Heritage Vineyard- wine, food and more!

Wine has always been considered a connoisseur's forte! May be because it isn't like other alocoholic beverages or it's patrons are usually members of the elite class.

Famous vineyards of Tuscany or France are any traveler's dream come true. But till I get a chance to visit any of those, I was thinking why not have a humble beginning by visiting a Vineyard in our very own Namma Bengaluru!

There aren't many options if your'e looking for a Vineyad tour in Bengaluru as it is still a budding industry. There is a Grover Vineyard near Nandi Hills and Heritage Vineyard which is on the Mysore road.

Having read the reviews for both on TrpAdvisor, I decided to visit Heritage Vineyard as it had better ratings. This was back in 2015, may be around September-October. But after realising that it was not a good season as there would be no grapes in the Vineyard, I postponed my visit.

Indian grapes ripen in the months of February-March and are harvested in the month of April. We visited in early Feb. As the timing was from 10 AM we decided to start early from Bengaluru, finish the tour and return by noon but as usual things did not go as planned.

Our ever late friend Ratna took her own time to reach the designated meeting place and we started after having breakfast at around 9.30 only. Google shows the way till the end so you won't have any problem in finding the place. Except for the perpetual traffic on the Mysore road there isn't much to tell about the journey. We reached at around 11 and the place was empty except for may be two groups taking the wine tour.

The lady at the reception told politely that we can pay later and started with our wine factory tour. Plant basically produces two types of wines- red and white wine. After a 10 min tour we knew everything there is to know about wine making.

After the tour we headed to the wine tasting where we got to taste some 6 varieties of wine- both white and red. Crackers were given as a snack. The gentleman showed us how to hold the wine glass, how to smell it and take a sip as well.
Women apparently make excellent wine tasters as they have a heightened taste and olfactory senses.
It is just amazing how many smells you can identify in a single wine. A minimum of 8-10 were mentioned and no matter how hard I tried, I could recognize up to 3 only! May be need some more wine tasting!

Now it was picture time! Vineyard is some 500 ft away and grapes were just coming out and we sneaked inside to click some pics. Though it was still Feb, sun was blazing over our heads and within no time we were tired. I even started feeling a little dizzy. So we headed back. As all of us were hungry as well, we decided to eat something at the inhouse restaurant-Epulo.

Place was well decorated and there was a cool breeze and good music was playing in the background. We ordered some mushroom and paneer starters and sat chit chatting on the grass after eating. We just didn't look at the time! 

It's true when people say time flies when friends are around because when we finally left the place it was 4.30 in the evening!

There is a shop on the premises where they sell wines at lesser prices as well. With a small play area for kids by the side this can be a good half day outing for the family. Only thing is factory is closed on Sundays so you won't get to see much in the factory tour. So make sure you visit on days other than a Sunday.

The wine tour including the tasting cost Rs. 250 per person and they asked Rs.500 per person for the grape stomping which we felt was too expensive so did not give a try.

For a first timer, this Vineyard tour was an awesome experience! Below are some more pics!

We left with some good food in our tummy and the views of ripened grapes and greenery etched in our minds.