With its roots in India, a new winery finds a home in Rappahannock
By James P. Gannon
When Pandit Patil came to America from India in 1965, he had eight dollars in his pocket and a scholarship to attend New Mexico State University. Then 21, the son of a poor farming family, he was at the beginning of his long American journey that would ultimately bring him to Rappahannock County and a new kind of farming–in a vineyard.
Pandit Patil checks late-harvest grapes destined for dessert wine.
He got to America through the loving generosity of his mother, Narmada, who sold her gold jewelry to raise the money to buy his airline ticket to the U.S. Now a prosperous Rappahannock landowner who had a successful engineering career in business and government, Pandit and his wife Sudha are opening a new Virginia winery named in honor of his mother, Narmada Winery in Amissville.
The new winery will hold its Grand Opening on the weekend of Nov. 20-22, culminating a dream born more than two decades ago. “We wanted to do this 25 years ago,” Pandit said. He recalls a conversation back then that planted the seed of the idea.
“Sudha asked, ‘What are we going to do when we are retired?’ And we both said, ‘Let’s do a vineyard.’” But both were busy at careers. Pandit held corporate and consulting jobs in mechanical engineering before starting a 17-year career with the U.S. Department of Energy; Sudha practices dentistry, specializing in endodontics. It was 1999 before they could take the plunge and buy 51 acres of farmland along U.S. Route 211 as the future site of their vineyard and winery.
The couple began planting grape vines in 2002 on the former hay pasture, starting with two acres of Vidal grapes and gradually expanding to the 15 acres the vineyard covers today.
The vineyard produced 44 tons of grapes this fall, from varieties including Vidal, Traminette, Chambourcin and Chardonnel. Three more varieties were planted in 2009–Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon–which will begin producing wines in three years. Meantime, Narmada is purchasing some grape varieties from nearby vineyards in Virginia to round out its line of eight different wines.
Owners Pandit and Sudha Patil in winery barrel room.
On a recent autumn day, a visitor found the vineyard a brilliant palette of colors, from burnished gold to blazing reds bathed in a warm October sun. The Patils’ spectacular home and the 8,000 square foot winery building overlook the vineyards and a very large pond. It is a picture-postcard setting that offers the visitor a tranquil place to savor a glass of wine while relaxing on the elevated decks off the winery’s spacious tasting room.
On a tour of their facilities, owners Pandit and Sudha showed a visitor the results of their dreaming, hard work and big investment. The ground floor of the winery includes a cellar gleaming with stainless steel fermentation tanks from Germany, a barrel room crowded with oak barrels filled with new wines, a wine-testing laboratory, offices and more.
“These are all 2009 wines, which will be ready to bottle next fall,” said Sudha, pointing to the racks of barrels. She is the one overseeing the wine-making, under the division of labor that the couple have agreed upon. “Sudha looks after the wine-making, and I look after the vineyards and the financial aspects and other things,” explained Patil.
Sudha has a chemistry degree and supevised the production of 2008 vintage wines now on sale at Narmada Winery. Balancing her dental practice in Culpeper with her winemaker’s role in the new venture, she spent long days and endured long commutes to Barrel Oak Winery in Delaplane, VA., where the 2008 wines were made and bottled.
Autumn in the vineyard brings brilliant colors.
With the completion of their own winery, she can end the long commutes and oversee wine-making literally in her front yard. Narmada also has hired a professional vintner, Rob Cox, formerly of LaGrange Winery, who lives on the property and will work with the couple on producing distinctive wines.
Narmada expect to produce 2,500 to 3,000 cases of 2009 wines, Pandit said, up from about 1,900 cases of the 2008 vintage. Narmada may expand in the future to produce up to 5,000 cases, but no more. The emphasis will be on quality, not quantity, he promises.
Construction workers were still putting finishing touches on the winery’s spacious, second-floor tasting room on our recent visit. The room features a massive fireplace, a long, custom-designed bar for tastings, and spectacular views of the vineyard, pond and mansion beyond. “We are thinking of doing Friday-night catered dinners for 50 or so people,” said Sudha, featuring Narmada wines and Indian cuisine and other foods.
Giant stainless fermentation tanks dominate the winery cellar.
Unique among Virginia’s major wineries, Narmada will have an ambience that reflects the couple’s Indian roots–with decor, music, entertainment and foods that are part of Indian culture. “At our winery, be ready for an exotic journey that blends wine, food, culture and sounds of India for an experience like no other,” the winery’s website proclaims.
Though the winery has been open for weekend tastings since Labor Day weekend, its Grand Opening is scheduled for three days starting Friday, Nov. 20. The event will feature wine tastings, Indian delicacies and Indian dancers, and tours of the grounds and buildings. Hours are 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The eight Narmada wines that visitors may sample include reds and whites, some with unusual names such as Midnight, Reflection and Melange. But there is one that taps into the roots of this American success story, and it is simply called Mom. It’s an off-dry white made of 100% Chardonnel grapes, that Pandit and Sudha call “a tribute to the owner’s mother and to all out there for all the sacrifices that you make.” It recalls a mother with a heart of gold, who sold her worldly gold to send her son to America.
We can all drink to that, and to moms everywhere.
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