Raised in Kansas City as the son of Indian immigrants from Bangaluru, the smells of barbecue and beer were much more common to Shekar Sathyanarayana than the scent of a fine wine. “When I grew up seeing people drink wine, I thought, ‘Boy, they look really stuffy to me,’” he explained.
It wasn’t until he moved to Los Angeles to work in entertainment law that wine entered his mindset. After years of missing his mom’s cooking and the camaraderie of weekly Sunday dinners with other Indian families, Sathyanarayana started throwing dinner parties featuring South Asian cuisine. During his first gathering almost 10 years ago — “All 25 people showed up on time,” he said, “which is a miracle in L.A.” — someone suggested he pair wine with the food.
When he reached out to winemakers, he learned that they all loved Indian food, but none had ever explored serving it with their wines. “They found that to be fun,” said Sathyanarayana. He also realized that the wine industry as a whole hadn’t done a great job reaching out to people like him. “You have this huge South Asian population that has the highest disposable income in America, how are you neglecting them?” he wondered.
To fill that niche, he launched an event company called Nalla and hosted his first public event in 2021 at Brecon Estate in Paso Robles. The immersive experience — complete with colorful decor, music, and dancing — caught on quickly. Last year, Nalla — which translates to “auspicious” in Tamil but colloquially means “good cooking” — put on 30 events, and at least 50 are planned for 2026. They include private corporate events in the Bay Area and ticketed wine country affairs from Napa to Los Alamos.
“We make people feel like they’re stepping into India for the evening,” said Sathyanarayana, who works with multiple chefs and serves the food — typically two vegetarian dishes and two meat dishes, plus appetizer, dessert, and his homemade chai — on large silver thali plates. “I am fully an entrepreneur now,” said the lapsed lawyer, “trying to build this business that brings the wine industry and South Asian cuisine together.”
The next nearby Nalla events are at Star Lane Vineyard on February 21 and at Beckmen Vineyards on March 14. The Star Lane event will bring ring sitar and tabla music deep into the wine caves as guests enjoy a four-course meal alongside winemaker Tyler Thomas’s wines. Bringing the visual spice will be dancers who’ll shift from ancient steps into modern Bollywood routines.
It’s the second time that Nalla is collaborating with Star Lane, where Thomas became intrigued with pairing Asian flavors to wine during his many trips to Japan. He’s successfully matched cabernet sauvignon with sushi, and seen how shortsighted Western stereotypes can be of certain cuisines.
“Our conventions around non-Western cuisine often reveal our ignorance of the depth and breadth of those cuisines, their versatility, and their ability to go nicely with a variety of wine,” said Thomas, who’s experienced Japanese meals, for instance, with no fish at all. “Those experiences unlocked the desire to be excited to consider Indian cuisine.” He’s also just a fan of the food and culture, and nearly took a consulting job there after grad school. “So why not give it a go!” he said.
Santa Barbara County wines have a special place in Sathyanarayana’s heart, as the first wine he ever loved was Lucas & Lewellen’s Cote del Sol, which he drank in the presence of the winery’s co-founder Louis Lucas, a fellow Notre Dame grad. “This is delicious and fun and I want to drink it again,” he recalled telling Lucas. “That was a big eye opening wine for me. I never thought wine could be fun.”
Sathyanarayana knows there is much to learn. “I have never read a book on wine,” he said. “I am just figuring this out on my own through trial and error. But I’ve met some wonderful people.”
He hopes that Nalla is bringing a bit of the community spirit that he remembers from gathering around food during his Kansas City childhood. “That seems to have disappeared from contemporary culture,” said Sathyanarayana. “There is no agenda. I just love bringing people together.”
Nalla comes to Star Lane Vineyard on Sat., Feb 21, 6 p.m., (click here for tickets) and Beckmen Vineyards on Sat., Mar. 14, 6 p.m. (click here for tickets). See thenalla.com.
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