Chateau D'ori - The vineyards and wineries of Nashik-

From a distance, the rotunda, which nestles against the foothills of the dun-coloured Nehra-Ori, looks like a concert hall that has carelessly settled in the middle of nowhere. Once inside, it has the character and the appurtenances of a truly modern winemaking enterprise.

The Chateau D’Ori estate, situated near Dindori, some 22 kilometres from Nashik, reveals its difference even as you drive up the unpaved road to the winery. The vines are ‘trained’ under the vertical shoot positioning system, which puts all the shoots along a trellis to form a hedge-like wall of leaves. Grapes receive sunlight in a greater and much more even fashion under this system than those that grow in the bushy vines trained in pergolas, which increase canopy cover.

The VSP system allows for more plants per acre (though less yield per plant), requires less pesticide, does not tax the plant as much and, perhaps most importantly, allows the grapes to mature more uniformly. Some other wineries have begun planting in this style, and Ranjit Dhuru, Chateau D’Ori’s Chairman and Managing Director, regards it as one of the unique features of his estate.



The grapes are processed in the heart of the winery, a circular domed hall, with stainless steel tanks. Grapes are sorted manually and go into a transfer tank after de-stemming from which they are transferred to fermentation tanks via gantries. One of the other distinctive features of Chateau D’Ori is that gravity, as opposed to pumping, is used wherever possible. Rather than pump-over, the punch down method is used to break the cap — that solid mass of grape skin and pips that forms a crust in the fermentation tank and which needs to be sporadically broken to enhance flavour and tannins. And the wine is fed into the bottling unit, located below, entirely by gravity. Gravity flow facilities are becoming popular in some small sized estates in California and elsewhere. Apart from enhancing energy and resource efficiency, the belief is that moving wine via gravity treats it as gently as possible, reducing undesirable tannin leach and harsh flavours, something that is better for all wine but can irreparably damage a delicate and demanding fruit such as Pinot Noir.

There is still some unfinished work at the Chateau D’Ori facility but it is easy to see that it has been conceived and executed as an integrated one. At one level, this reflects the vision and the effort of Ranjit Dhuru — the head of a Mumbai-based Rs. 400 crore software company, who becomes animated when he talks about viticulture and wine-making. The good thing about Chateau D’Ori is that it is not just a business, but also a passion.

The even better thing, in my opinion, is that wine-makers like him hold out the best hope for Nashik. If the region will start producing truly world-class wines, the chances are that men who understand that wine-making is a kind of artistry rather than a prosaic trade will produce it. Luckily for Nashik, there are at least three or four of them around.

Dhuru has ambitious plans such as using another 300 acres to experiment with varietals not commonly planted in India such as such as Pinot Noir, Malbec, Grenache and Pinot Grigio. I sipped the range of whites and reds he produces from barrels and fermentation tanks. Frankly, I can’t say I enjoyed them all, but his top-end reds came off much better than his whites, particularly the Cabernet Merlot, full of ripe aromas and a soft clean palate.

But it is impossible to walk away from his winery without feeling that it can only get better, in fact much better, from here. Not just for Dhuru alone but for Nashik.