Sula Vineyards to offer night halt

TOURISM

Wine aficionados are in for a treat. Starting next year, the Pune-based wine maker, Sula Vineyards is converting its day-long wine tasting tour into a bed-and-breakfast event.

Adrian Pinto, general manager, Sula Vineyards says that the pressure from the visitors for a night halt was immense.

"We started out with a walk into our winery, vineyards tours and wine tasting sessions. But people have been asking if they could stay. So we will offer bed-and-breakfast and low cost accommodation soon," said Pinto.

Finer details are still on the drawing board, but five to ten rooms are likely to be built for guests wanting to stay at the vineyards.

Currently, Sula organises hour-long winery tours, free of cost, at its Nashik vineyards (about 180 km from Mumbai).

Visitors are also allowed to buy Sula wines and a select range of assorted cheese at discounted rates.

Sula also exports to the US, Canada and Europe including France. It owns and produces a variety of 12 sparkling, red, white, roses and dessert wines.

Through its tie-ups with BRL Hardy of Australia and Distell of South Africa among others, the company also imports 40 varieties of wines from eight countries.

It plans to double the size of the plantation to 2,000 acres in the next three years to meet the growing domestic and overseas demand.

"From producing 2,000 cases in the year 2000, we aim to touch a lakh cases by 2005-06," added Pinto.