Alok Chandra: Music and spirits

This is the 10th anniversary of Sulafest, which started in 2007 with a modest 4 bands and 300 people

Sulafest 2017, being held at the Sula winery outside Nasik in Maharashtra even as we speak, is a three-day jamboree featuring 48 different bands and performers from 10 different countries that is expected to attract over 15,000 visitors. Sure, that’s nothing compared to the 30 million visitors that came for the Mahakumbh at Allahabad in February 2013, but when one considers that individuals at Sulafest probably have a discretionary spending power some 1,000 times more than the good folk coming to the Mahakumbh, things are suddenly different.

This is the 10th anniversary of Sulafest, which started in 2007 with a modest four bands and 300 people. As they say, “You’ve come a long way, baby.” Sula’s founder, Rajiv Samant, is himself a music buff, and thought that music was an ideal platform to promote his wines. He therefore built a 2,000-seater, open-air  amphitheatre just next to his new winery and tasting room, which has been the venue for all the music events to-date.

Wine lends itself to pairing with all sorts of activities — food, of course, but also art, music, literature (yes, Sula has been the wine sponsor for the Jaipur Literature Festival since inception), and even theatre — anything that gets “wine-minded” people together. And if they’re not drinking wine at present, the sort of audience attracted to such events are always potential customers.

Sula is today the largest-selling Indian wine company, and the only one making any money: in FY 2015-16, they sold an estimated 1 million cases of wines, with a net revenue of Rs 283 crore, a profit before interest, depreciation and taxes of Rs 51 crore, and profit after tax of Rs 21 crore. Their wines range from the Port 1000, selling at Rs 150, right upto their flagship Rasa Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, which retails at about Rs 1,750, with their largest-selling wine being the Sula Cabernet-Shiraz. 

So what’s the buzz at Sulafest 2017? There are now three stages: the main Amphitheatre for all live performances, Atmasphere for mainly EDM (Electronic Dance Music), and the new Tropical stage for mixed genres and world music. Key performers include Niraj Arya’s Kabir, Nucleya, Dhruv Voyage, and the Raghu Dixit Project (all Indian); Bloc Party and the Afro Celt Sound System (UK); Infected Mushrooms (Israel); and last, but not least, Dubioza Kolektiv from Bosnia. All performances are from 2 to 10 pm on the three days (February 3 to 5).

Apart from Sula’s domestic and imported wines, there are stalls for food, spirits, and artefacts, winery and vineyard visits, yoga sessions, and even a morning run to the neighbouring Gangaput Dam.

How does Sulafest stack up against other western music festivals in India? There are three well-established shows: Sunburn (Goa and Pune, three days, 30,000 visitors), Supersonic (Goa and Pune, three days, over 25,000 people), and Weekender (Pune, Shillong and Hyderabad, three days, over 25,000 visitors). Smaller festivals include The Enchanted Valley Carnival (Ambi Valley, three days, over 10,000 people) and Ziro (Arunachal Pradesh, four days, 5,000 plus people). All dedicated entirely to music, with food and sponsors pitching in. 

Go figure.

So head to Sula’s winery at Nashik for a weekend of fun and music — there’s still time. 

Wines I’ve been drinking: Sula, naturally. Of all their wines I like the Sula Rasa Shiraz the best: a 100 per cent Shiraz from their own vineyards in the Dindori area near Nasik, the wine has spent 12 months in French oak barrels. Great fruit aromas, supple tannins, full-bodied, with a long spicy finish — what more can one ask for?
 

Alok Chandra is a Bengaluru-based wine consultant