The 14th edition of SulaFest will be back on 1- 2 February 2025, after a five-year gap. As always, the winery has chosen to stick to the earlier-year schedule of the first weekend of February, even though it leaves less time to prepare in the grand style it has come to be known for.

Touted as Asia’s biggest wine and music festival, it promises to be an eclectic blend of live music, premium wine, and cultural experiences against the picturesque landscape of Sula’s lush and original Nashik vineyards. It will bring back memories and mark the return of many of the older visitors though there will be a flock of new wine lovers who have reached the legal age during these five years.

Rajeev Samant, CEO of Sula Vineyards says, ‘Sulafest has always embodied our love for wine, music, and community. This break of 5 years has amplified our enthusiasm to create an experience that not only honours the SulaFest legacy but elevates it to new heights.’

Known for its vibrant atmosphere, the festival creates an immersive experience, where music, dance, wine and food come together in the heart of the vineyards. Although the winery had announced discontinuation of the Fest for various reasons after its last edition in the Covid-affected 2020, it is being brought back by constant and popular demand.

This edition will have most of the features of previous years like interactive wine tastings with top sommeliers of the company, a lively artisanal marketplace, winery visits and the legendary nonstop music and a variety of culinary delights. Since 2015, the visitors were enthralled by well-known bands and groups from the US, UK and other countries, complemented by popular Bollywood singers including Lucky Ali, Kailash Kher and Shankar Mahadevan. Due to the paucity of time to coordinate, the musicians from India only will be seen this time.

Monit Dhavale, Sr. Vice President Hospitality says, ‘we plan to limit the entry by cutting down the maximum people allowed to around 70% of the earlier number; this translates to around 10,000 over 2 days. We want to enhance the visitor experience by giving them the opportunity to savour the finer wines.

Henceforth, SulaFest will also become a biennial event, making it an even more curated and exceptional experience. Thus the next edition in Nashik after 2025 will be in 2027. The management has not yet clarified if there would be a similar event in Bangalore at Domaine Sula in 2026 but one hopes they would capitalise on the popularity and launch it to mesmerise the Karnataka wine lovers as well.

Company has also kept the Ticket prices for SulaFest 2025 the same as in 2020, even after 5 years. It is hoped that wine would be also available at attractive rates so that people have an opportunity to taste as many wines as possible.

The focus will be only on their own- label wines and some beer in their portfolio. There will be no spirits this time-either by the company for tasting or through the rented stands by importers. It is not yet decided whether the labels being imported by Sula-like Torres and The Grand Noir will be available for tasting.

Sula is in final stages to finalise with the musical groups and sponsors though a few have already been tied up and others are waiting to know the line-up of the musicians. In any case, a great weekend awaits the visitors-especially the first timers. Better parking arrangements are being planned. Many new hotels, resorts and BnBs have opened up. “We have about 400 rooms available on the Sula road itself with hotels like Marriott, Radisson and Sheraton (opening next month) on Nashik and of course Taj Gateway. Even Sula Source has 67 rooms now.

Even the connectivity with other cities and Nashik has improved a lot with Indigo directly connecting to many cities. But it is always best to book as soon as possible to get the best deals.

Subhash Arora