An Unplanned visit to Soma Vineyards
Yesterday I along with a friend, Hari went to a vineyard near Bangalore. We thought of going for a bike ride and finally decided to go to Soma Vineyards near Bangalore. We decided in the morning so we did not have any prior bookings. Neither of us had any experience about the vineyard tours or wine tasting and as such we did not know what to expect from the session.
The Soma estate is located in Sonnenahalli, Karnataka around 80 Km from Bangalore. The route we took passed through Devanahalli and a couple of small villages. The route was extremely good with a view of rose farms and some other options in between. It is a pleasant ride as the roads are nice with little traffic. We left at around 08:30–09:00 from my place in Whitefield and reached the place around 11:30–12:00 to the place. The google map shows a wrong location as the last part is a dirt road from near the lake. The last part is around 1 Km from lake. The locals nearby can tell the correct way if you get lost.
After reaching the estate we were mesmerized by the beauty of plantation present there. We introduced ourselves to Mr. Roshan, who was the manager of the estate. He informed us that they allow only pre booking and DO NOT TAKE WALK-IN, but after requesting him, he was kind enough to allow us the session. There are two sessions they had, one started from 10:30 AM and other was going to start as 03:30 PM. As were already there by 12:00 PM he allowed us in the current session. The session includes a wine tasting followed by lunch (we skipped lunch as we were late) and then the estate visit. Mr. Roshan was affable and told us correct ways to drink wine and a lot more information about the how it is made. We also enjoyed our wine tasting session which included all three wines White, Rose and then Red.
The session ended with us taking a tour of the estate to see the berries just before harvesting. Mr. Roshan explained about the different types of requirements for the two berries used. Then we got a peak inside the winery where the whole process takes place. Finally we left to come back around 3:00 PM and reached back home about 2 hrs after.
This was a unique and satisfying experience. I don’t think I am ever drinking or even looking at wine same as before.
