Chikmagalur

Chikmagalur is a hill station in Karnataka, a state in southwest India. It is famous for serene environment, lush green forests, lakes and coffee. We decided to visit the place for a weekend family trip which turned out to be a memorable one.

Besides packing up the usual stuff for the journey I also sneaked in the luggage two bottles of wines from Sula Vineyards near Bangalore, which we had recently visited.

The first one was the Chenin Blanc Reserve 2022. A refreshing and easy-drinking white wine, with some residual sugar, balanced by a delightful acidity.

The other was the Chenin Blanc Late Harvest 2022, a fruity and rich dessert wine with mouthwatering honeycomb and tropical fruit notes.

Carrying these delicious wines would later prove to be a good decision since a lot of adventure and fun happened around these whites.

Journey: As we drove out from the hustle and bustle of Bangalore, the surroundings gradually changed from the mortar and brick look of built up towns to more of a lush green forested area interspersed with cultivated fields. The last stretch of the highway between the town called Hassan and our destination Chikmagalur, was like gliding through an extremely fertile green stretch of land offering beautiful sights of palm groves, beetle trees, millet farms interspersed with ponds and bound at the far end with a row of hillocks where the blades of mighty wind mills rotated majestically. It was totally an immersive feeling to travel through this area.

The Stay: We checked into the Hotel Gateway Taj a little on the outskirts of the main city and on base of a hill. It is a luxury resort located in the lap of nature with blend of colonial architecture and contemporary efficiency.

The Wine Adventure at the Lake

Early morning on the next day we packed some goodies along with both the bottles of wine into the picnic basket and set off for the Lake Hirekolale some 20 kms from our hotel. The drive took us away from city limits to the beautiful lake perched between a ring of hillocks offering a spectacular view.

It was still early morning and very few people were there. Having parked our car on the roadside, we walked up to the edge of the lake and unloaded our picnic stuff on a small cemented hard standing leading up to steps going down the lake. I laid out the wines and the goodies on the ground.

My better half recorded while I briefly spoke into her mobile camera about the Sula Late Harvest Wine while highlighting the beautiful outdoor setting.

This was followed by all three of us having sips of the wines and relishing some eats. We sat down and spent sometime on the steps, absorbing the immense beauty of the picturesque surroundings before heading back to the hotel.

The Wild Side of Wine: The inspiration to have a wine picnic like this, out in nature had come to me while watching various episodes of the wine documentary series on WineMasters.tv. Named The Wild Side of Wine, this particular series has the Master of Wine Peter Richards narrating his experiences with wine in exotic outdoor destinations. And it served a motivation for me also to do something similar.

Family Bonding: And in end there’s one thing which I can say for sure, and that is the wonderful feeling of family bonding which such an outdoor wine activity creates. You have to experience it to feel the same, and I hope you plan it soon.