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On a recent weekend, CNNGo’s Mumbai editor Sita Wadhwani, oenophile Bhisham Mansukhani and Groove Temple’s CEO Kaveer Shahani set aside 36 hours to undertake a comprehensive tour of Maharashtra’s grape growing region in the Western Ghats, approximately 180 kms and four hours outside Mumbai. India produces wines from a quartette of French grape varieties -- Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Shiraz -- and the odd Dessert and Sparkling Wine. Most wine producers don't grow all of their own grapes and depend on contract farmers. Some farmers won’t grow the Merlot, for example, because the yield isn’t profitable despite the contrary belief of one winemaker from Bordeaux who frequently visits Nashik. Like her, several young wine makers, those I met from Australia, France and South Africa, live for months in Maharashtra's quiet rural hinterland far from Mumbai’s fun life, trying to work out formulas to evolve Indian wine. They cope with harsh realities -- heat, humidity, storage, marketing and distribution issues -- so that what ends up at your table at a stand alone restaurant in the city is not totally "cooked" as they say (or "raped," as Abhijit Kabir of Indus Wines puts it). Wills Creek Vineyards/Courtesy photo Wines made with the muscadines grown at Wills Creek Vineyards are an attraction for visitors to the winery. The Winery at Pepper Place — 2801 Second Ave. S., Birmingham; 205-250-6326; wineryatpepperplace.com. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. all week. Bryant Vineyard — 1454 Griffitt Bend Road, Talladega; 256-2638; kabryant71614@aol.com. Hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Want to drink in Chaos Theory? Or perhaps you'd care to give your palate an Educated Guess? We're talking wines, of course – specifically a new breed of quirkily named wines that aim to make you think while you drink. The Associated Press Educated Guess is named after the nature of winemaking, 'with no right or wrong to it,' says Roots Run Deep winery owner Mark Albrecht. "I'm a big believer in the theater of the mind," said Jerry Prial, who decided to call his wine Debauchery to tickle the intellect as well as the palate. "People – when they see the wine, they really start to laugh and they smile, and that's what we wanted." Prial founded Portsmouth, N.H.-based Gerard Wine Co. after spending 30 years in the beer brewing industry. The wines are imported from Chile, and he picked the name Debauchery – extreme indulgence of sensuality – as an antidote to the wine world's "mysterious and intimidating" ambience. "I'm trying to fight through the clutter, all the thousands of different wines out there," he said. As one of the visionaries who first glimpsed the potential of Ontario's Prince Edward County to be Canada's next fine wine region, Geoff Heinricks is well-versed in what it takes to thrive in such challenging, cool climate conditions. A case could be made that Heinricks has played a role in the planting of virtually every vine in the region -- either physically or spiritually. He certainly has done his share of muscling young vines into the gravelly soils around the town of Hillier and beyond. ESCONDIDO, Calif. Realty Income Corp. said Friday it has closed on the bulk of its acquisition of Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines properties in Napa Valley. The real estate investment trust said it has closed $258 million of the roughly $269 million transaction. One property for $11.1 million is expected to close in the next 30 days. The properties are located throughout the Napa Valley wine country in Northern California and include 1,690 acres of vineyards, as well as the winery, production, retail and visitor center buildings of the Sterling Vineyards and Beaulieu Vineyards wineries.
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