Sula relaunches premium wines under Rasa label

Verdin said the company is working on new offerings, which should soon be in the market.

Sula Vineyards has re-launched Rasa, one of its offerings in the premium segment for customers. Although the label has been in existence since 2007-08, the company has worked on the product for years to launch a new version, company officials said.

Gregoire Verdin, AVP, tastings & marketing, Sula Vineyards, said the product is one of the best red wines in the country. “These wines — Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Zinfandel — are all modernistic with Rasa Cabernet and Zin being in the Bordeaux style bottle, and Syrah (Shiraz) in the wider Burgundy bottle design. The wines are aged for 12 months in French oak barrels and further matured in a bottle before release. The Rasa series of wines are our entry into high-end top wines,” he said.

Verdin, who has been with the Nashik-based winery since December 2018, brings his food and wine industry experience of over a decade to lead wine tastings and training for F&B professionals and consumers. The wines are priced in the range of `1,500 to `1,700 per bottle.

“Rasa is currently produced in Nashik vineyards, that’s where our focus is. But let’s see what the future holds,” he said, when asked if the same product would be produced at the Bengaluru winery as well.

Sula Vineyards recently rebranded their Karnataka winery as Domaine Sula to differentiate it from the flagship winery in Nashik. Rasa is being produced in small batches, he said, declining to give out production numbers and saying the focus is on artisanal winemaking.

While the pandemic has been tough for most consumer businesses, Sula used the period to work on its product line and managed to increase its market share to 70%.

Verdin said the company is working on new offerings, which should soon be in the market.

Last year, the company launched the country’s first wine in a can, Dia Wine Sparkler. Fratelli followed with the launch of four variants (apart from a spritzer under its Noi label) of wine in a can soon after.

“The upcoming crushing season looks great and we’re looking at a fantastic harvest,” Verdin said. Sula normally crushes 8,000 to 9,000 tonne of grapes annually. Thanks to pandemic restrictions being lifted, Nashik has been seeing an increase in footfall in wine tourism, with Sula Vineyards attracting the most tourists.