Wine and dine, with Sula Vineyard's Rajeev Samant

Rajeev Samant Founder and CEO Sula VineyardsThe cover of American rock band Nirvanarsquos most popular album Nevermind shows a baby swimming underwater trying to grab a dollar bill stuck on a fishhook that is out of his reach While the image symbolises mankindrsquos quest for wealth since an early age Rajeev Samant the founder and CEO of Sula Vineyards Nashik could never identify with itldquoIrsquove often felt most people are like that but Irsquom notrdquo says the entrepreneur who likes to lead his life on his own terms No wonder Samant quit his job at Oracle Corp at Silicon Valley not because he didnrsquot find it exciting but because he couldnrsquot fathom the fact that he could avail only 14 leaves in a year ldquoIrsquove always been aware that there is only one life to live You canrsquot be in pursuit of that set path which takes you to a certain amount of wealthrdquo says SamantRajeev Samant admits he kept the best view for himself at his office in Sula Vineyards Nashik PicPradeep DhivarThe nip in the air makes us shiver on a lazy afternoon and we pull our jacket closer gazing upon the sprawling green carpetof the vineyards from his first floor office at Nashik Samant first grew mangoes and table grapes on the 30acre plot that heinherited from his parents Now he grows many varieties of wine grapes on it and the 1800acre land that is spread across other parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka As Samantrsquos eyes rove over the magnificent view we ask him about his childhood and are not surprised when he tells us that he was a very good student ldquoI won a lot of academic awards I was the school chess captain music captain and I would play the piano I was an allrounderrdquo he says The only thing his father asked him was to become an engineer ldquoThose days the bright students would either opt for engineering or medicine and I could not see myself pursuing the latter One had to study too muchrdquo he laughsCalifornia talesHe received a full scholarship to Stanford University where he studied Engineering Management followed by two years of hiscorporate job in Silicon Valley His sevenyear stay in California largely shaped his thinking ldquoI lived there from the age of 18 to25 very impressionable period I have always chosen my own path I decided to go to Stanford in 1985 which was a radicaldecision as not many people in India knew about the place California I learnt is very much about following your passion It is a place of immense physical beauty and if yoursquore a true Californian you enjoy and embrace that physical beauty and try to protect it So that strong environmental streak and love for the outdoors was deeply embedded in me over thererdquo Samant revealsUpon his return to India in 1993 his decision to get a taste of the rural life by farming on his inherited land in Nashik was inspired by his philosophical bent of mind ldquoThose days I read a lot of philosophy books by Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy and their central theme was that a life lived only in the city is not a life welllivedrdquo he says After farming for three years he realised that Nashikrsquos climate was perfect for growing wine grapes Following a few years of research and a threemonth stint in winemaker Kerry Damskeyrsquos winery in California Samant was ready with Sula Vineyards in 1999 The initial few years he admits were certainly not easy ldquoBut I have the will to succeed and I think I inherited it from my parents My father knew nothing about boats and ships yet he built a shipping company from scratch When you see somebody going through these daily struggles and overcoming them you imbibe the neversaydie spiritrdquo the businessman remarksRoad to successIn 1999 Sula sold approximately 50000 wine bottles Last year the figure was close to seven million Over the years it has introduced varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc Chenin Blanc Zinfandel and Riesling and techniques such as refrigerated winemaking which brought fruitfriendly wines to India The first tasting room at the winery opened in 2005 Restaurants and a32room vineyard resort were added later Come February Sula will celebrate its eighth SulaFest and is expected to draw over 12000 peopleThe road to success sure had its share of bumps but the wine connoisseur prefers to look ahead ldquoI donrsquot have time to look back I think a little about the present but most of my thinking is about tomorrow next week five years from now and so on I donrsquot reminisce My friends tell me we canrsquot reminisce with you because the minute something happens you forget and you move on Thatrsquos the way I amrdquo he smilesRunning a sustainable enterprise is one of Samantrsquos prime concerns At Sula Vineyards there is a one crorelitre rainwaterharvesting pond skylights that allow natural sunlight inside the winery solar panel roofs which generate 20 per cent of the electricity consumption at Sula among other projects which support a ustainable enterprise ldquoI feel if you run a nonsustainable enterprise you have no business doing business Every day we come up with projects to reduce our power use We would love to lead by example and have others follow usrdquo he saysThough Samant loves to look ahead he doesnrsquot make any grand plans for the future ldquoWe make small progress every year on 25 different fronts So every six months everything looks different hererdquo he says He adds that plans are afoot to open a winery in Karnataka and construct a 25luxury tent resort at Nashik in the near future ldquoWe want this region to be ecofriendly resorts and tourism to develop here the local community to benefit and the wine to be better every yearrdquo he exclaimsHowever on the personal front he had put his plans of getting married on the backburner until now The bachelor hints at the possibility of settling down soon ldquoI think now that things are so good and stable thatrsquos something I should concentrateonrdquo he smiles But he admits itrsquos not an easy task ldquoItrsquos easier said than done though Irsquom a difficult person to handlerdquo he quipsJust chillThe Mumbaibased entrepreneur has a chocablock schedule Every month he comes to Nashik for at least a week But he ensures that after a long hard day he switches off from work in the evening ldquoI relax after 630 pmrdquo he says And when he takes a vacation itrsquos all about doing what he loves mdash reading books listening to music and diving ldquoI take three months off every year I try and take at least one diving trip every year What I really like is to live aboard on a luxury yacht and go diving in the middle of the oceanrdquo says the certified diver The Economist magazine and his iPod mdash loaded with close to 7500 songs mdash are his travel companions ldquoIrsquom very partial to the rsquo60s and rsquo70s classic rock so you will find a lot of Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin and The Beatles tracks on my iPod The tasting room at the winery plays a music list curated by merdquo he revealsA fitness enthusiast Samant works out for an hour every day ldquoI run lift weights or do yogardquo he says Predictably he loves wine but he admits that he enjoys gin and tonic too ldquoSometimes I have single malt so I have a pretty varied taste that wayrdquo he adds The souvenir shop at Sula Vineyards has a number of Tshirts with funny quirky quotes on wine mdash which onersquos his favourite we ask ldquoTherersquos one by Omar Khayyam that goes lsquoHere with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough A Flask of Wine a Book of Verse and Thou Beside me singing in the Wildernessrsquo Frankly thatrsquos the way I see it Life can get too complicated at times As long as you have something nice to eat some nice company and a glass of wine allrsquos well in the worldrdquo he smiles