Nashik Notes

Last week I spent three days in Nashik and managed to get a glimpse of certain aspects of this fine city. Nashik has many claims to fame — from being India’s largest onion producer to its robust industrial base, currency press, artillery training center, pleasant climate, iconic Misal Paav, and of course, its well-earned reputation as the wine capital of India.

I was, for a few moments, taken aback when I realized that Saadhana Misal was a restaurant that served just one item – Misal Pav! The whole place had a dhaba-like vibe and was jam packed even on a weekday morning.

The Sula resort organizes a guided tour of the premise which also includes a wine-tasting session. The property is impressive and is marketed as a high-end holiday destination. The annual Sula festival has also helped the place gain an ‘aspirational’ tag. The whole area around the property has seen a mushrooming of many smaller resorts and holiday homes. I learnt some facts about wine. For instance, I never knew that it was the presence of the grape skin that determined the colour of the wine. The tasting session was comical. They served six varieties and we were asked to perform the five steps of wine tasting – See, Swirl, Smell, Sip and Swish! For someone who hardly drinks and understands little of wine, the whole process was definitely amusing.

I had mixed feelings about the place. Any private enterprise succeeding in India is to be celebrated considering the regulatory and bureaucratic challenges that are thrown by the Indian State. But at the same time, while it was nice to know that the enterprise which took root in 1999, has since become a household name for wines in India, it was palpable that the place was surviving primarily on the ‘idea’ of being a high-class winery and less on the reality of aspiring to be a competitive wine producer in the Indian and global market. A quick check of its stock performance and balance sheet confirmed my suspicions:

The stock is 40% down over the last year with a sluggish growth in sales.

The next stop after sipping wine was the Trimbakeshwar Temple – one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Shiva and an hour away from Nashik city. The Brahmagiri hills that form the backdrop of the temple, make the sight all the more impressive. The Godavari also has its origins here. Trekking in the hills is a thing too.

I realized that of the 12 Jyotirlingas, I’ve visited only three so far – the other two being Somnath and Kashi. Insha Allah, the rest too should be covered soon.

The biggest buzz in Nashik is the forthcoming Nashik Kumbha Mela slated for July 2027. The popularity of the Maha Kumbh earlier this year has kept the administration on their toes and hectic preparations to manage the crowds have already begun.