We are headed for Nepal to trek around for a couple of weeks and are going to try to find out what we can about local wineries there. We will have limited internet access so I don’t know how often I will be able to update pullthatcork.com but I will try my best.
Mike, our house sitter, is ready to move in and use our Netflix account as much as he can. He loves staying here because we have A/C, HBO and Netflix. Not to mention a backyard that his apartment does not have. Fortunately he doesn’t drink wine much so our cellar will be safe 🙂
We are really going to Nepal to do some trekking and river rafting but we always keep our eyes open for local wines wherever we go. It doesn’t appear they grow grapes in Nepal so we will probably find fruit wines and rice wines.
The only winery I have found so far is the Hinwa Winery in Sankhuwasabha where they make a white and a red wine out of the local fruit Aiselu and Chutro. Chutro is a Himalayan barberry that is like a purplish black raspberry that fruits in winter. Aiselu is an evergreen shrub that has yellow fruit that ripens in the spring.
Hinwa makes about 12,000 bottles a year and even exports some to Europe so I hope I can find a bottle or two. The Hinwa Winery is east of Kathmandu and we are mostly headed west so I don’t know if we will be able to visit the winery but I am definitely going to look for their wines.
There are rice wines made by local farmers but I don’t know if any is bottled commercially. I am sure we will get a chance to try some as we trek through the countryside, though. I’ll write about any that we find.
Wines from other countries such as the USA, France and Australia are available in Nepal but I hear there are high import duties regardless of quality. What “high” means in this context I don’t know yet but I am sure we will try some as we go along.
If any of our readers know of any other wineries in Nepal, please leave a comment and we will see if we can find their wine.
Hi I found a company that has launch a wine in 2013 especially produced to complement Nepalese and Indian dishes and will very soon be available in Nepal and India
That is nice to see they are going to make more wine. Maybe someday they will export to the USA.
Thank goodness your house sitter does not like to drink wine too often. I would never have thought about fruit and rice wines in Nepal and can’t wait to read about your experiences trying them.
You folks have a wonderful adventure in Nepal! Wine in Nepal? It wouldn’t have ever occurred to me. LOL Best wishes and say hi to Mike for me.