Author: Nimmi Malhotra
The V d’Or winner discusses her journey, representation and the Indian market from its embryonic roots to where it stands today.
When Master of Wine Sonal Holland walked on stage at the V d’Or Awards in February 2026 to accept the prize for Best Education & Transmission in the wine category, she was, for once, lost for words. She is India’s first (and only) MW, but the award recognised her for more outward-facing work: her efforts to champion women in wine.
At the podium, she started with something close to: “I was not expecting this. I wish I had prepared a speech,” before recovering to speak eloquently about the strength of women in India and the importance of representation. Her moment of surprise sits in sharp contrast to the clarity with which she has approached her career: methodical and purposeful but not without risk.
“Life always looks great in hindsight,” she says now. “You can look back and say, I knew it all. The truth is: at the time, it was a risk, and I just deep-dived into it.”
Photo credit: Courtesy of Sonal C Holland MW
From middle-class to Master of Wine
Holland did not grow up around vineyards, cellars or grand cru bottles. She describes her upbringing in Mumbai as middle-class, traditional yet progressive, with a father who instilled in her a lifelong fixation on excellence. Holland internalised that as a personal metric that she calls her 95th percentile rule: she aimed to be in the top 5% of whatever field she entered.
After an early career in hotel management with the Taj and Oberoi groups in India, she moved into a sales and marketing management role with the international recruitment company Kelly Services. “I was following the traditional roadmap to success: the corner office, high salary and path to CEO,” she reca...
