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Visit to the Four Seasons Winery in Baramati

I was invited to the Four Seasons Winery in Baramati, Pune, India. The trip was planned right in the harvest season. 
Here's a photo essay of the two day trip...



The flight from Bangalore was only 1 1/2 hours. The view of the hills from the flight enables you to guess that you are now entering the Sahyadri hill range. Four Seasons Wines produces wines from grapes grown around Sahyadri valley...


It was a two hours drive from Pune airport to the Four Seasons Winery. On the way, I saw farmers transporting their sugarcane produce on bullock carts. Apparently, it is the harvest season for sugarcane too. I was happy to see the goat hitch a ride...


Finally reached the destination. The majestic chateau impressed me at first sight...


Upon reaching the chateau, I was handed the welcome note from Abhay Kewadkar, Director and Chief winemaker...


I got a quick glance of the vineyard spread around the chateau...  


Inside had the greenery that I like...


The suites were named after famous vineyards...


I checked into a suite named Duoro Valley...


A gourmet lunch with wine pairing was the first item in the itinerary...


The lunch started with Amuse Bouche (Methi Matthi with pickle quenelle). It increases your thirst and it is paired with Sauvignon Blanc...  


Ricotta Kabab on Zucchini Carpaccio with onion tomato salsa. This was paired with Viognier...


Philadelphia and Dill marinated salmon with Cashew nut Upma, Haldi Mirch ka Jhinga with Creole vegetables with Saffron Makhni sauce...  


The Roti...


Basil Presto Chicken Tikka with caramelized onion. And Pineapple shooter...


And the dessert... Holy Basil baked yogurt with Doodhi Halva made of Bottle Gourd...


Scribbling the tasting notes...  


Next on the itinerary was a tour of the Winery guided by the Winemaker. It was totally informational. Fourseasons boasts of the most technologically advanced wine-making equipment. Shown below are the crushing, pressing, fermentation process and bottling...








Maturing and aging in oak gives the wines added complexity while at the same time smoothing out the tannins...


The large Barrel Room...



Wine Thief in action...


It was dusk when the winery tour got over. I ventured out to capture the dusk of Baramati...


It was a pretty decent sunset to shoot...


And the Sun goes down...


Meanwhile at the Chateau, preparations were underway for a Barbecue party at the pool side...


The party started with serving of eight different variety of cheese paired with sparkling rose wine. There were Kiwi, Strawberry, fresh Figs, and Indian yellow raspberry...


The savories included Tahina Marinated Lamb, Green Curry and Kadai Masala marinated fish, Cajun spiced chicken, Chicken Tapenade, Rosemary baked potato, Achary Subz Polenta, Chatni Paneer Tikka and Chinese apple filled with lemon rice...


The live music was an added nicety...


Yum...


After a good nights sleep, I rose up to see the lovely dawn.


I took a short breakfast and headed towards the vineyards to enjoy the early morning scenes. Danish Pastry seemed the right choice for a quick munch.


Played with silhouette...


The long shadows of the walkers...


The grape vine...


Close up of the Shiraz grapes...


And the Zinfandel grapes...


Some beauties by the road side...


More grapes...


Viognier grapes...






The weather was beautiful and the walk was so much fun. I didn't realize that we had walked so far...


There was this beauty in the no-mans land. Some kind of marking, I guess...


Back at the Chateau, I spent some time shooting the architecture...


The corridor... 


The tower...


The stair railings...


The courtyard...


Railings...


It was time for lunch. Amuse Bouche ( Raw Banana chip with Beetroot relish)


Sun-dried Tomato marinated fish Tikka...


Paneer Mille Feuille with lemon rice and Korma sauce...


Coorg Chicken with tossed vegetables...


Apple and Pineapple Jalebi for dessert...


Thank you chef Hitesh Gautam, Hyatt Regency, MG Road, Bangalore, to prepare some of the most innovative dishes I have ever enjoyed.



It was one of the most memorable experiences. I hope the Fourseasons Winery will turn out to be a great destination for wine tourism. Thank you K. Balakrishna, General Manager & Unit Head, United Spirits and the staff at the winery for making my stay a pleasant one.


Thank you Lakshmi Rajan, Poorna and Malavika for the great company.

For more information on Four Seasons visit: www.fourseasonsvineyards.com 
Follow Four Seasons on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FourSeasonsWines

42 comments:

  1. What a fantastic trip. Their food sure looks good - hope it tasted as good as it looks.

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  2. Wow, what an amazing vacation… I am hungry looking a the delicious foods!

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  3. What a great tour! Beautiful photos of everything, and the food looks yummy! I love wine, I will have to check out some India produced wine.

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  4. An eating and drinking extravaganza.

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  5. Wow! you must be exhausted heheh! looked like a beautiful place with excellent food ;-)

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  6. Wow, what a gorgeous tour of the winery! The food looks delicious. Lovely series of photos.

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  7. Lovely pictures of the visit to the vineyard. I haven't been to one before. The food looks lovely and it must be fun enjoying the fine foods and wine paring.

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  8. What and awesome experience !! Great pictures and I'm sure they hold many memories.
    Have a lovely day!

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  9. Looks like a wonderful place. Some really creative photos in the lot. Thanks for sharing. Happy Wordless Wednesday.

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  10. It looks like you had a wonderful time! Your photos are beautiful. Enjoy the rest of your day!

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  11. WOW! That trip looks amazing!!! I love all the pictures.

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  12. Woww this looks fantastic :D what an amazing trip.

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  13. How did I miss this, Shiju. Magnificent setting, beautiful photography. The winery is very elegant, like many here in California. How I wish you would get a temporary job here for a couple of months while I'm still home!! I'd so love to show you Napa, the Russian River wineries and those on the Central Coast. It's nice to see an Indian winery growing Zinfandel grapes...they are, originally, a California varietal and one of my favorites. What a feast you had there!!!!

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  14. Such a delightful visit! The food, the scenery, the photos all lovely but I have to say I loved the little goat riding atop all the cane in the cart!
    Thanks for taking us along!

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  15. All those beautiful photos of wine and fine food. Such elegance, and my favorite photo is the goat hitching a ride. ;-)

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  16. The chateau is really majestic...Great photos...

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  17. Thank you for joining in Random 5 Friday this week.

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  18. What a fabulous trip to the winery! These photos are great.

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  19. Faboulous travel wonderfull fotos, interesting article post, greeting from Belgium

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  20. Wow ! That is quite a ride you offers with this article... Great pictures.

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  21. Loved the journey! Enjoyed the food and wine!

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  22. Wonderful trip and excellent photography !

    artmusedog and carol
    www.acreativeharbor.com

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  23. What a wonderful adventures. Your pictures are stunning as always. There are some where I feel like I could reach in and grab a grape.

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  24. What an amazing trip! It is all so beautiful and the food looks fabulous. I am ready to fly out right now. I hope it was as wonderful as it looks!
    :-)
    Traci

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  25. what a fantastic trip! thanks for taking along with you. seriously great shots. the food looks delicious, too.
    betty

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  26. wow, this is the way to experience wine ... with good food! Thanks for taking us with you:)

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  27. This is my first time here and I love your photos! That is my kind of trip...good food and wine, yes please! Found you on Mosaic Monday btw. :)

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  28. Wow, lots of beautiful pictures! You seem to have hade a good time too with lots of lovely food and drink.
    //Scaniatjejen

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  29. A wonderful series of photos! What a fantastic journey! And all these gorgeous food ... your photos made me hungry ;)

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  30. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  31. Superb exposures. would like to know the exposure settings for the sunset pictures..

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  32. Mwahahaha! I finally found you Shiju! And oh god! The photos just robbed me off speech (think about it, that's an achievement!).

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    Replies
    1. LOL that's quite an achievement! :p
      I think your blabbing was good and strangely addictive. :)

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  33. Thank you so much for taking us on this wonderful trip. Your pictures are magical, and I can feel the water in my mouth after seeing these delicious dishes. The colors, the sunset.. Wow :)

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  34. I am in awe of this post, the beautiful pictures and your entire experience at the winery!!

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  35. Too good Shiju....loved every single picture...

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  36. shadow usuage is fabulous and worker animals

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