The 2017 harvest in India produced grapes of top quality, writes Piyush Gadkari. This article originally appeared in the July/August issue of Sommelier India. When I initially set out to compile a harvest report for India’s top wineries, I didn’t know what to expect. With the shocking reports that were coming out of France – of spring frosts destroying swathes of vineyards across Chablis, Champagne, the Loire valley and Bordeaux – I wasn’t keen on being the harbinger of more bad news. As I spoke to producer after producer, though, I came away instead with heartening reports of a prolonged and cool growing season that yielded grapes of optimum quality. This excellent news was tempered by most producers also reporting lower yields, caused almost entirely by the drought-like conditions that persisted last summer. In the months after the harvest, a producer will spend a few weeks pruning his vineyards to prepare it for the following season. Pruning takes place in two phases. In the first