Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/518118
6 / the tasting panel / june 2015 UP UpFront with KRSMA Wines Think of India and many things come to mind: exotic foods and spices, rich textiles, bejeweled palaces and Bollywood films. Fine winemaking does not. But that's something pharmaceutical executive Krishna Prasad Chigurupati and his wife, Uma, hope to change. It won't be via chemistry—at least not the kind to which the founder of Granules India, one of India's major pharma companies, is accustomed. Nor will it be typical New World alchemy. Instead, Krishna has tapped a rotation of top winemakers to help understand the terroir of KRSMA Estates, his 170-acre vineyard in Hampi, Karnataka, in southern India, and develop an elixir of sorts from soils few thought capable of producing wine. "I came across a little vineyard somebody planted in a remote area not known for grapes—hardly any agriculture in that area—it was dry," he recalled. The soils are rocky and iron-rich in an area otherwise inhospitable to agriculture, but Krishna says, "I came across this and something told me instantly, this is a great place to grow vines." Uma agreed—not because she knew about the soils and climate, but because she knew the Indian vineyard would keep her husband close to home, instead of pursuing an estate in France or Italy. The unlikely vineyard fulfilled both his dream of being a winery owner and his sense of adventure. The couple, who have been married 32 years, have run marathons in some of the most rugged places in the world, such as the Gobi desert, the Australian outback, Antarctica and the North Pole. So why not tackle a little vineyard in southern India? They named it KRSMA, a combination of their names. The Chigurupatis have neither a recipe nor a constant shepherd other than themselves for their wines; so far, they have worked with winemakers who want the unusual experience of working in India. One of those was Australian viticulturist Peter Hayes, who has chiefly consulted on vineyard strategy. The first order of business was pulling out the existing vines on the land they purchased in 2007 and replanting with three classic variet- ies: Cabernet Sauvignon (they are mad about by Lana Bortolot PHOTO: DOUG YOUNG KRSMA's Sangiovese, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon.