Sula Vineyards

CEO, Sula Vineyards

Rajeev Suresh Samant, Founder and CEO of Sula Vineyards, was born and raised in Mumbai, India. After schooling at Cathedral School, Mr. Samant gained admission in California’s prestigious Stanford University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and also completed a Master’s degree in Engineering Management. After Stanford Mr. Samant worked for two years at Oracle Corporation in Silicon Valley, where he had the distinction of being the youngest manager in Oracle’s Finance Division, managing the Compensation group. In 1993 Mr. Samant decided to return to India to follow an entrepreneurial path.

He started farming mangoes at his family’s 20-acre plot in Nasik and then tried his hand at various crops like roses, teakwood, and grapes. Realizing that Nasik had potential as a wine region, Mr. Samant established Sula Vineyards, Nasik’s first winery in 1999. It was a pioneering effort and oday Nasik is considered India’s wine capital with 35 wineries. Sula Vineyards quickly established a reputation as India’s premier quality wine producer, and Mr. Samant was the first to introduce varietals such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Zinfandel and Riesling to India.

In 2002 Sula was the first Indian winery to be the subject of a feature in Wine Spectator, the world’s leading wine magazine. Starting with a sale of 50,000 bottles in the first year, Sula emerged as India’s largest wine producer after completing a decade in 2010 with 3 million bottles sold. Sula Vineyards is also a leader in sustainable winemaking, and has created direct and indirect employment opportunities for thousands of rural youths.

Mr. Samant is an avid sportsman and enjoys running, yoga, diving, windsurfing and playing tennis in his playtime.