Nothing cheers me up like a tuk-tuk/auto rickshaw ride! India has been a big adjustment from South America, but I am adjusting (Priscilla is the champ). Food is great, monsoon rains not so bad, but not quite on a normal sleep schedule even after more than a week here. Too many naps maybe.
Nasik, 3 hours northeast of Mumbai, is a small, conservative religious city of only 6 million people. Sounds like an obvious place for India's burgeoning wine industry, right?
There are dozens of vineyards in the region, and we went to a cluster of three with tasting rooms: Soma, York, and Sula. Since it's Monsoon, the vineyards are a vibrant green. The climate gives them two growing seasons a year, but they prune the monsoon season instead of harvesting.
Indian wine is...different, to put it diplomatically. Production is almost exclusively for the domestic market, so the wines are sweeter (and to my tastes, grassy) to suite the Indian palette. We preferred York's wines, which are dryer, western-style, as their mission is to educate India's new wine drinkers. All in all a good place to stop on the way between Mumbai and Aurangabad, but not really worth a separate trip.
We had our first Indian train experiences to and from: arrived by the Shatabdi Express from Mumbai, and continued on the Tapovan Express, both second seating class. Lots of people, but extremely friendly and helpful, even when we're awkwardly trying to figure out what to do with our bags in a crowded car with vendors constantly squeezing by.
The people are by far the most interesting part of India. I can't take photos to do it justice.
-Peter
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