Founder and CEO – Sula Vineyards, Rajeev Samant, has been instrumental in changing the landscape of the Indian wine scenario and is making the world a happier place, one varietal at a time. Sula was the first Indian winery to be the subject of a feature in Wine Spectator, the world’s leading wine magazine and since then, Rajeev has been a poster boy for global media houses of the likes of Time, Newsweek, CNN, BBC, Bloomberg and many others, as the man who has really got Indians to start drinking wine. We find out how Rajeev Samant, a Stanford graduate, found his calling in the world of wines and became one of the youngest CEOs in the country promoting wine tourism.
Tell us about your journey from your growing up days to becoming the CEO of Sula Vineyards?
I was born and raised in Mumbai and after graduating with a BA in Economics and an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University in 1990, I worked for two years at Oracle Corp in Silicon Valley. I was the youngest manager in Oracle’s finance division. In 1992, I decided I had had enough of the corporate world and quit my job. After backpacking around the world for a year, I returned to India and decided to live the rural life. I started farming mangoes at our family’s 10-acre plot in Nashik, and then tried my hand at various crops like roses, teakwood and table grapes.
What were the challenges initially when you were setting up everything two decades ago, when wine and wine tourism was unheard of in the country?
In 1996 I had an epiphany when I realised that Nashik had the perfect climate for wine but nobody had done it yet. I decided to establish Sula Vineyards, Nashik’s first winery, in 1999, with help from my friend and distinguished Californian winemaker Kerry Damskey. It was a historic move and today Nashik is considered India’s “wine capital”. Sula Vineyards is today globally renowned as India’s premier quality wine producer, and we have been pioneers ever since, introducing for the first-time varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Zinfandel and Riesling, and techniques such as refrigerated winemaking, which significantly raised the quality of Indian wine.
How has the growth chart been over the years?
We started with sales of 50,000 bottles in the first year. We were India’s largest wine producer with over 60% market share and sales of over 11 million bottles in 2018. Sula Vineyards is also a leader in sustainable winemaking, creating employment opportunities for thousands of disadvantaged rural youths, and has been instrumental in significantly raising farm incomes in Western Maharashtra.
What are you working on currently and what are the plans in the pipeline?
We are working on our restaurants, the resorts, the tasting rooms, vineyards tour and tasting, SulaFest and the entire gambit of activities or experiences offered at the vineyards. We love making quality Indian wines. We are constantly striving to introduce new varietals for the Indian palate and want to continue making India’s best wines. We are adding another resort right next to our existing “The Source” resort, overlooking the Sula Vineyards. Also, our next big thing that we just unveiled at the SulaFest 13th edition is India’s first wine in a can – Dia Wine Sparkler in an easy and convenient can format. Every visitor was thrilled to taste the red and white wines in a can. We are the first wine company to start selling in Tamil Nadu. So far it was tightly controlled and restricted to manufacturers coming from outside TN. We have managed to get that break in and are the first national winery to sell in Tamil Nadu. Sula Vineyards’ import arm, Sula Selections is one of the top 5 importers of wines and spirits into India representing iconic brands such as Bruichladdich Scotch whisky, The Botanist Gin, Rémy Martin Cognac, Beluga Vodka, Highland Queen Whisky, Hardy’s Wines and Asahi Beer to name a few. Sula was until recently one of the main Indian importers of William Grant & Sons.
How did you and your team promote wine tourism as a culture that was unheard of in India?
We pioneered wine tourism in India opening India’s first tasting room at Sula in 2005, restaurants and recently a 30-room vineyard resort – “The Source” (ranked #1 on Tripadvisor among Nashik hotels as of July 2018). working on and inaugurating the restaurants, the resorts, the tasting rooms, vineyards tour and tasting, SulaFest and the entire gambit of activities or experiences offered at the vineyards. We love making quality Indian wines. We are constantly striving to introduce new varietals for the Indian palate and want to continue making India’s best wines. We are adding another resort right next to our existing resort overlooking the Sula Vineyards. With over 300,000 visitors in 2018, Sula is among the top 3 most visited wineries in the world and the #1 spot where Indians first taste wine. We started SulaFest in 2008 and today SulaFest has grown really big and people are visiting from across the world. This time Sula Vineyards, celebrates its two-decade anniversary with the two-day SulaFest 2020, with British chart-toppers, Hot Chip performing for the first time in India. Many other popular bands include When Chai Met Toast, My Baby, The Local Train, Jah Sun and the Rising Tide, culminating with the very popular and energetic Salim–Sulaiman, with their record-breaking hits. We have put Nashik on the world map with SulaFest.
You’re also an avid sportsman. What are your other passions, besides, of course, making great quality wines?
I like to be active and enjoy running, yoga, diving, playing tennis and enjoying gourmet cuisine when I’m not working out and I’m always thinking how to get more Indians to enjoy more wine. I divide my time between Mumbai, Nashik and my favourite getaway, Goa.
