One in a Billion: Sonal Holland's journey of popularising wine in India

If you believe in an idea and know it makes sense, don't give up - for Sonal C Holland, believing in her idea meant putting wine on India's map and inspiring a whole new community of wine lovers

One in a Billion: Becoming India’s First Master of Wine

By Sonal C Holland

Published by  Westland

195 pages ₹599 

In 2016, Sonal C Holland became the first Indian to earn the title of Master of Wine (MW), the highest qualification in the world of wine. The coveted certification is conferred by the Institute of Masters of Wine via a rigorous three-stage programme — consisting of a preliminary exam, a main exam of theory and blind-tasting papers, as well as a 10,000-word research paper. Ever since, Ms Holland has been inspiring a whole new community of wine lovers in the country and beyond. 

Contrary to what most people think, Ms Holland did not come from a privileged background. She grew up in a lower-middle-class family, and had a modest upbringing. A school topper and a carefree tomboy, she was thrown out of college. That was when she decided to change her field to hotel management. After she graduated, Ms Holland landed a job as a management trainee in the Taj Group of Hotels in Mumbai. Thereafter, she pursued a Master of Management Studies course and joined the Oberoi Towers as a sales executive. It was here that she met her future husband, Andrew Holland, who had come to India as an expatriate and is now a reputed expert on the Indian stock market. 

At the age of 33, Ms Holland had a high-paying corporate job but it didn’t make her happy. She quit her job, and developed an itch to do something of her own. “The idea was to do what had not been done before,” she recalls. It was her husband who first suggested to her the idea of becoming an MW. Ms Holland’s educational journey, first ignited by Jancis Robinson MW, began when her daughter was just a year old. As she began to delve into the world of wine in India, she found that it was mostly exclusive and elite at the time, and not mainstream. The main reason for this was the absence of qualified wine professionals in the market. 

After some research on the subject, she chose to pursue her course from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, the “Harvard of wine education.” Though there was some opposition from her parents at first, ultimately they supported her decision. Ms Holland was introduced to the main types and styles of wine as well as principal wine grapes. Simultaneously, she conducted workshops and wine-tasting sessions for the Wine Society of India. Gradually, she also started writing articles about her transition from “a sceptic into a wine professional who had found her calling.” She went on to become the first Indian to earn the two-year WSET diploma programme, which required her to taste 220 wines and fly to London eight times. Given her credentials, Ms Holland also began to head ITC Hotels’ wine and beverage programme. 

Over the course of the book, Ms Holland describes her wine tours of various countries, such as Australia, Hungary, Spain, Italy, France, the US and the UK. After attaining the MW title, she focused on building her personal brand. Promoting wine in a country where the per capita consumption of wine is less than a teaspoon, was no easy task. In 2016, she launched SoHo Wine Club, a community of wine lovers for whom she would host events and organise shipments of wines. She received invitations to judge several international competitions, and launched the India Wine Awards. She also consulted with a premium lifestyle food superstore chain on their wine counters, and her first venture into wine retail, Vine2Wine, was born. 

Ms Holland also took advantage of the social media boom to start regularly posting videos. The “TikTok Wine O’Clock” series explained simple wine-related concepts. She started an Instagram video series called “A Great Glass with Sonal Holland”, for which she got well-known celebrities like Francis Ford Coppola, Dominic West, and Gagan Anand. She also hosted weekly Ask Me Anything sessions with her 100,000 followers. From English, the content diversified into Hindi and Marathi, as the intention was to make wine accessible across all social demographics. 

Further, she founded the Sonal Holland Academy, and has been a strategic advisor to international brands looking to enter and gain a strong foothold in the Indian wine market. She regularly curates bespoke wine and spirits experiences for leading corporate houses, premium member clubs and prestigious networking groups. Recently, she also launched a French chateau-style luxury mansion in Nashik that offers an immersive wine experience to discerning guests. 

The book is a personalised account of Ms Holland’s two-decade long journey of popularising wine in India as well as the struggles and challenges involved along the way. Each chapter in the autobiography ends with personalised testimonials from people in Ms Holland’s life — her parents, sister, husband, daughter, and friends. “If you believe in an idea and know it makes sense, you should not give up on it, even if others cannot see its potential,” she concludes. 

The reviewer is a New Delhi-based freelance writer