Soma Vine Village
THE FACTS
THE STORY
Founder Pradeep Pachpatil’s journey as a winemaker has been long and colourful. He began his career at Pimpane, at the now defunct cooperative, in 1989, and grew from there to the launch of the first vintage of Soma in 2014. The Nashik-born entrepreneur with a farming background has always had family land on the doorstep of the city. The name of his winery, which today continues in the agrarian tradition, encompasses those of his entire family: father Somnath, mother Mandakini, wife Manjusha, daughter Achal and son Omkar.
During his formative years as an industry freshman, Pachpatil worked closely with Jean-Manuel Jacquinot, proprietor of the eponymous champagne house in France and consultant winemaker to Pernod-Ricard in India. Between 1992 and 1999 he was at Chateau Indage, after which Pachpatil worked for Sula until 2012, starting as general manager and leaving as senior vice-president of operations.
While in Sula’s driving seat Pachpatil observed on his international travels that small family estates achieved an unparalleled efficiency in creating a life-style experience, rather than simply producing and selling wine. He had the first villa built in 2007, which was followed by a 29-room resort in 2011. Both are currently operated by Sula under the name ‘Beyond’.
The first vines were planted in 2001, but it was only in 2009 that the construction of the 90,000-litre-capacity vinification facilities began. Add another two villas with pools as well as a restaurant, a smaller conference centre and an amphitheatre and you get the Soma Vine Village, located in Gangavarhe, surrounded by the Sahyadri ranges and overlooking the serene backwaters of a dam – a picturesque wine estate indeed.
Pachpatil is planning to increase production from 5,000 to 50,000 cases over the coming years and is confident that almost all the wines will be sold through the cellar door and to private customers. The wine-country life-style is set to arrive in India with Soma Vine Village.
THE ESTATE
The original 25-acre family plot, only three kilometres down the road from the Sula and York wineries, is tucked at the foot of the Sahyadri, commanding a beautiful vista over the Gangapur dam backwaters. As most of the land has been developed into a resort, only a few acres are free for vines. The rest of the grapes are supplied by contracted growers.
There are four varieties at Soma: Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. The winery building, immediately to the rear of the restaurant, has a chic glazed wall along its south-facing facade. It may be small, but temperature control must incur high costs because the press, the crusher, the bottling line and about 20 tanks of 1,000–7,500 litres capacity sit in an ambient temperature of 20º C. The stacks of crown-capped bottles of wine maturing on lees after the secondary fermentation are in a smaller but glazed room. This is almost a showcase home, organised and inviting.
THE WINES
Having tasted the full range of the maiden vintage at Soma Vine Village, the wines can be said to be styled as fresh and easily approachable. The whites are made in two different styles. The silver range, fermented at lower temperatures, is consequently fruitier and more aromatic; the gold label refers to a slightly higher temperature and more oxidative handling, which accentuates the ripeness of fruits and gives more weight to the body. The Sauvignon Blancs are dry but the Chenin Blancs are off-dry, with five or ten grams of residual sugar per litre in the gold and the silver, respectively.
The single varietal Shiraz is fresh, fleshy and juicy with a decent grasp of the structure. However, I found the Shiraz-Cabernet blend a touch too oxidised though it showed good promise, and may be something to watch out for in the newer vintages.
There are two notable dessert wines offered by Soma, both made by arresting the fermentation at 11 per cent alcoholic strength and thus leaving 20 grams of residual sugar per litre in the final wine. Easy, floral and supple.
The sparkling was still sitting on lees when I visited the first time and it was pretty much a ‘work in progress’ in March 2015 too. This would again be something to look forward to tasting in the future.
THE LABELS
Soma Gold
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Chenin Blanc
Soma
Silver
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Chenin Blanc
Soma
rosé
Soma
Shiraz-Cabernet
Soma
Dessert
- Sauvignon Blanc
- Chenin Blanc
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