Making wine is like having children; you love them all, but boy, are they different. -Bunny Finkelstein
While India is still learning about wines, the grapes, the wine making process, and all that is there to it, Rhythm Winery gives a fruity turn to wines. Get introduced to this new addition to our rapidly growing Indian wine industry, wines made from different fruits (peaches, plums, Alphonso, kiwis, strawberries and pineapples) sourced from around India, and blended with grape wines to reach that perfect blend of fruit and wine. When you are poured one of the fruit wines, the first whiff of the fruit, our very own Alphonso or the sweet pineapple or the fleshy peach catches your attention. The first sip hits you with the known, fresh, sweet fruity flavor, and then the grape blend tasting notes can be recognized, after the initial burst of fruits. It is a good wine for the Indian audience, especially young India, who may enjoy the known flavors of the wine.
Rhythm Winery is a apart of Hill Crest Foods and Beverages Pvt. Ltd. Although, India has some small local markets for purely fruit wines, Rhythm Winery is first to introduce fruits to grape blends to produce wines with decent alcoholic levels. They “strongly believe that excellent wines are made only from excellent quality fruits, which are suited to the local climatic and soil conditions.” And they believe, “since the fruit flavours are familiar to the palate, it is easy for the wine flavors to relate to the tasting notes.”
As we chatted up with the founder and director of Rhythm Winery, Mr. Akalpit Prabhune (an engineer by education) we could understand that Prabhune’s interest in wines started during his early years of business tripes to the US, and his subsequent visits to Napa valley. However, he understood that India was still at a very nascent stage for the wine market. Given the cultural history, there was still time for wide acceptability for wines. At this stage, the fruit wines made sense to be introduced into the young Indian market, for it’s known flavors and palates.
Vidita Mungi joined him in this concept and designed the very vibrant branding – a girl goes fruit picking in the forest and the story begins. The labels are colorful, adds cheer and intrigue and draws you to the story that it is. As part of their marketing strategy, they have been participating in some of the top food and wine shows in India, have been aggressively working their way into retail outlets, restaurants and hotels in Mumbai, Pune, Mahabaleshwar and other Western Indian regions. They have now started moving towards the other parts of India as well, with a strong social media presence as well.
The fruits are sourced from all around India, strawberries from Mahabaleshwar, peaches, apples and plums from Himachal Pradesh, kiwis from the North East, Nagaland to be precise (this was a pleasant piece of information), alphonsos from Ratnagiri, and so on.
While Rhythm wines are a fantastic addition to the growing wine industry in India, traditionally it may still find difficulty in being accepted in the traditional wine circles and among connoisseurs. Wishing them luck and encouraging our readers to be open and try these novel, fruity and our very own homegrown, “sura-s” !
