The fine art of ‘knowing your wine’ - Thinking Spaces

The fine art of ‘knowing your wine’

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August 21, 2017

The fine art of ‘knowing your wine’

In Vino Veritas, someone wise has said. Indeed, all wisdom and truth lies inside a bottle of wine. Or in a vineyard near your business capital?

TRY watching a true-blue wine connoisseur the next time you get a chance. The beer-drinker just chugs his glass (or pitcher, in some case) as soon as it’s served. But a paranoid wine-lover? No, never. He would torture himself for at least some minutes, twirling the glossy liquid, taking an expert whiff, absorbing the look of the nectar visually before kissing the glass. Put an ersatz brand on his table, and he would frown at you with the hatred of a jilted lover. He would know within a millisecond if the wine is average, good or divine.

Ask this fellow how he would behave if ever left in a vineyard. Chances are you would see him craning his neck, stretching his elbows painfully, letting mud touch his trousers – everything seemingly stupid – so that he can reach out for the high-hanging fruits.

And yet he is not stupid. It’s easy to pluck a low-dangling grape, but if you really aspire for some great juice, you will have to trouble your eyes and hands.

In the sometimes-blossoming, sometimes-dry orchard of real estate market, some of us are these lazy, complacent pluckers and some of us are those perspiring, wise pickers. Have you ever tried to look for a fruit that hangs out of the eyesight?

Seldom, perhaps. For, why would you leave the comfort and bling-factor of a hot-as-coals metro-market to search for some elusive cool vineyard? Have you ever caught the smell of fresh grapes that floats accidentally from Nasik towards your 42nd storey in the skyscraper jungle called Mumbai?

Did you even hear about the city beyond the brackets of weekend-getaway or Shirdi-trips in any conversation at all? Nasik is after all just a sleepy, pilgrimage town tucked somewhere around Mumbai? Right?

Wrong!

Nasik is that high-hanging grape that only wise and seasoned fruit-veterans can spot out. It’s a textile capital, a winery island, an fiercely-growing IT hub, a hot SEZ geography, a wonderful spoke that is steadily coming up on everyone’s radar thanks to immensely impressive connectivity to Mumbai, Pune etc and a city that is brewing with the potential of some irresistible real-estate stories (and storeys) in a matter of few months.

We call it high-hanging because it usually slips away from all the spiels and brochures you are normally accosted with. Don’t ask us why? Ask your hawkers.

And we call it a grape because let’s face it, this is one place which is hardly a stone’s throw away from Mumbai and yet allows you the flabbergasting possibility of owning a good flat in as less as Rs30 lakhs.  Property prices range around 3000 psqft and that’s not a joke.

You may want to hold your jaws because they will keep dropping as we tell you more trivia (not so trivial by the way) about this mysterious investment orchard.

For the uninitiated, Nashik, located on the banks of river Godavari, and just about 200 km from Mumbai and Pune, is the sixteenth fastest developing city globally and not the mere holy town it was earlier, but a full-fledged industrial city today which can rub shoulders with names like Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore with a lot of aplomb.

From the grand choices across Nasik Pune Highway to the luxury menu of residential spots in Gangapur road (Imagine a string of lavish, spacious, independent houses, villas and multi-story apartments in a balmy climate and just a few kilometers from Mumbai!) to the industrial vertical choices around Satpur MIDC (where umpteen several industries, factories and multinational companies are popping up) to even pockets like Deolali (that has a 0.5 FSI and sprawling with greenery plus proximity to Cantonment area); the city is hands-down capable of making a home-investor and a realty-player alike, feel as happy and awestruck as a child in a chocolate factory.

Some denizens from Mumbai have been precocious enough to identify it as a weekend home destination for its soothing climate and a peaceful lifestyle away from urban concrete. Some industrialists have been smart too in setting up some of their ambitious projects in this raring-to-go city.

The others, who are still, hinging on big-town names are even losing the comfort of sour grapes.

Today, there is no reason for Nasik to sit on any portfolio backburner.

Think connectivity and the city is back on the map with a phenomenally fast and improved four-lane hop to Mumbai or nearby destinations like Aurangabad, Jalgaon, Dhule, Pune as well as a six-lane expressway to Trimbakeshwar etc. The new airport facelift with 22 acres, with 8,267 sq. meter built-up area, with international-standard amenities adds to the nervous system of the city.

Think of heavy-ticket investments and Nasik is fast joining the pantheon BPO industry for Tier II cities.  Winjit Technologies, Netwin Systems & Software (I) Pvt Ltd, gloStream, ESDS Software Solutions Pvt Ltd, Aress Software & Education Technologies (P) Ltd, WNS Global Services, etc. private IT parks like Vascon or Anand Mahindra IT Park offer a glimpse of what’s brimming inside this town.

Incidentally, the fifth largest American based Information Technology (IT) Company ‘Accenture’ is already on its way to setup its new unit in Nashik on a possible 200 acre of land as a launching pad.

Think of employment and business raisins and you wouldn’t find any other town as tempting to the next string of top IT and ITES companies that are spreading their bivouac here.

Think of wine of course, and there is Vinchur Wine Park with many wineries already operational and lots of them under construction mode.

Think of other industries and the Textile park in Malegaon would settle the argument.

There is a proposed Delhi Mumbai industrial corridor (DMIC) and then there is a multi-product SEZ on 2,500 acres happening near Malegaon MIDC as some of the other high-points worth watching.

And we haven’t yet started talking about the big and feisty Simhastha Kumbhmela arriving next year.

In short, if you are a smart cherry-picker you must have squeezed the essence of this list by now and must be wondering why despite a skyrocketing spiral of land price rise as well as construction materials in markets like Mumbai and Pune, and an unfavorable cap rate compression or loan-to-value ratio enveloping this spike, are you constrained to suffocate your money and vision in done-and-dusted markets.

Why have you stifled your thirst for something that is fresh and yet offers a long-term horizon or consistent returns?

Beer looks tempting and doesn’t take much effort. But all the froth evaporates somewhere in a few seconds. Wine, however, stays mature, rare, poignant and powerful till the last dreg.

If fizz is your way, stay happily plopped down in boisterous markets but be ready for the bubbles to vanish any minute. On the other hand, if you can risk some patience and time, look out for new virgin markets and place your half-full glass on the right table.

Do not gulp your investment decisions down like an impatient, peer-pressed teenager. Know your drink, and swirl it well.

Next time – Try something new, classy, and delicious that will linger on your palate for a long time (and will not add to your waist too if we may remind). Try the wine from Nasik for instance. We are sure – You will get the drift.

And keep your glasses on as we bring you a tale of some champagne next. Stay high!

 

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