Four Seasons Vineyard, located about four-and-a-half hours from Mumbai on the Sholapur highway offers a detailed winery tours, and better still, you could book rooms and live the good life right here in the vineyard.
Apart from staying a couple of nights in the vineyard (in a building designed like a chateau), you get a detailed tour of the winery including tours of the winemaking process. As part of the tour of the vineyard, we were taught to visually inspect the wine to gauge the age of the wine followed by swirling to release the aromas. We tasted a total of three whites, one rose and two reds. This was accompanied by the resident expert’s comments to give us an insight into the nuances. A small, beautiful reserve forest, adjacent to the property is perfect to take an early morning or an evening walk. We also spotted some deer while on one of these walks.
Reaching the winery isn't really a cakewalk but we've got your back. The winery is located in a small town called Roti in the Baramati district of Maharashtra. Once you reach Pune, you need to drive towards Sholapur and take a right after the second toll gate. Driving down is your best bet, you could take a bus as well, The vineyard folks might be happy to pick you up from the main road.
Ideally, January to April is when you should plan a visit here. This is when you will see grapes in the vineyard, you can see the cleaning of the fruit, crushing and extraction of the juice. The rest of the year, you see no grapes and the juices are left to ferment, and undergo the process of clarification and more! But this shouldn’t stop you from making a quick visit here.
Shell Out: INR 3,300 per night without meals, INR 6,700 all-inclusive of meals
Note: Winery tour is dependent on if the winery is functional and open to visitors. Please confirm at the time of booking.