, just past the international airport. The fruit, however, is sourced and transported into the winery’s premises in, supposedly, refrigerated lorries from three different sub-regions of Maharashtra. This means that from southern-most Sangli the grapes cover a distance of more than 650 kilometres to be crushed into wines, some of which retail at Rs 110 rupees a bottle.
A more serious issue is that not one of the labels mentions the source of the grapes used and, flouting the concept of provenance, they are passed off as Nandi Valley grapes. The use of Thompson Seedless, a table grape, and Bangalore Blue, a non-vinifera variety, contributes to the problem.
Out of eight wines, only one had no winemaking faults. All others had multiple major issues, making the wines practically unpalatable. The new winemaker hired in late 2014 should have his hands busy guiding the ship towards producing acceptable basic wines.
Kinvah Brut: carbonated and tank-fermented sparkling; mainly Thompson Seedless and a bit of Chenin
Manthan: a blend of four varieties,
supposedly top of the red wine range
Kinvah: designed to be a mid-range varietal selection
Grape Escape: easy drinking wines
Saara: economy or below basic range
Fizzo: pretty much the same as the brut apart
from the branding and the price, which is 25% of the brut
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