Ashwin Rodrigues opens Grape Escape a Wine Café in Nashik

Grape Escape, Nashik's Very Own Wine Café, Is Now Open
Nashik, April 20, 2026
Nashik got its own wine café yesterday — and it's nothing like what you'd expect.
Grape Escape opened its doors at Ananta Arcade, Pathardi Phata on Sunday evening to a room full of local influencers, lifestyle creators, winemakers, distributors, and hospitality folks. The energy in the room said it all — this is something Nashik has been quietly waiting for.
The name says it best. Grape Escape — casual, fun, a little playful. The tagline, Wine Made Easy, is the whole philosophy in three words.
Step inside the 24-seater space and you'll feel it immediately. Bright maroon, white and green. High chairs, pine wood furniture, exposed brick walls, and wine bottle lights overhead. A double-height ceiling that opens the space up, while somehow still feeling warm and cosy.
Then the showstoppers. A chandelier made entirely from sparkling wine bottles and used barrel wood dominates the room. On the upper wall, a real grapevine — six feet tall, roots intact — glows against a backlit panel.
Downstairs is all energy: Bollywood-wine meme walls, neon signs, and wine art. Upstairs shifts into something more thoughtful — a full Wine Folly-style course on the walls, a map of the world's wine capitals, and a masterclass studio where tastings, training sessions, and wine appreciation evenings will be held.
Scattered across the walls are large, hand-drawn doodles explaining the winemaking process, a “New to Wine?” guide, a “Find Your Wine Personality” quiz, the 5 S’s of wine, and a section on wine and health. Education, but made interesting.
The menu is designed the same way — no varietals, no confusing classifications. Wines are listed by sweetness, freshness, body, and occasion. A simple, wholesome Indian food menu sits alongside, because wine with local food is a conversation worth starting.
Tasting flights of five wines are priced at just ₹200. Eight wines by the glass are available through an Enomatic machine, between ₹220 and ₹250. Takeaway is at MRP — made possible by Maharashtra's recently revised E2 wine bar licence, which now permits retail sale to promote wine. Drink-in per bottle carries a modest 20% markup on MRP.
Glassware and serving temperature are taken seriously here, as they should be.
There are wine cocktails on the menu too — including takeaway options in paper cups with a straw for when you're on the move. And at the entrance, something that might just be a first in India: a can vending machine for the quickest possible wine run.

Founder’s Note – Ashwin Rodrigues, Founder & Winemaker
“I left a career in finance in Sydney to learn wine in the Barossa Valley, came back to India in 2010, and spent the years since trying to craft wines that actually speak to the Indian palate. But production was always only half the story. The bigger goal was always to make wine mainstream — to pull it out of the fine-dining corner it had been sitting in and put it in front of everyday people, especially a younger audience, in an approachable and unpretentious way. Grape Escape is where that vision finally has a home. Come discover it at your own pace.”
(Excerpt from a release)