Queen of her Chateau

Kavita Chougule had her first glass of wine at 21. And that was after she got married to Vikrant Chougule, son of Shamrao Chougule, the country’s largest winemaker and owner of Chateau Indage. Kavita met Vikrant in her third year of psychology at Fergusson College, Pune, and from all accounts, it was a whirlwind courtship.

“I returned from our honeymoon and sat for my graduation exams. I passed, though I didn’t think I would,” Kavita looks upwards as she says, as though still in disbelief. She’s sitting pretty wearing fitting Chanel jeans, a waistcoat over a short-sleeved pink shirt.

After marriage, Kavita and her husband lived in London, a place she knows inside out. “I still call up my sister there and ask her to visit a particular street for a particular shoe outlet that she doesn’t know exists. She thinks I am crazy” laughs Kavita. She’s travelled the world and has lost count of the number of wines she’s tasted. Of all the places she’s been to, Cape Town in South Africa is her favourite.
On returning to India, she volunteered for a while at the National Association for the Blind (NAB), before getting busy with her wine brand and her clothes label. “I really grew attached to some of them at NAB, and it was hard to leave,” she says.

We face each other across a glass-topped desk that has, among other things, a red model car. There are also a few papers and a silver MacBook. The room is done in dark wood and has yellow lights that impart a magical glow. A long wooden table to her right has a model airplane and a range of wines from Kavita’s own brand — Tiger Hill vineyards.

The door opens and Vikrant Chougule peeks in. “Hi! Having fun?” he smiles and asks. In a second he’s gone. “This is Vikrant’s office. I would actually prefer something more open and airy,” says Kavita. I ask how much time she spends at work. “Not much, though I come here everyday” Does she often travel to Nashik to visit her own wine boutique company? “It wouldn’t be right if I say I go often. I visit once a month,” she says. “My father-in-law, though, visits our winery in Narayangaon every weekend.”

Kavita decided to open her boutique winery at a time when people were beginning to look beyond whisky. Today, wine is a serious drink. Most newspapers and magazines have a dedicated wine columnist, and you are not in if you haven’t tasted what they suggest. “I think people have made the transition from Barista to wine,” says Kavita. “Now, I see office-going people strolling into a wine bar instead of a coffee shop for their after-work drink.” Clearly,
Kavita sees people relating to wine as a relaxing drink. Coincidentally, her brand name reflects that mood — Tiger Hill means resting place for the tiger.

At her boutique winery, the berries are handpicked, and only small amounts of each variety are produced. The wines sell in London, California and Mumbai and France. Kavita doesn’t make too much of the “supposed exclusivity” of French wine, nor of selling the French their own drink. “I am more into new world wines —  Australian ones, for example,” she remarks. Ivy is her favourite in-house flavour. Among imported wines she likes Broken Earth from Thachi vineyards in Australia.

Her winery is integrated with a resort, a restaurant, a bar and a Kerala Vaidyashala vinotherapy spa — a concept thought up by Vikrant, his brother Ranjit, and Kavita.  “They look after the financial aspect, and I work with the marketing team, supervising the design and planning our launches.” She doesn’t take sole credit for her brand’s success. “In my case, it’'s worked as a package. I had an idea and got the backing of my family. Many people aren’t so lucky,” she admits candidly.

Kavita’s strength, clearly, is her sense of aesthetics and it is evident in her creations. Whether it’s the eye-catching wine label she’s designed — a black and white sketch of leopard skin and snake hide superimposed with tiger claw marks, or the bottle for her newest drink — India’s first pink Champagne. She trained to become a designer from the London School of Fashion, and for a while, she was running a label with a friend. But that arrangement had to be dropped, because the friend wanted more time with her family. Now, Kavita’s launching her solo label. “It’s called poetry… as in Kavita,” she explains.

“Initially it’ll be a high-end line and clothes will be made on a smaller scale, but I wish to open a prêt line thereafter.” Her favourite designers are Dolce & Gabbana, Tom Ford and Chanel. Among Indian designers, it’s Shane and Falguni Peacock.

“I always wanted to pursue clothes. I dreamt about them when, as a child, I watched my mother lay out her designer wear,” Kavita says.
Her parents live in Nashik, which she visits every now and then. Every Diwali, she and Vikrant make sure to visit her parents’ home. When she’s with her mother, Kavita tries her hand in the kitchen. “It’s mostly a fun thing I do with my mother — roast chicken, pepper chops or baking a cake. I am a complete foodie.” Nothing in her slender frame will allow you to think so.