In 1996, Rajeev Samant, a Stanford graduate, who returned to Nashik to farm imported grape varieties Chenin blanc, Sauvignon blanc and Zinfandel and planted them in the land owned by his family. In 1997, Kerry Damskey, a leading wine maker from California's Sonoma Valley (the largest wine producer in the Wine Country region) provided the expertise for vinification of wine grapes. The first wine came to be marketed in March 2000 under the trade name "Sula". Several other farmers joined him in propagation of this effort. The wine magazine the Sommeliar India, reported that Nashik Valley Wine was first marketed by Sula in 2000.
