A Weekend with Wine - Heritage Winery

"Achche din aane wale hai" - This is what we could infer from the onset of the pre-monsoon showers that had briefly rescued Bangalore from the harsh summers. And the best part - Breezy and cloudy days providing a perfect stage for a longdrive. So after considering various equally beautiful options like Lepakshi, Devaryandurga and Madhugiri, we finally zeroed down on Heritage Winery for a day trip on 21st June. The plan was to start by 10.30 in the morning, reach there by 12, experience the wine tour followed by a laidback lunch at the inhouse Epulo Restaurant. Lazy Saturday morning and late breakfast ensured that we started @ 12 after picking up our friends from Electronic City. The route was straightforward and the drive, smooth. We reached the winery in less than 2 hours. There are plenty of sign boards put up on Mysore Road indicating the route, thereby making it impossible to miss the left turn after Channapatna. The last 3-4 Kms were bumpy with no road in sight, but the peaceful country-like surroundings make up for the kachcha road.

With everyone feeling hungry and the restaurant being the first thing we saw as we entered, the plan was altered to accommodate lunch first and everything else later on. Now since I had read some good reviews of the place, I was really looking forward to having a good meal there. The start was good as everything on the menu except quail was available (I have mostly observed that restaurants with limited web presence, generally shrink their menu). We ordered most of the wines on the menu as none of us wanted to miss a chance of having wine in a vineyard. For starters we ordered potato-n-cheese croquettes, chicken-a-la-kiev, BBQ wings and for the mains veg strognoff, herbed rice, chicken-la-king, grilled chicken, chicken bolognese. While everything we ordered was fresh and decent (certainly not great), the quantity left a lot be desired. The service was a bit slow but the staff was courteous. The restaurant manager Mr. Balaji updated  us later that they are planning to come up with a tented accommodation facility and a bigger restaurant :). A stroll through the green vineyard post sumptuous lunch fine-tuned the beautiful experience.

Even though it wasn't the finest of restaurants we have been to, the overall experience turned out to be a memorable one. May be it was the green surroundings, the open air restaurant or the wine - The place had a certain feel-good factor, thereby making an enjoyable experience for all of us.

Report Card:

Ambience - Good 3.5/5

Service - Good 3.5/5

Food - Good 3.5/5

We ordered 10 glasses wine, 3 starters, 5 main course and 2 desserts. The bill came to Rs. 3200/-

Over-all: Good 3.5/5 

Will I Go Back - Daytrip + Family/Friends + Wine + Laidback = I know where to go !!!

P.S. A heads-up for the people planning to take the wine tour- please be ready to bear the mild stench of rotting grapes if you are visiting outside harvesting season.