Our wine making and viticulture teamwork flawlessly to ensure that all aspects of grape growing and harvesting are monitored under the best conditions, allowing the land to produce its best for generations to come.
Dr. Basavaraj Girennavar
CMD and Wine Designer
Dr. Basavaraj Girennavar is a first-generation, high impact entrepreneur with scientific understanding and enterprising ideas. He has more than a decade of experience in industry and research both in India and the USA. His passion is to bring sustainability to the field of food production while securing fragile ecology through scientific and innovative interventions. He is envisioned to create tools and technologies in redefining of “farming for food and fuel” to reduce human impact on geo-ecology and carbon footprints. He is the founder of Rico Winery Pvt. Ltd the Vineyards are located at Krishna Valley, Karnataka.
He got Bachelor’s in Agricultural Sciences from the University of Agricultural Sciences, Karnataka and Masters in Crop Sciences from Haryana Agricultural University. Then he was awarded Ph.D. in Horticultural Sciences from Texas A& M University, College Station, Texas, where the achievements of Dr. Norman Borlaug inspired him in the field of agriculture and the green revolution.
His passion for Wine and his deep interest in viticulture & sound knowledge of Indian winery business has led him to establish winery and vineyards in the year 2008. Being a Doctorate in Horticultural science, his zeal towards agriculture & farming has encouraged him to think over the establishment of the winery in the northern part of Karnataka to support local people, as most of the vineyards are present in the north part of Karnataka due to its best climatic conditions.
Dr. Basavaraj was blessed with the knowledge of Oenology, who has experimented & succeeded in designing wines from basic to premium with different fruits, spices and herbs. Today, Rico has evolved as a successful winery by developing the market.
He has been awarded several national and international awards. He serves in Vidhana Soudha as Executive Member on Karnataka State Horticulture Agency and Research Advisory Board for the University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot. He is a member of Tie and ABLE and actively engages and advises emerging entrepreneurs with unique ideas and perspectives.
Sangappa Girennavar
Vine Grower and Vice-Chairman
Sangappa Girennavar is an experienced vine grower, who is encouraging other farming communities on cultivating and supplying Grapes for winemaking. With his expertise and experience, he is managing entire Rico vineyard operations and guiding other Farmers / Viticulturist.
Gajanan L Bochare
Senior Wine Maker
Gajanan L Bochare is a young dedicated winemaker who shows a passion for making quality wines. His ambition is to make an impression on the Indian wine industry by setting his own individual standards of style and quality.
His studies B.Tech in Food Science include a Wine Science Degree at VNMKV University and hands on winemaking experience in Sula Vineyards under guidance of Sisir Paul and he was worked with Nandi Valley, Grover Zampa.
Since 2009 Gajanan has fine tuned this traditional Winery by combining technology and teamwork. Gajanan makes a range of varietal wines, each maintaining the individual characteristics of the grape variety.
Gajanan reputation is one of integrity, fairness and consistency. His long term plans will easily identify him as one of the top winemakers in India.
The Winery’s vision is to make affordable wine for all tastes. This philosophy also encompasses drawing from the grape berry the best possible characters from all we grow and harvest.
Vijay Abdar
Wine Maker
Vijay Abdar is a professional winemaker with an experience of 9 years. He has worked with Ritza Wine Pvt.Ltd and Vijayadurga Amla Winery Pvt. Ltd. Since 2017 he is serving Rico Winery Pvt.Ltd as Wine Maker with his expertise, he has produced various wines that have gained customer’s attention with better taste and quality.
N. S. Pattar
Asst. Vice President-Operation and Marketing
N S Pattar, a passionate Marketing professional, comes with a rich experience of over 32 years., he has worked with Shaw Wallace Distilleries Ltd. and SWDL in U.B. Group.
At present, he is working as General Manager (Marketing) at Rico Winery Pvt. Ltd. His key focus area would be to make Rico’s marketing ecosystem robust and to make the team future-ready.
Ravi Khanapur
Manager-PR
Ravi Khanapur, an enthusiastic public leader with a qualification of B.A.LLB.LLM being Advocate by profession at Vijayapur District Court as an advocate (MVC, LAC and Criminal) Since 2008.
At present, he is working as Public Relations Manager at Rico Winery Pvt.ltd since 2019.
Shridhar Girennavar
Executive (Vineyards)
Shridhar Girennavar, an enthusiastic young guy with a qualification of M.A. in Economics, has got into Rico Winery Pvt.Ltd as an executive to support the farming community with better information on managing the vineyards and supplying them for wine production. He is also associated with FPO to bring large scale viticulture in Krishna Valley consisting of Bagalkot, Vijayapur and Belgaum.
