Grover Zampa Vineyards

Our passion for wine and respect for traditions have made the dream of Premium Indian Wines come true. The history starts from the 1960s with Kanwal Grover, father of Indian viticulture, and is being enriched with every generation.

Kanwal Grover, as a businessman, dealt in high technological equipment, space program, defence production and machine tools. His company imported products directly and only from France. With each visit to France, his taste for fine wines grew and he was hooked to the great French gastronomy. The passion kept growing while he worked abroad in the early 1960s. His initial aim was to attract more French engineers to India and making quality wines was a sure way to make them stay here. On one of his trips to France in the early 1970s, he visited some wineries. The process and the beauty of winemaking convinced him to transform his passion into a life time dedication. His dream of Grover Vineyards was incepted in this passion.

To realise his dream of creating premium vineyards in India, Grover met George Vesselle, the then Technical Director of Champagne Mumm Vineyard. During their first dinner, they realised that they were born on the same day of the same year – 1925. To celebrate this, Georges Vesselle opened a bottle of Bouzy Rouge 1925 from his private cellar. The unique friendship made Vesselle accept the challenge of growing French grape varieties in India. They were the pioneers of winemaking in India, exploring the country to find the most appropriate region to grow French grape varieties. In 1992 the first Grover Vineyard was setup.

When Georges Vesselle retired, Kanwal Grover looked for a new expert. While travelling in Bordeaux in 1994, he went to Cos d’Estournel, the famous Grand Cru, and met Bruno Prat, who introduced him to Michel Rolland, world’s most influential enologist. It was not easy to convince Rolland, who was already busy working with Argentinean and Chilean wineries. He thought Kanwal Grover, at the age of 60, was crazy to take the challenge to make wine in India. But Kanwal Grover’s genuine nature and passion struck a chord and Rolland accepted to come to India and see the vineyard.

Michel Rolland brought the best French traditions to create finest Indian wines. Since 1995, Michel Rolland has been advising Grover Vineyards for grape growing, harvesting and winemaking techniques. With his expertise, Grover continues to produce soft, rich, opulent and distinctive wines.

Today, Grover Vineyards is managed by Kapil Grover, son of Kanwal Grover. The vineyards have expanded from 100 acres to 400 acres under his able leadership. Through his respect for traditions, he carries forward the objective of producing premium quality wine in India. Like his father, who initiated viticulture in India, Kapil is an innovator. Utilising modern techniques he has significantly upgraded processes in the winery and subsequently, wine quality.

Karishma Grover, Kapil’s daughter, brings in fresh perspective of new generation. After studying at University of California (UC) Davis, world’s leading school of viticulture and oenology, she is now joining Grover Vineyards. She will take the winery forward in its expansion and course to produce high quality wines.

The culmination of a merger between Grover Vineyards and Vallée de Vin, Grover Zampa exhibits the most impressive pedigree in the Indian wine industry and owns an array of widely recognized brands. Grover Zampa endeavours to let connoisseurs and wine enthusiasts embark on a journey of senses through not only offering them the world-class wines but also enhancing the wine’s blissful experience through wine tourism and wine education.

Based on the belief that a wine should bring out the most faithful expression of its grape varietal and terroir, Grover Zampa spend the summers carefully capturing the essence of grapes through internationally accepted techniques and practices reliably brought to India for making the finest range of wines.

Our dual locations, the Nandi Hills in Karnataka and the Nashik Valley in Maharashtra give us the opportunity to extract the best of India. The natural protection of the Nandi Hills and the terraced slopes of Nashik offer fresh climate, fertile soil and the perfect conditions for vine growing.

The best wines are made from the best vineyard. Our skilled team works scrupulously using sustainable practices coupled with selective hand harvesting. Daily attention is given to the vines to make sure that no chance is given to hazard. Our wines are appealing yet distinctive in style by applying up-to-date viticulture and winemaking techniques.

“Less is more” helps us to maintain a high level of quality. We keep the quality high by limiting yields to bring out the complex aromas and delicate flavors from the grapes.

The grapes are processed in temperature controlled cellars equipped with modern resources and our own bottling lines to ensure that the quality remains uncompromised throughout the wine making process.

In addition, the entire method of wine-making is finely orchestrated and monitored by the world famous wine consultant Michel Rolland to give a discrete style and balance to the wines.

Our wines are created by an uncompromising and passionate focus on quality and attention to detail in all aspects of winemaking process. This permits the wine and the vineyard to express their true potential.

The grapes are processed in a cooling room. We have controlled cellars equipped with modern resources such as temperature controlled tanks and our own bottling lines. This ensures that the quality remains uncompromised throughout the wine making process.

Winemaking is done in different tanks according to the different kinds of grape and of plots of land where the grape has come from in order to respect the specificity of each terroir. Most of the wine processing equipments and tanks are imported, mainly from Italy, which is known for being one of the best manufacturers of stainless steel cellar equipment.

In addition to this, the entire method of wine-making is finely orchestrated and monitored by the world famous wine consultant Michel Rolland, to give a discrete style and balance to the wines. For the last four years, Karishma Grover and Mathias Pellissard have been our winemakers.

Our process also involves:

-       Meticulous grape selection on sorting tables: we remove all the leaves, unripe and unwanted berries that can give greenish and unpleasant aromas.

-       Whole-bunch pressing technique to preserve the freshness and maintain the softness of the wine. This captures the essence of the fruit from the vineyard.

-       New Oak Barrels aging for our premium wines which gives the wines interesting spice, vanilla or even smoky aromas and enables you to keep them for a longer time.

Nashik Valley Vineyards

In the sylvan Sahyadri valley, lies tranquil Sanjegaon, the home of our vineyards in Nashik Valley. Unknown and unheralded, this quiet town with its crisp air and fertile soil, is ideal to produce exceptional grapes. Nashik Valley is often referred to as India’s very own Napa Valley and also as the “Wine Capital of India”. Nashik is situated about 172 kilometre North-East of Mumbai and about 1968 ft. above the mean sea level.

Ravi Jain and Deepak Roy, along with Neeraj Deorah gave birth to Vallée de Vin Zampa with the common idea of producing world class wines with an Indian identity. The Nashik Valley was chosen because of its favourable climate and soil.

The first vines were planted in 2006. And after waiting for a long but inevitable period of two years to obtain good quality fruit, the first harvest took place in 2008. The first range of Zampa Wines was proudly launched at this point.

Our vines spread on slopes, preventing water stagnation and diseases due to humidity. Zampa vineyard was developed with western viticulture methods. We source the grapes from monitored local farms with long term contracts. Vineyard Supervisors, like in the case of Nandi Hills, maintain a vigilant surveillance.

We have 42 acres of cultivated land in Nashik Valley. A cool microclimate and height of about 2000 feet has enabled fruits and flowers to grow for hundreds of years.

The soil is well-drained and red, requiring vine roots to develop strength as they travel deep in search of micronutrients.  These deep roots bring out the best expression of the Terroir.

• The climate of the area is mild throughout the year, ranging from winter lows of 8-10°C to summer highs of 32-35°C
• Rainfall in Nashik valley is 690mm/year. It looks like the gorgeous Loire Vallee and Alsace in France
• The Western Ghats have laterite soils which are rich in iron with good drainage. They vary from sandy clay loam and red laterite to murrum soils, all well suited for wine grape cultivation.

Warmer days with cooler nights, gentle slope, fertile landscape – all these make Nashik a perfect wine country. With heavenly natural beauty, lush green valleys and vineyards, Nashik is also an excellent spot for vineyard tours. In addition, the winery has been aesthetically designed to encourage wine tourism. Whether you are a true wine enthusiast or simply a nature loving tourist, a visit of our winery in Nashik would fascinate you for sure.

Nandi Hills Vineyards

Our vineyards spread over 300 acres on the foothills of the Nandi Hills and are nestled at 920 meters above the sea level.

The landscape is made of gentle rolling hills with good sun exposition. Our vines are grown on a lime rich and gravelly soil. It is a well drained soil where rain water flows rapidly without much absorption. The natural protection of the Nandi Hills against the monsoon also enables our grapes to reach perfect maturity.

Sunny days, cool nights and moderate rain strike a perfect balance for cultivation of grapes. A healthy maturation period of 180 days, from pruning to harvest, is allowed for Cabernet Sauvignon grape.

• Temperatures vary from 23°-29° C in summers and 11°-21° C in winters
• Growing season, the longest in India. Thanks to the natural protection of Nandi Hills against monsoon, our grapes to reach perfect maturity
• Limestone soils of the Nandi Hill region give to our wines their distinctive, terroir-driven earthiness with depth, richness and aromatic complexity

  All Vineyards are under Grover Vineyard’s strict supervision and farmers are given precise instructions. Each farmer has a Vineyard Supervisor on all the sites to secure compliance. The oldest Grover vines are 15 years old (mainly used for La Reserve). The average age of the vineyard is 8 to 10 years old.

  The region offers tranquil surroundings, a rich history and beautiful vistas to travellers. The binoculars are in for a treat with spectacular Asian Paradise Flycatchers, Bulbuls, Blue Capped Rock Thrush, Tawny Eagles, and Puff-Throated Babblers to view.