RASA Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, the flagship label of the Nashik-based Sula Vineyards, has become the first-ever Indian wine produced from this revered category of grapes to win a gold medal at the prestigious Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters 2024.

The red wine was rated along with an array of other Cabernet Sauvignons priced under £30. As reported on the website of the competition organiser, the UK-based ‘Drinks Business’ magazine, gold medals were awarded to “a number of vibrantly fruity, gently oaked, well-balanced wines”.

Among the winners from the wines, which, like the rest, were judged at a blind tasting by an independent jury comprising experts from all over the world, ‘Drinks Business’ highlights Kenwood Vineyards for its Jack London Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma in California (“unusually inexpensive at £27”) and Sula Vineyards’ RASA Cabernet Sauvignon (“at the more modestly priced £17.99”).

The judges assessed scores of these robust and generally expensive red wines across price brands from around the world. The prices mentioned are those that are prevailing in the UK market. The current conversion rate of a pound sterling is Rs 104.63.

The award won by RASA marks the first time an Indian wine has received a gold medal at the Global Masters Awards in any category.

Interestingly, India’s maturing wine industry is still not known for its Cabernet Sauvignon, the grape variety that is famously the backbone of the top wines of Bordeaux, France. The gold medal for RASA, though, will definitely make the world look at Indian Cabernet Sauvignons with greater interest.

The Cabernet Sauvignon, according to ‘Drinks Business’, “is an old variety, first mentioned in a written text in 1763-1777 as ‘Petit Cabernet’, but has certainly been around much longer. Its first mention as Cabernet Sauvignon was not until 1840.”

The authoritative trade magazine goes on to mention that the grape variety’s “parentage was discovered in 1996 at University of California-Davis, and was found to be a mating between Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, both of which have been grown in France’s Gironde for millennia.”

Rajeev Samant, Founder-CEO of Sula Vineyards, responded by saying in a press statement, “Receiving this gold medal for our flagship wine during Sula’s 25th anniversary year is deeply symbolic. It reaffirms our evolution from humble beginnings to an internationally recognised brand.”