On a warm and muggy April evening, there does not seem to be a better sight than that of four new bottles of wine arranged on the counter at the small, cosy lounge at Fratelli Vineyards. We are tucked away in a corner of Solapur, Maharashtra, where the last crop of the season is being prepped for harvest, to sample the brand’s M/S (Master Selection) range which is up for a re-launch.
Originally a range which comprised an M/S rosé, M/S red and M/S white, the re-launch has also added a late harvest to the M/S Vintage 2023 roster. Giovanni Masi, enologist and agronomist at Fratelli, in Akluj, Solapur regales us with the history of the creation of the M/S range, as he pours a glass. Legendary winemaker Steven Spurrier collaborated with Giovanni’s father, their then in-house wine taster and expert Piero Masi at Fratelli to conceive the Master Selection range, and the first vintage was released in 2015. With the focus on creating approachable blends with a refined taste, they would sit together in the winery to select the blends which would later hit the shelves.
