” I feel proud to be the youngest winemaker in the Chandon family Born in Nashik, I’ve lived & breathed wine from an early age. I have also studied & been involved in winemaking in France, Portugal, New Zealand, the USA & Brazil before coming back home to Nashik.

When I’m abroad, people are always amazed when I say I’m making wine in India. India is very famous for yoga, tea & spices. The newness of this country in terms of wine can come as a surprise. They are blown away by the quality. When I started at Chandon India in 2015, I was hands-on in operations. Now I’m the head winemaker, my role is more supervisory, it’s more about the bigger picture.”

“The best part of working with Chandon has been the exchange of ideas. Some of my colleagues around the world have been working for 30, 40 years for the brand. If I have a discussion for an hour with those guys I can tap into that experience. We have a digital media platform where we can exchange ideas and discuss any topic. There are natural synergies between the houses.”

“We buy in all our grapes, so our relationships with our contract farmers are very important & our viticulturists consult with them on a weekly basis, helping them with training & quality control. Nashik already had a culture of table-grape growing, so that was helpful. You need the best fruit to make the best wine.

Chenin Blanc, our hero grape, makes a sparkling wine with a delicious fruity palate, with good acidity & freshness, even in a hot tropical climate. It tends to thrive in the heat. Around 70 per cent of the assemblage in our Brut is Chenin Blanc. It’s a distinctive characteristic of wine of this region – a showcase of India, if you like.

Chardonnay brings roundness to the blend & Pinot Noir gives body, structure & aging potential.

Winemaking here is very different from winemaking in the rest of the world, really. We harvest in late winter here, & the objective is not for the grapes to reach maturity; it’s the opposite – to slow down maturity.

Our wines are crisp, fresh & fruity, but at the same time there is balance, there is elegance & there is harmony. We avoid extremes of anything. We choose to make our wines via the traditional method, because, after the winter harvest, we begin the process with grapes that have a nice crisp acidity.”

“You can’t ever stop in winemaking; you can’t rest on your laurels. You have to keep seeking perfection, keep making it better. I am already proud of what we have achieved, but this is a journey; you must keep moving forward. And we are on the right track. I want my wines to be enjoyed by consumers, to become part of their memories, their moments. Chandon is sending out a clear signal that India can produce high quality wines. It’s a manifestation of that quality.”