Karishma Grover Walks Into A Bar...

... because she is a vintner who loves exploring cities one tavern at a time

- Humaira Ansari

Inside the minimalist conference room of Indian wine company Grover Zampa’s Mumbai office, associate winemaker Karishma Grover can’t stop fidgeting with the remote for the air conditioner. “Turn it off and it gets stuffy. Turn it on and you freeze,” says Grover, who is wrapped in a red shawl and is mildly frustrated at the machine’s inability to find a middle ground. She strategically parks the remote on top of the table separating us, and there it stays, always within her reach.

Grover is good at monitoring and controlling temperature—in fact she is trained in it. The 32-year-old graduated with a degree in viticulture and oenology from the University of California, Davis, and she now puts her considerable knowledge about temperature and terroir to use in her family’s Bengaluru and Nashik vineyards, leading a team of 50 people. Grover is India’ oldest wine company, and Karishma, the owner’s older daughter, has to be a hands-on boss. A humorous, hardworking team player, she “hates” being called an “heiress”; when Grover travels, it’s almost always for work, not leisure.

Grover lives in Mumbai, but during the grape harvest season—between January and March—she parks herself in Bengaluru. She also spends a week there every month for the rest of the year. “Bengaluru is indeed my second home,” Grover says, locking her fingers around a coffee mug. “On a recent trip to London, for instance, when the landing announcement did not mention Bengaluru, I had to pinch myself. For a second there, I felt like I was on the wrong airplane.”