• Jan 25 2016
• Admin
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• Travel

Soma Vine Village

From a dream to cultivating it into a reality, Mr. Pradeep Pachpatil (PSP), CMD, Somanda Vineyards has come a long way with mere hardwork and determination. Coming from an agricultural background, PSP has a Master’s degree in Chemistry; post which he joined GNFC, Bharuch. 

Once, he got a chance to visit Pimpalgaon, where a winery named Pimpane was going to be inaugurated and this was where PSP met the Chairman, Mr. Madhav Rao More. At Mr. More’s behest, PSP decided to stay back and learn winemaking. He trained under an experienced French winemaker, Mr. Jean Manuel Jacquinot, who owned a Champagne House in Epernay.

After a 3 year stint of valuable experience with the French Winemaker JMJ, PSP then took a step ahead and moved to IndageIndia, Narayangaon. After an 8 year-long stint, PSP then moved back to his beloved hometown, Nashik. He worked with Sula Vineyards as the senior Vice-president of Operations for over a decade, which was then more of a small, boutique winery and then became a massive success. He trained himself in the art of wine-making in the company of Chilean, French, South African and American winemakers, making him one of the foremost winemakers in India. He worked closely with Mr Kerry Damsky, a winemaker from California for about 13 harvests. He has played a pivotal role in building a strong foundation for the Indian Wine Industry.

After travelling far and wide, in 2006, he built a farmhouse on a 10 hectare land with a private pool. This was when suggestions started pouring in to rent the place to travellers who would like to spend a day or two close to the vineyards. What began as a suggestion soon became a popular idea and soon it was leased to Sula, the famous winemakers, to look after and manage the property. Afterwards, PSP decided to extend his property and make it into a resort; a 32 room vineyard resort took shape which was also run by Sula as ‘Beyond’. Today this beautiful resort and Soma winery is run as a family business, and its biggest strength is the constant and immense support that the PachPatil family extends to the business.

Soma Vine Village is one of the most sought destinations in and around Nashik and has made a mark for itself for being India’s first vineyard resort. In 2012, PSP started his first boutique winery.The white wines were launched in August 2014 after the 1st harvest in January 2014. PSP’s vision is to create an ideal boutique winery business model that would inspire and benefit farmers and budding entrepreneurs.