Nisarga Vineyards

THE FACTS

Location: Halagani, near Bijapur
State: Karnataka
Founded: 2007
Major shareholders: Krishna Mumbaraddi & partners 
Total area: 70 acres 
Area under vine: 700 acres
Production: not noted
Google map: click here

THE STORY

Nisarga, Sanskrit for ‘creation’, is the tale of a functional and successful cooperative in northern Karnataka. One of four partners in the company, Dr Krishna Mumbaraddi is the managing director of the business-to-business winery, which owns only ten per cent of its lands and organises a collective of numerous small, contract-growing farmers.

 

For his doctoral dissertation Dr Mumbaraddi researched the dry farming of sorghum for over five years. He became an assistant professor of agricultural in Bijapur before moving on to consulting and eventually setting up Nisarga. Listening to the soft-spoken scholar as our little car pushed deep into rural Karnataka, I began to grasp his aspirations to create opportunities for the low-income groups by focusing on grapes, a high-margin crop, and bringing land together to increase efficiency and productiveness.

 

The concrete shell of the winery – never judge a book by its cover – sheltered a modest but impeccably organised and maintained winery. The air raid bunker-like massively thick wall of nine-inch (22.86 centimetres) concrete followed by insulation and then another four inches of concrete efficiently ensures constant temperatures of between 17º and 20º C all year round, without air conditioning.

 

Old-fashioned and modest it may seem, but everything is present to produce technically good wines. The clientele includes Myra Vineyards, Surya and Le Bela. Nisarga is also planning to launch its own label, with the anticipation of an initial sale of three thousand cases in Karnataka.

 

The modesty of Dr Krishna is humbling and transcends the business. I should like to see the winery move to the next level, and releasing its own label is a step in that direction.


THE ESTATE

South-west of Bijapur, in the direction of the Krishna river, Nisarga is in the agricultural heartland. The bulk of its vines comprise classic varieties, including a hundred acres of Chenin Blanc, another hundred of Sauvignon Blanc, 250 acres of Shiraz and two hundred acres of Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

It is all Y-shaped trellis and, interestingly, not only are the foliage and the canopy kept apart but the trunks and the lower parts of the vines as well. This allows spraying to penetrate deeper, providing better protection.

 

Pruning does not start until mid-September and may take up to two months to complete. Consequently, harvest is relatively late, from mid-February onwards. Despite the conventional farming, for soil nutrition Nisarga uses a mix of manure and synthetic fertilisers.

 

Employing one person per hectare, Nisarga is an important employer providing a livelihood to many villagers.


THE WINES

Wines made for other brands are all clear and clean, decent wines from entry level to the lower end of the mid-market segment. Ripe and succulent fruits tasted across the wines.

 

The Sauvignon Blanc has a charming mix of ripe exotic fruits: grapefruit and pineapple, with the more restrained flavours of gooseberry and grass. The rosé is easy drinking and lower in concentration, made by the saignée method. The sample I tasted showed tired fruits, but as it was three years old, this was no surprise.

 

The Cabernets tended to a touch of rubbery tone, but otherwise all the reds were ripe and the tannins softly textured. If a brand owner wants a more premium red, the ready wines are tasted and the tank selected, and if some barriques are purchased to add a layer of complexity to the ‘reserve’ range of the label, the wines are barrel aged for a few months before bottling.

 

Nisarga’s own wines may be divided into two categories. The sub-entry-level range for the local rural market is sold under the brand name of Red Belt, both a white and a red, and there is also a Muscat. The other three wines are very basic, dry table wines with varietal labelling. The dry red table wines are hugely ripe, and it would seem that fruit from the tail end of the harvest, extremely ripe at 25 Brix in the second half of March, was used for them.


THE LABELS

Red Belt: sweetened, terribly basic sub-entry-level wines, the red shows a great deal of oxidation, the white is just terribly old-fashioned

  • white
  • red


Nisarga Muscat: soapy and floral, but not like any Muscat I have tasted before; feeble and weak


Nisarga
rosé: a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, dry (1.5 g/l residual sugar); may have been nice when young and fresh


Nisarga
Cabernet Sauvignon


Nisarga Shiraz

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