HM’s Food & Wine Magazine

When the nature indulges you in her beauty there is no escape out and you wander for many hours prasing the Lord for such a creation. On such a note imagine yourself reaching a destination with ride on the hills looking down at the rivers and every hill you pass by has wild red berries and yellow berries blooming like nothing else. You feel even cloud is below yourself and you feel like dreaming when the cool breeze pass by your face smoothly singing “lal dupatta udgaya tere hawa ke jhoke se”. I can’t help when something so special makes me feel lost up in the hills; I get totally immersed in the nature, the marvelous creation of God. The air up there is so fresh as if nature herself brushes with tons of Close Up. Let me break suspense here and reveal you the place named as Basantapur but not the one in the heart of the capital. This Basantapur doesn’t have any courtyard, street food hawkers or the living goddess residing. This Basantapur is located up in the hills of Terathum from where roads take to many places like Sankuwasaba and Taplejung. Right from the Basantapur starts the Rhododendron Conversation Area with so many varieties of Rhododendron - national flower of Nepal - unexplainable. If you are planning to walk above the clouds then make sure to go looking for the entire hill painted in red with berries and Rhododendrons. My passage to this place was none other than to visit booming winery of Nepal called Makalu Wine Industry serving the wine under the name Hinwa.

The Hinwa wine has its own identity and holds completely different culture and trends compared to western wine world. Almost 99.9 percent of western wine industry is based on cash crop grapes. Here in Nepal the initiative has been taken using our own Aisalu (wild yellow berries also known as sea buckthorn berries) and Chutro (wild red berries) with abundance of medicinal values. The three hours ride from Dharan is not a bad choice of place for establishing the wine industry where the streams of Himalayan water flows making Hinwa a special wine. The history goes back when the proprietor Mr. Madan P Shrestha was convinced by his son in law regarding the wine business. However the Hinwa as Aisalu and Chutro came accidentally. First choice was orange found plenty in Chainpur. Later when locals were selling the Aisalu, the experimental thought came and Hinwa was born. The only reason to promote Aisalu wine was its health benefits and being one of its kinds in the entire world. Mr. Shrestha recalls, one day when he was enjoying the vista from his factory his eyes caught red berries and got his hand on it which painted his hand red and taste was something different. That’s how the red wine of Hinwa was born from Chutro and similarly Aisalu brought the white wine.

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