They’re just back from their winery at the foothills of the Nandi Hills, on the outskirts of Bangalore, and Kapil Grover and his young daughter Karishma admit they’re already longing to go back. “When we come here we leave our hearts back there,” says the man who has been at the helm of one of the oldest family-owned wineries — having been started by his father in 1981. And like good wine the business has matured with the years, having included several new varieties and a touch of art to their precious produce.
“It goes back to about ‘81,” recalls Kapil. “Dad had started out and at the time no one had grown a single wine grape here. Since then we have seen so much progress, it’s been an era of phenomenal growth. My best friends who said I was crazy now say my dad was right, after all. The trend has shown that the wine industry is the greatest domestic industry to have registered growth.”
The recent marriage between art and their wine came as a natural predecessor of things to come, with having some of the most renowned artists — Jatin Das, Paresh Maity, Rekha Rodwittiya and others lending their creative force to the labels. “It’s really about the finer things in life, about making discerning choices,” explains Karishma, as Kapil adds in, “I was resisting the move to do this as having an art label may lead to confusion in the customer’s mind.
But my brother — Karan (a well-known architect) had been
after me for so long to do this and he to spoke some of the artists who are his friends to do this.” However, the path wasn’t easy. “We had no problem with the labels in other states but in Maharashtra some people found a Women’s Empowerment Bill that said one could not depict a woman in a certain way. So I had to take the unit to Sangli and had the registrations take place there.”
With the wine industry still in a nascent stage in India, the duo say there’s much to be learnt and achieved. “We’re hoping to launch a sparking wine at the end of next year as wine is increasingly becoming a social drink now. We’ve created a ripple in the world market so it’s an exciting time. We’re just babes in the wood now and enjoying all that’s happening,” he ends.
