York Winery
THE FACTS
THE STORY
Success is contagious. The unprecedented growth of the Indian wine industry in the early 2000s can be compared to the famous 19th-century American gold rush in that it attracted many to follow suit. As did Lilo Gurnani, a Nashik-born entrepreneur who had already built several successful businesses in India, Dubai and Sierra Leone by 2007, the year he decided to dedicate his eight-acre plot on the backwaters of the Gangapur dam to his new project. The winery was named York, reflecting his children’s first names: Yogita, Ravi and Kailash. With a capacity of 400,000 litres, contract-growing arrangements were made on a total of 72 acres. Kailash was sent to Australia to study winemaking. Eventually, York Winery started operations in 2008, which was their first vintage on the market.
Kailash and Ravi shared responsibility for the technical and business operations of the winery. The former, a soft-spoken young man of impressive technical expertise, completed his oenology degree at the University of Adelaide, did an internship at Chandon, and made wine at Hardy’s in the McLaren Vale in Australia before vintages in Cyprus and Bulgaria.
For a few vintages, York Winery collaborated with Estates & Wines, the global fine-wine division of Moët Hennessy, who had started experimental winemaking in India to establish whether sparkling wine would be a feasible venture. On my first visit to York Winery in 2012, I was debarred from certain areas in their effort to keep the projected Chandon India venture secret. It proved to be an excellent opportunity for the Gurnanis to learn the intricate details of sparkling-wine making, as they have launched both a white and a rosé since. The traditional-method sparkling white debuted in the market in 2014 and was the first blanc de blancs in India. The sparkling rosé, crafted from Shiraz, was launched with only 2,800 bottles in 2016.
Up to the merger with Sula Vineyards in 2021, the Gurnani brothers led York Winery with good commercial sense. From the outset, they focused on the production of white wines, because, as Kailash explained, the harvest is earlier for white grapes, and so a crisp acidity remains naturally, allowing the winemaker to craft more approachable wines as far as texture is concerned. This is key to commercial success in a young wine market.
In 2014, the brand was refreshed and the product range was redesigned, eliminating the distinction between the base and the reserve Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and acknowledging the challenge of producing consistent quality for single varietal red wines across vintages. The bordeaux blend of Cabernet and Merlot, as well as Arros, the top-end barrel-aged premium blend of Cabernet and Shiraz, have validated the core idea that the winemaker has more flexibility to deliver consistent style over the years by blending. It also simplified the message for marketing communication. To further bolster its consumer-centricity, York Winery moved most of its production to be bottled with a screw cap, which all Indian consumers find easy to open.
Responding to the dynamic growth in sales – 29 per cent in 2017 – York Winery sought to bring new labels to the market. After uprooting low-yielding Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc, a modestly cropping Chardonnay, grafted on Bangalore Dog Ridge rootstock, was planted on 40 per cent of their own vineyard. (Farmers continue with the perception that low yield equals low income, no matter how the financial arrangements are structured.) The resultant wine, H Block Chardonnay, has proved so successful since its maiden vintage in 2019 that the concept of a single vineyard had to be abandoned. Another new range, All Rounder, was launched in 2018 as the first cricket-themed wine in India. It includes a white and a red, both off-dry in style.
Kailash needed to spend an increasing amount of time in Africa and Dubai to manage other family businesses whilst driving the winery’s technical innovation along with Ravi, and its double-digit growth fell to single digits by the end of 2019. Additionally, the 2020 harvest was impacted by the late unseasonal rains of the preceding autumn. Then the Covid lockdown in early 2020 heavily affected sales. It was a year later that the merger of York Winery with Sula Vineyards became public. The natural synergy is location, as the two wineries are situated not even two kilometres apart on the backwaters of the Gangapur dam. The commercial side has been fully taken over by Sula and production is now headed by Rahul More, a New Zealand-trained winemaker and viticulturalist with years of experience from Australia and the United States.
THE ESTATE
The estate offers spectacular views of the Gangapur dam’s backwaters, just outside Nashik. York Tasting Room, the hospitality venture of the winery, is an ideal venue to either gaze at the setting sun or listen to the melody of the monsoon rain cascading off the roof of the semi-open terrace. York Winery has only eight acres of land, of which six are under vine, while the remaining area is occupied by the winery’s building and surrounding lawns. As a result, most of the required grapes are supplied by growers, who have long-term contracts with York. Kailash and Ravi used to work closely with them to ensure grape quality, a practice continued by the viticultural team after the merger with Sula Vineyards.
Over half of York’s own vineyard is planted with Chenin Blanc. Chardonnay has replaced the old Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc blocks on the remaining 40 per cent as these two varieties had very low productivity, attributed to the fact that they were on their own roots. In any case, Chardonnay is a low-yielding variety in India, hence it is often planted on winery-owned land, because, as noted earlier, farmers equate low yield with low income, regardless of the financial arrangements.
York also sources grapes from the nearby sub-regions of Chandsi for Chenin Blanc and Zinfandel; Dindori for Cabernet, Shiraz and Chenin Blanc; and Vinchur for Sauvignon Blanc. It also works with growers further afield in Sangli, who supply Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet.
From a vinification perspective, the variety of yeasts used at York is notable. Included are fairly neutral ones for the whites to allow the primary fruits of the variety to take centre stage; for the reds there are some with high alcohol tolerance; and more aromatic strains are used for the sparkling to more efficiently retain the fruity aromas.
Excessive variation, year to year, in the quality of Cabernet puts the winemaker under tremendous, if not insurmountable, pressure in lesser vintages to achieve a certain quality. This has led to the decision to scrap the reserve line. Arros was created instead to be the flagship premium wine made from a blend of Cabernet and Shiraz. It is barrel aged in a mix of French and American oak for a little over a year, and bottle matured for another year before release. The other red wines from York are a Cabernet and Merlot blend and a Shiraz. For the former, a mid-market wine, the oak flavour is introduced by the use of staves, and up to 15 per cent of the Merlot is unoaked to boost the fruits. The Shiraz, whilst labelled as single varietal, is actually co-fermented with whole-bunch Viognier. The red range conveys definite recognition of the advantage offered by blending and the classic Bordeaux philosophy of creating cuvée wines.
Consumer expectations shape winemaking: the rosé is currently produced from 100 per cent Zinfandel in off-dry style with the addition of fructose. Earlier experiments with Cabernet Sauvignon, which produces a crisper rosé wine with an attractive grip and peppery tones, have not borne fruit.
There are two sparkling wines in the portfolio of York Winery. The Sparkling Cuvée Blanc de Blancs is made from 100 per cent Chenin Blanc, using only free-run juice. A small proportion of the base wine is fermented in oak and most of the body of the final product is built from a combination of keeping the wine longer on lees (13 months) after the secondary fermentation and adding a minuscule amount (slightly over one per cent) of barrel-aged Chenin at the time of dosage. Some reserve wine is being built up, but the proportion is small for two reasons: the climate is not as conducive for creating a collection of reserve wines as in Champagne, and the production is too small, leaving little opportunity to build reserve wines. With dosage of 10 grams per litre, the Sparkling Cuvée Blanc de Blancs is definitely a brut sparkling with a creamy, doughy and tight elegance. The sparkling rosé, made from 100 per cent Shiraz, is kept on lees for 12 months after secondary fermentation in bottle; with an off-dry style it offers a fruity, creamy and delicate fizz when sipped.
THE WINES
York Winery produces a complete range of mid-market and premium wines. The house style is all about purity of fruits with crisp and zesty whites, reds with soft and approachable tannins, and well-proportioned oak, if any at all. The sparklings include a crisper white and an off-dry, softer rosé. The late-harvest dessert wine is sweet with flavours of honey, ripe melon and pineapples, but without botrytis.
THE LABELS
Port: G9
Manthan
- white
- red
All Rounder
- white
- red
York Winery
- Chenin Blanc
- Sauvignon Blanc
- rosé (Zinfandel)
- Shiraz
- Cabernet-Merlot
H
Block Chardonnay: a zesty and mineral style with a touch of creamy texture
due to barrel-ageing
York Late Harvest Chenin Blanc: a sweet dessert wine without botrytis
Arros: the flagship premium red from a blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon,
aged in a mix of French and American oak for over a year
York Sparkling Cuvée Blanc de Blancs: made from Chenin Blanc only, a traditional-method sparkling wine
York
Sparkling Rosé: bottle-fermented
sparkler made from 100% Shiraz.
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