Raksha Rao - The Roving Heart
Raksha Rao

I am a passionate traveler, photographer and an engineer by profession. I have always loved new travel experiences. However, it reached a whole new level when I took off for a Himalayan trek in May 2015 - it made me realise how totally gratifying travel can be. Since then, I have traveled near and far, as much as I can,  always looking for new and immersive adventures.

Be it trekking on snow in the mighty Himalayan range, bungee jumping with a river view in Rishikesh, cliff jumping or scuba diving in the emerald blue waters of Thailand, high-altitude river rafting at the freezing cold rivers of Zanskar in Leh - my propensity for new experiences is ever growing as is my wishlist.

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India, Popular, Reviews

Learn the Art of Wine Making and Tasting at Heritage Winery

posted by Raksha Rao
Last updated on Aug 4, 2020, 12270 39
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Learn the Art of Wine Making and Tasting at Heritage Winery

A faint and fleeting smell of smoky and woody aromas drifted through the air and hit my senses. I swirled my glass vigorously and took a deep breath trying hard to decipher the trapped aromas in the drink. The instructor’s voice was running in the background talking about the blackberry, peppery, spicy and cinnamon aromas in the drink. Most of them escaped me. Only the bitterness of the drink stayed with me. A rookie oversight, easily. Here, I was at a wine tasting session at Heritage winery – 60kms from Bangalore city on an impromptu road trip, near the toy town of Channapattana.

Little did I know that the temperate climate makes this region perfect for wine growing. And that it’s the popular region for winemaking in Karnataka.

Table of Contents

  • Journey to Heritage Winery
  • Learning the art of wine tasting at Heritage Winery
  • Art of winemaking at Heritage Winery
    • Centrifugal machinery
    • The why and how of Hangovers
    • How to cure hangovers
    • Wine Certifications
    • Interesting Facts
  • Information about Heritage Winery

Journey to Heritage Winery

I’m not a wine connoisseur and had only heard of Grover Zampa vineyards near Nandi Hills. I wanted to do a quick road trip along with friends, and wine tasting seemed like an exciting idea for a road trip. Having never visited a winery before, this excited me.

While I was searching for the location, I found out that there is a Heritage Winery in Basavanagudi. Soon, I found out to be just a corporate office. But it took a while to locate the winery in the toy town of Channapattana. I was glad to have both my road trip and new experience to look forward to. Here’s a map for your reference.

 

Although road trip on Mysore kills the essence of a road trip for me as it’s always packed, it was fun traveling with a bunch of fun loving people. I left Bangalore at around 1 PM and reached the winery just shy of 3 PM. Had only a couple of hours left before the winery was going to shut down. Yet, I had enough time to attend a wine tasting tour, winemaking factory tour and visit the wineries before it closes at 5 PM.

The property is pretty nice and is wine and barrel themed. Additionally, they have an in-house restaurant with decent food. Do carry at least a few bottles as a souvenir. It makes for a great weekend companion 🙂

Learning the art of wine tasting at Heritage Winery

“Wines are shy in nature. Until you provoke them, they won’t open up”, our instructor – Mr.Shashidhar mused.

“If you want to get high – drink vodka, not wine”, he went on.

In the tasting room, the wine experience begins with smelling the aroma. Swirl the wine vigorously for about 10-15 seconds and inhale the plethora of aromas coming out. Take a sip and before swallowing and bring it to the front of your mouth for about 5 seconds. And then, roll the wine in the upper palate for about 8 seconds. Finally, swallow the wine.

Next, draw air from your mouth and concentrate on your brain while exhaling. If you concentrate hard enough, probably you will smell the aroma. Also, two minutes between two sips is ideal to recognize the aromas. Swirl, sniff, and sip, our instructor went on. It may sound simple but I found gauging the aromas really tough. The subtleties of wine tasting totally escaped me at first. By the time, I got to my 4th drink, it was just slowly sinking in.

It takes about half an hour and it was a thrilling experience for me having never been on a wine tasting tour before.

In wine tasting, they serve seven types of in-house wines – 3 dry, 1 carbonated and 3 regular sweet.

Read: Cool and Unique Bucket List Ideas for your Next Vacation

Regnan sweet - Shiraz Red wine heritage winery mysore road
Regnan Sweet – Shiraz Red wine. Aromas – blackberry, smoky, woody, herbs, peppery, spicy, cinnamon. And mushrooms with more practice.
Chenin Blanc White Wine Heritage Winery mysore road
Chenin Blanc white wine. Aromas – Grassy, musk melon, cashew fruit(fenny) citrus, green apple, litchi and pudina.
Twist bublly Heritage Winery mysore road
Twist bubbly Aerated wine. No swirl.
White sweet (2000) Heritage Winery mysore road
White sweet wine(2000). Aroma – Pineapple, litchi

Art of winemaking at Heritage Winery

An informational tour of the factory to understand the process of winemaking happens every day at Heritage Winery.

The tour starts with the introduction of crushing machinery which crushes grapes at 5 tonnes/hour allowing free-run juice to pour forth. Potassium metabisulfite is added as a preservative to preserve the liquid which will soon be wine.

Yeast makes up for a vital part of winemaking. It consumes the food material and converts sugar in the grapes to alcohol, heat and Carbon Dioxide. And, preparation of wine is made in laboratories. Titrations show the amount of acidity available. Consequently, tasting the base wine – 30ml of wine in different glasses and different amounts of sugar ranging from 0.25gms, 0.5gms – 3gms of sugar which results in different levels of acidity and alcohol content.

Centrifugal machinery

Centrifugal machinery runs at 10,000 rpm which delivers 90% clarity wine after removing sedimentation. It is then passed through wine softeners to soften the wine and inox tanks serve this purpose. Consequently, it takes about 35 days on the higher side to make a bottle of wine.

Black grapes make for red wines and green grapes, on the other hand, make for white wines. No colors are added in red wines has a natural Anthocyanin pigment. Wines can be either sweet or bitter. Variety of factors ranging from the kind of grapes to climatic conditions influences the flavor and fruitiness of the grapes. Wines have their own character and all these aromas – blackberry, Pineapple, litchi, muskmelon, cashew fruit, and so on are naturally present in the wine and not added artificially.

Fun Fact – Red wine has a chemical called tannin which attacks the saliva. It is viscous in nature and blocks salivary glands – which is why red wines lead to dehydration. White wines, on the other hand, cause salivary activation.

Health tip – Always, eat local black grapes with the seeds. Apparently, the seeds have a good amount of anti-oxidants. Also, grapeseed oil can serve as an excellent moisturizer.

wine tanks heritage winery mysore road

Feeling a little tipsy after seven different varieties of wine tasting and piles of information overload, we decided to walk through the vineyard during sunset.

vineyard Heritage Winery
Strutting through a vineyard

The why and how of Hangovers

Along with winemaking and tasting, I felt it’s about time to shed some light on the why and how of hangovers as well – which usually follows excessive drinking. So, the addition of this section. Please bear with me.

While drinking, the body loses water, salt, and electrolytes. 250 ml of alcohol leads to almost 1 liter of urinary output. So, it’s easy to get dehydrated pretty soon. Did you know that you get high when the alcohol reaches the bloodstream? If you have heavy, oily food in your system, this process will take time to pass through your bloodstream and then finally a sudden kick – which is when a lot of people lose control. So, it’s advised to take light food for lunch and dinner while consuming alcohol. The instructor even said that you don’t dream when you consume alcohol. Interesting isn’t it?! If there is no proper absorption, alcohol remains in there and gets blocked. Along with gastric juice, it can cause irritation. One of the symptoms of a hangover.

And you all know the symptoms of a hangover, right? Body pains, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, headache and the likes.


Health tip – Don’t take paracetamol for a hangover. Also, avoid aspirin/dispirin which are vasodilators and alcohol being a blood thinner can be a toxic combination. It’s best to avoid coffee too. Sorry, coffee lovers!


How to cure hangovers

You are not going to like it. But, it’s proven effective. Drink 3-4 glasses of hot water with salt. Go to the washroom, and here it comes – THROW UP. This time, intentionally! Most of the discomfort will be gone. Wait for 10 mins and then have a light breakfast. And 2 glasses of fresh juice. Extra added sugar. Bit of salt. And by evening, you will be as good as new for the next round!

vineyard heritage winery mysore road

Wine Certifications

There are many certifications on wines the popular one being WSET (Wine and Spirit Education trust) that offers certification if you’d like to pursue an interest or start a career in wines. Headquartered in London, it has accredited centers all over the world. WSET Level 1 course is just a day course and amounts to Rs. 10,000 in India. Majorly available in Delhi and Mumbai. They host certification courses every year. You can inquire at wset@wi-not.biz.

I was intrigued by the art of wine tasting and the subtlety of things involved that I thought of taking up this course sometime in the future, even if it’s just as a hobby. What do you think?

Interesting Facts

There are only 236 Master Sommeliers in the world! Out of which less than 15 percent of the Master Sommeliers were women. Although, women have 20-25% more taste buds than men. Strange, don’t you think?!

As per Forbes reports the average candidate sits for the exam two to three times and some take it as many as six times. It takes years to prepare for, and a very small percentage of candidates who attempt it actually pass!

Additional Read: 

Sex and the Sommelier: Make way for women

What it takes to be a Master Sommelier

If you are more of a beer person, why not try a beer tasting session instead?

Tour Suggestions: If you are a foreigner, and visiting Bangalore for the first time, then I would also suggest you try out the Half-Day Cultural Tour of Bangalore or take a day trip to Mysore.

Information about Heritage Winery


Tours and tastings are conducted seven days a week throughout the year. However, grape stomping is seasonal. The best time to visit the Heritage winery would be during the harvesting and crushing months between January and March.

Heritage Winery Location – Channapattana, 60 km away from Bangalore (through Bangalore – Mysore Highway).

Timings – 10am to 5pm

Wine tasting and factory tour – Rs. 250/- per head for 1-2 hours.

Grape stomping – Rs. 500/- per head (Call prior to ask for availability).

Also, Kids 10 years and below are given a free tour.

This experience is also featured under my 2017 highlights.

So, have you ever visited Heritage Winery or any winery for that matter? If yes, how was your experience? Let me know in the comments below.

heritage winery bangalore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hola! I’m Raksha Rao, the founder and Chief Editor of The Roving Heart and I heartily welcome you to this blog!

I’m perpetually in search of the next trip, next adventure and forever aching to fly far away to a land of strangers.

Come follow me on my journey and I promise you to take you on an adventure!

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Comments

39 Comments
  1. posted by
    Brianna
    Feb 15, 2017 Reply

    I’m not a big fan of the taste of wine. Plus, this proper tasting technique is so involved! I’ll take a Coke instead 😛

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Feb 19, 2017 Reply

      Haha. Yeah. It’s so involved. But overall it’s a nice experience. Give it a try sometime 🙂

  2. posted by
    Ess
    Feb 15, 2017 Reply

    here are altogether 298 master wine tasters in the world. And only 7 of them are women. Interesting fact! I did not know that until today.

  3. posted by
    arv!
    Feb 16, 2017 Reply

    Lovely detailed post on wine tasting and wines! I’m sure one can gain so much information about the wine tasting process. Incidentally, in many countries wine is more popular among women!

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Feb 19, 2017 Reply

      Yeah. That’s right. Not sure why that is the case though 🙂

  4. posted by
    Enni Maria – Denia Hania
    Feb 16, 2017 Reply

    To be honest I’ve been drinking wines, especially the white ones without knowing anything about them. This information was rather useful, now I don’t feel as stupid and clueless as before! I’ve never done an actual wine tasting, I think I need to give it a try!

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Feb 19, 2017 Reply

      Definitely. I’m sure you will love it 🙂

  5. posted by
    Melissa
    Feb 17, 2017 Reply

    The wine instructors quote (“Wines are shy in nature. Until you provoke them, they won’t open up”) may have been one of the favorite things I’ve read all day. It just sounds like something a wine expert would say haha. Also, the stats on men vs. women master wine tasters is crazy to me! Definitely need more women.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Feb 19, 2017 Reply

      Haha. The instructor really made the whole tasting process very interesting with his musings and fun facts. Totally agree with you Melissa. Need more women 🙂

  6. posted by
    Shane
    Feb 17, 2017 Reply

    I am a huge wineo so this post was very intriguing to me. I love trying the different varietals from around the world! Interesting fact about wine tasters – who knew!

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Feb 19, 2017 Reply

      That’s good to know Shane 🙂

  7. posted by
    Siddhartha
    Feb 18, 2017 Reply

    I loved your instructor’s words about wine – makes it even more romantic 🙂

    Btw I had no clue that there was a winery (and such a good one) near Channapattana. Maybe I can plan a visit on my next Bangalore trip 🙂

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Feb 19, 2017 Reply

      Haha. Indeed 🙂 Yes. It’s totally worth a visit Siddhartha. 🙂

  8. posted by
    Sandy N Vyjay
    Feb 19, 2017 Reply

    Really loved the post. Most people are not familiar with art of wine tasting and perhaps they cannot enjoy it properly. I have been to Wine Tasting festival at the Sula vineyards, it was amazing. And thank you for writing on the art of wine making. It was really incredible to read.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Feb 19, 2017 Reply

      So happy to hear that Sandy. It was eye opening for me too to learn about the art of wine making and tasting. So, thought of spreading the word 🙂

  9. posted by
    SindhuMurthy
    Feb 19, 2017 Reply

    Hi Raksha. Visiting the heritage winery near Chennapattana has been on my list for quite some time. Each time I propose it for a day outing to my colleagues, I hear various reasons for denial, the distance being the main concern. But looks like I should make a private visit and not depend on them. The pic in the wine yard looks epic.. totally loved it. Btw, did you not try grape stomping?

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Definitely Sindhu. It’s totally worth a visit. Grape stomping wasn’t available for the week when we were there. But it’s usually available during the season. Hope you visit the winery sometime soon 🙂

  10. posted by
    Suruchi
    Feb 20, 2017 Reply

    I am a wine lover but never knew so many details about them. The post is quite interesting especially those facts. Pictures are awesome. I will surely like to have the wine tasting trip myself.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Me too. I didn’t know anything about wines until I visited the winery. It was a great learning experience for sure. Hope you try wine tasting some time soon 🙂

  11. posted by
    Soumya
    Feb 20, 2017 Reply

    I have gone for a similar wine tasting to Grove vineyard near Bangalore. And just like you, I had no idea what they were talking about. Sometimes eating properly after drinking always help with the hangovers. Most people don’t eat enough before drinking too much. Something solid like rice.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Yeah totally Soumya. I had a good learning experience at the winery. I would love to visit Grove vineyard some day. It’s mostly when you drink on empty stomach that hangovers are the worse!

  12. posted by
    Nadine Cathleen
    Feb 20, 2017 Reply

    Hehe, I love your little facts along the post 🙂 I really love Merlot and for white wine I like Pinot Gris 🙂 So yummy! Wine tours are the best! So much fun!

    Nadine Cathleen | Karateandcaviar.com

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Thanks Nadine. Surely wine tours are amazing 🙂

  13. posted by
    Joanna
    Feb 21, 2017 Reply

    I have visited a lot of wineries recently, during my trip though Chile and Argentina. It’s interesting to know why the hangover forms and how it kicks in. I wouldn’t however try the proven remedy for it, I think it’s too harsh and it destroys your stomach. Better to control how much you drink and avoid the hangover completely 🙂

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Haha. I know. I wouldn’t want to try it either. I would rather prevent it from happening by drinking lots of water in between, spacing out the drinks and always having food before 🙂

  14. posted by
    Wanderlust Vegans
    Feb 21, 2017 Reply

    I like all the fun facts ypou added in hear like the tannins in red wine and the reasons for hangover. There is no way I’m going to make myself throw up to try and cure a hangover so I guess i’ll never know if that works or not. I also didnt know that eating grape seeds is good for you.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Haha. Thanks 🙂 I know. I wouldn’t want to try it out either. It’s more of an informational section 🙂

  15. posted by
    Indrani
    Feb 21, 2017 Reply

    That is so detailed! Wine is shy… I liked that 🙂 similar yet so different from tea tasting. Loved your pics.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Thanks Indrani. Great to hear that. Tea tasting is quite interesting too 🙂

  16. posted by
    Adam Biernat
    Feb 21, 2017 Reply

    I love to read about wine 🙂 Definitely, it has a soul 🙂 I haven’t visited a winery, but I wanna do it. It must be a really nice experience.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Thanks Adam. Yes, winery is totally worth a visit. Hope you try it sometime soon 🙂

  17. posted by
    Rashmi and Chalukya
    Feb 22, 2017 Reply

    We are impressed by your narration of art of wine tasting 🙂 It was interesting to learn the fun facts of red and white wine. Visiting a winery has long been on our list. We weren’t aware that there is one close to Bangalore as our visit to Bangalore are very frequent. Loads of information in this post which I hadn’t read about before. Thanks for the information.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      So happy to hear that. You are most welcome 🙂

  18. posted by
    Jitaditya
    Feb 22, 2017 Reply

    I had no idea there was such a place near Bangalore even though I used to live in Bangalore. I know there are some places in Maharashtra but this was a pleasant surprise! Some great photography at the vineyard too.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      Thank you so much. I found out about this vineyard recently and decided to pay a visit!

  19. posted by
    Jesper, The Biveros Effect
    Feb 26, 2017 Reply

    I have only been to two wine tastings and I haven’t understood half of the traditions connected to the activity. Well, I have understood that there are different traditions in different countries. It really confuses me, so I will probably be even more confused next time. Didn’t know there were wines from India, but it would be fun testing some of them one day. Sadly my taste buds are not good enough to really taste all tastes that they usually describe a wine with. 🙂

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Mar 6, 2017 Reply

      I know right. I hardly got half the aroma’s and taste they associate the wine with. Hopefully it gets better with time 🙂

  20. posted by
    sahitya
    Nov 29, 2017 Reply

    I have ever seen a good post like this.
    Very informative and lots of information about wine.
    I loved your post to the core.

    • posted by
      Raksha Rao
      Nov 29, 2017 Reply

      Thank you, Sahitya. You made my day. So glad you found it useful 🙂

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