The Indian wine industry is growing and Indian winemakers are making sure that the world knows. And Karishma Grover is a big name in the industry now. Unnati Joshi reports
"I was more interested in Sciences than anything else, I wanted a career that gave me my Science without being a doctor or an engineer,” Karishma said.
Having studied Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Karishma is the first well-known qualified woman to be a part of winemaking industry. And is a spur for a lot of women who aspire to be wine makers. “I don’t think about being a woman in this industry. The first time it ever struck me was when people asked about being a woman in this male dominated field. I love what I do,” she told us.
Robed in a beautiful black dress, when asked about a thing that wine makers should always do, she said, “Drink drink and drink,” and laughed. She said, “The more you taste, the better it is. More of other peoples’ and less of your own.”
Talking about her work, she said, “My work is not typical at all, which is why I like it. I travel a fair bit between our wineries in Nasik and Bangalore. From January to May is harvest time, when we are making the wine and then from September to December the high sale period, so there is a lot of bottling. So, the year is broken up into different jobs for me.”
About her favourite wine, Karishma was quick and said “Each one from our portfolio. I cannot choose one. It actually depends on the day and my mood”.
Talking about her passion, she told us “I found my passion so young in life that if not a wine maker, I have no idea what else I would have been”.
“It’s awful to balance work and home. But I love my work so much that I don’t realise that a whole month has gone and I haven’t met anybody. It’s easy to say that you should take out time for yourself and things should be balanced but when you are really passionate about your work, you don’t realise that you are missing other things. And I think that’s the journey”.
To the women who aspire to work in this field, she said, “Being a woman should never hold you back from doing anything. And you can always call me”. The daughter of Kapil Grover she is the associate wine-make at Grover vineyard. Grover Zampa vineyard hosted an exclusive la Reserve Wine Dinner prepared by chef Vikramjit Roy paired with India’s finest reserve wine at ITC Maurya in the capital.
“I grew up with wines. It was my grandfather who started Grover Zampa, along with my father, so I am the third generation.” “We have been working very hard to improve small things that are non-exciting. It’s a lot of grunt work and we are finally beginning to see the result now with the awards we got”, Karishma said.