India: Vindaloo & Vino

Welcome to Mumbai, where the traffic has its own musical score, the food smells incredible and crossing the road is a team-building exercise nobody signed up for.

After settling into our hotel, we'll meet for our first Indian wine tasting. Yes, Indian wine. No, we're not making it up.

Then it's straight into a welcome feast featuring curries, breads, chutneys and dishes nobody can pronounce

confidently. By dessert, complete strangers will be discussing their digestive systems with the openness normally reserved for close relatives.

Today we're going behind the scenes of Bollywood, where a perfectly ordinary conversation can suddenly involve forty dancers, six costume changes and a man dramatically pointing at the horizon.

We'll visit a working studio if filming schedules allow, try a Bollywood dance workshop and investigate Mumbai's extraordinary street-food scene with a local guide.

Think crispy pani puri, buttery pav bhaji and spicy snacks that make British curry-house menus look suspiciously timid.

This evening, we'll explore Indian craft beer, with a guided tasting and dinner. Anyone who performs their Bollywood routine in the restaurant receives absolutely no encouragement from the management. Everyone else will be filming.

We're off to Nashik, the beating heart of India's modern wine industry. Yes, vineyards. Actual vineyards. With grapes and everything.

Our first stop is Sula Vineyards, one of the pioneers of Indian wine. We'll investigate how Indian winemakers tackle tropical conditions, explore the production process and taste everything from refreshing whites to bold reds and sparkling wines.

A leisurely vineyard lunch follows, with views across the vines and a growing realisation that Indian wine deserves rather more attention.

Tonight, we'll stay in wine country. The evening is devoted to a relaxed dinner, good bottles and finding out who's already bought six to take home.

Today's mission is to determine whether Indian wine tastes even better when you're sitting beside a beautiful lake with an enormous lunch approaching.

We'll start with York Winery, exploring its wines and the story behind this family-founded producer.

After lunch, it's another tasting at Soma Vine Village, where we'll investigate different grapes and winemaking styles.

In the evening, our first Great Indian Grape Challenge: a blind tasting where guests attempt to identify varieties, vintages and whether they've accidentally been drinking the same wine twice.

The winner receives a completely meaningless title and the respect of approximately nine people.

We're getting properly stuck into Indian wine today.

First, Grover Zampa Vineyards for a serious look at Indian winemaking, including a cellar tour and tasting.

Then we'll head for a smaller independent producer, aiming for the kind of intimate visit where the winemaker actually talks to you rather than delivering a speech beside a promotional banner.

We'll investigate Indian sparkling wine, compare local Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and learn why Nashik's climate produces some surprising results.

Tonight brings a wine-paired Indian dinner. The menu will be designed to prove that pairing wine with curry is entirely possible, provided nobody starts by ordering the hottest thing available and challenging the table.

A temporary break from winery tours. Not from wine, obviously. We're not running a punishment camp.

We'll explore Nashik's colourful markets, discover the ingredients behind Maharashtra's incredible cooking and learn to prepare local dishes with an expert cook.

Then comes the Great Indian Food Olympics: spice identification, chapati-making, blind snack tasting and the important challenge of eating a pani puri without wearing half of it.

In the afternoon, we'll host a specialist tasting of Indian wines from beyond Nashik, comparing bottles from different growing regions.

Tonight is a proper local feast, with wines chosen to match the food rather than the other way around. There may be dancing. There will definitely be seconds.

Today we leave the vineyards for one of the most astonishing places in India: the Ellora Caves.

The enormous Kailasa Temple was carved from a single rock mass. No cranes, no power tools and presumably no one standing around saying, "That'll do."

We'll explore this UNESCO World Heritage Site with a guide, then enjoy a traditional regional lunch.

In the evening, we'll settle into our accommodation around Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar for a relaxed dinner and a few carefully selected Indian wines.

It's a cultural day, but we're still Tipple Tours. Nobody is being asked to contemplate a rock for seven hours.

We're heading to Ajanta, where extraordinary paintings and sculptures have survived for centuries.

We'll explore the caves, hear the stories behind them and marvel at the skill involved in creating art that has outlasted entire empires.

Back in town, we're going hunting for regional culinary treasures: local breads, aromatic rice dishes, kebabs, sweets and whatever our guide insists we absolutely must try.

Tonight's dinner is a celebration of Maharashtra's food traditions, accompanied by a few wines that deserve to be better known.

Anyone who announces they're "not very hungry" will be treated with the suspicion that statement deserves in India.

We're returning towards Nashik, but this time we're hunting smaller producers and bottles most visitors never encounter.

Our goal is two boutique winery visits, arranged directly with producers where possible. Think tiny production runs, experimental grapes, barrel samples and conversations with the people making the wine.

We'll aim to include a private tasting with a winemaker and a countryside lunch, with time to discover something genuinely unexpected.

Tonight, we're hosting a special Tipple Tours tasting: India Versus the World.

Indian wines go head-to-head with international examples in a blind tasting. No national flags, no helpful labels and absolutely no mercy for anyone who confidently identifies an Indian Shiraz as an expensive French Bordeaux.

Back to Mumbai for one last glorious assault on the senses.

We'll explore a fascinating corner of the city, browse unusual markets and fit in a final food discovery experience. There'll be time to shop for spices, souvenirs and gifts that seemed an excellent idea at the time.

Then it's our grand finale: The Great Indian Wine & Curry Banquet.

A private dining experience featuring a line-up of Indian wines, regional dishes and some deliberately adventurous pairings.

Which wine works best with biryani? Can sparkling wine handle fiery street food? Does anyone still remember the difference between Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc?

We'll present ridiculous awards, crown the Maharaja or Maharani of Merlot and celebrate eleven days of excellent company, remarkable discoveries and wildly enthusiastic eating.

There'll be speeches. There'll be laughter. Someone may attempt the Bollywood dance from day two. This time, nobody can claim they haven't had enough practice.

Breakfast, farewells and airport transfers.

You'll leave India with a suitcase full of memories, an entirely new appreciation for Indian wine, several new friends and a deeply unreasonable belief that every meal should involve at least fourteen dishes.

You came for the wine. You stayed for the chaos. You left wondering why nobody told you about Indian vineyards years ago.