Grape Stomping Sessions & their purpose!

Harvesting of wine grapes is one of the most crucial steps in the wine-making process. Grape-stomping, also referred to as pigeage, is a part of the method of maceration that is used in the traditional winemaking.

Basically, maceration is softening or squeezing grapes into pieces using a liquid. Raw or dried grapes are soaked in a liquid to soften them so that the skin of the grapes can be easily peeled away, leaving behind the pulp and seed. 

Grape stomping is a popular traditional method of separating the grape skin, seed and pulp wherein grapes are crushed by feet in vats which help in releasing the juices and prepare them for the process of fermentation. The harvest season takes place from January till the end of March in India. 

Speaking of grape stomping activities and sessions at Soma Vine Village, here is why visiting us during the harvest season could be your best decision!

a.    The weather is at its best!
b.    The grapes are ripe; probably the best you will get to see
c.    It’s all bustling with various activities

If you loved our Sauvignon Blanc & Chenin Blanc dessert wines, you must know that they find their best grapes during the harvest season in February & March. 

However, for more insights on the types of wines and the best times of the year for harvesting grapes for each type.Refer the image below!

SOMA Wines Win Gold & Silver at 4th Indian Wine Consumer's Choice Awards 2016

Yet another news to rejoice in 2016!

Soma's Brut Cuvee 2014 and Sauvignon Blanc Gold 2014 have won the 4th Indian Wine Consumer's Choice Awards (IWCCA) 2016 held at Jyran, Sofitel Hotel.

The wines were judged and scored by a panel of consumers without knowing their brand names or price, thereby creating an independent list of India's best wines chosen by consumers themselves.

IWCCA aims at giving the Indian consumers an opportunity to judge for themselves and on behalf of other consumers the best Indian Wines available in the country. This annual accreditation opens the doors for consumers to acknowledge and celebrate new vintages and new wines launched in the market and also provide insights to wineries about what the burgeoning Indian market is inclined towards.

The process of judging a wine is simple. The consumers taste the wines blind, is ensured that he/she is unaware of the brand name or price, thus allowing an unbiased judgment which is solely based on the quality of the wine itself. The only information shared with the consumers is the grape varietal which they judge on the basis of its aroma, color and palate. The winners of each category of the competition are announced through the All Things Nice website and other media channels. Winners are accredited with IWCCA Gold, Silver and Bronze certifications and IWCCA medals.

Dance to the tunes of Music as you shake a leg during Grape Stomping Session at Soma Vine Village

Grape Stomping or commonly referred to as Stomp Dance at Soma Vine Village was no less than a fabulous Tiny Fest this year! Having guests to attend this stomp dance session that was organized on 24th January 2016 and dancing to the beats of the loud music in our amphitheater, was an activity full of fun!

With the harvest season going on, it is difficult to say NO to the stomping session at the Soma Vine Village! In earlier times, stomping was traditionally practiced as a technique because the human feet have just enough pressure to  break the skin of grapes without breaking the seeds because the broken seeds add to the bitter taste of the wine. However, the stomping activity, in the contemporary world, has a more fun oriented element attached to it. 

“Stomp dance” as we named it, makes it a memorable experience for the visitors and guests to be a part of the stomping session during harvest season at Soma Vine Village.

The Stomp Dance session conducted at the Soma Vine Village on 24th January 2016 saw participation from many guests between 11.30 am – 6.30 pm. Here are some pictures of our guests who made the best of the session and had the time of their lives stomping grapes and shake a leg.

We Plan to organize such exciting, fun-filled Stomp dance sessions in the coming weekends as well, as we believe, limiting the best times to enjoy at Soma Vine Village will be unfair to the ones who could not make it to the Stomp dance Session organized in January.

So, the ones who missed the opportunity on 24th January 2016 must get set for our upcoming Stomping session on 6th & 7th February 2016.  And if you missed it too, mark your presence this time!

Ever tried these different styles of dessert wines?

Dessert Wines! The much loved wines for making desserts!

Dessert wines are just prefect to match up to the awesome tastes of your favourite desserts, but, what when it comes to the people who would not prefer to go ahead with a heavy sweet dish, but, still want a nice treat at the end of the meal? In such cases it becomes important to know about different styles of wines you can try even when you would want to skip the dessert.

So, There are basically 4 different styles of Dessert wines, namely:

1. Late Harvest
2. Noble Rot
3. Ice Wine
4. Dried Grape

The basic concept of late harvest dessert wines lies in leaving the grapes to dry out and increase in sweetness. There are many styles of late harvest wines as well out of which there are several varieties that are often more preferred over the others. Within this category of late harvest style there are several wine making procedures and techniques that contribute in making a wide variety of late harvest wines that result in different tasting wines.

Late Harvest

In this, the basic process is done wherein the grapes are left on the vine and are picked later in the season. Thus, the name is late harvest.

Noble Rot

It is a process in which a special kind of fungus develops on grapes in foggy regions. This fungus results in increase in the sweetness of grapes with notes of saffron, honey and ginger.

Dried Grape

Dried grape wines have numerous different methods and styles and this style is particularly famous in Italy, where the grapes are harvested and dried by laying them on mats in drying rooms before they are processed into wines.

Ice Wine

Ice wines are made with the grapes that are allowed to freeze on the vine and picked and pressed to release only the sugars from the grape, leading the wine to be sweet in taste.

However, given all these styles of dessert wines, the combinations of trying a dessert wine with a dessert are not just limited to desserts, but, due to their remarkable features, the possibilities of the trying dessert wines are endless.

At Soma Vine Village, there are two awesome dessert wines you can give a try namely, Sauvignon Blanc Dessert and Chenin Blanc Dessert that complement a wide variety of desserts, a majority of which you can try with a combination of one of these wines.

 

If you are a wine lover, you must try these different styles of dessert wines for the love of wine.

How can you judge Wine by its color?

 Here is a quick guide to understanding the Wine attributes by judging the color of Wine.

RED WINES

• When the wine is light bodied or has a transparent red color, there is a wide watery rim on the top layer of wine in the glass. The light-bodied red wines tend to have low tannin and high acidity. 
• A medium bodied red wine tends to have moderate tannin and medium acidity. This can be identified when the red wine has a semi-transparent, opaque core and medium rim width.
• A full-bodied red wine tends to have high tannin and low acidity. The red wine with opaque color and thick rim width falls into this category. 

WHITE WINES

• White wines with pale yellow-green-silver glow, also called light bodied white wines, tend to have high acidity and are best enjoyed ice-cold.
• White wines with pale gold-platinum glow, also called medium bodied white wines, tend to have moderate acidity and most of the white wines fall into this category.
• Full bodied white wines tend to have low acidity and rich creamy food compliments them. These can be identified with the rich yellow-copper glow of white wine. 

So, the next time you try a white wine or a red wine, you can judge the acidity and tannin present in it by looking at the color of the wine.

You can try wines at Soma Vine Village and share your wine tasting experience with us. Also, don’t forget to let us know if you could judge the wine by its color at Soma Vine Village. 

Techniques for Food & Wine Pairing

Have you been experimenting different wine and food combinations but failed miserably in acquiring a tasty combination? Here is what you need to know!

Below mentioned are some techniques of paring food & wine that you must keep in mind before experimenting a combination of wine & food.

1. Regional Pairing: regional paring might not always be a perfect match. However, they act as a template for us to understand more about what happens structurally in wine and food paring.

2. Acid+Acid: Like acidity can be added together, this does not go with bitter and bitter together with food and wine. Acidity together creates the basis of what wine people think about when selecting a wine with a meal. If the acidity of wine in comparison with food is less, then the wine will taste flat. Hence, when pairing a particular dish with wine, consider its acid balance between the food and the wine.

3. Sweet+Salty: If you feel a combination of sweet and salt cannot win your hearts, a pairing of sweet wine and salty food will definitely impress you.

4. Bitter+Fat: This turns out to be a classic steak of combination of something fatty and a wine with lots of tannin.

5. Acid+Fat: A glass of Champagne to cut the fat is all it says! A high acid wine with a heavy dish of fats will deliver an interesting range of flavors for wine lovers.

6. Alcohol+Fat: Last, but not the  least, this is little strange pairing. However, there is a primary difference in a high alcohol drink and high acid drink that a high alcohol drink should not be used a palate cleanser as it might disappoint or trouble you.

So, when are you planning to pair one of these ways?

Basics for Food and Wine Paring

Wine & Dine is a popular concept that most of the wine lovers religiously follow. Well, if wine alone did not turn out to be your first love,  then Yes! To your surprise, a right combination of the wine and food could blow your minds with its incantation.

Here are the 6 basic profiles to work with when pondering about matching food and wine:

1. Acidity in wine pairs fairly well with fatty and sweet foods.
2. Fatty foods require either an acidic or high alcohol wine, else the wine might taste a little flabby.
3. Bitter or tannic wine could be balanced with a sweet food
4. Salty shouldn’t compete with the acidity in wine. Use sparingly as required to maintain the sharpness of the food or meal.
5. Sweet food or wine could benefit from a little acidity.
6. Alcohol could also be used to cut through fatty foods or balance a sweet dish. 

So the next time you think of blending wine and food, make the right combination to have a fine dining experience with wine.

If you have already experimented some crazy food and wine combos at the Soma Vine Village in Nashik, you can also share your feedback with us on our Facebook Page.