Photo: @brandfoto by Melani Negri
By: Tabnie Dozier
In the golden, rolling hills of Paso Robles, California—where vineyards stretch like brushstrokes across the land, Neeta Mittal is planting and growing her legacy. As one of the first Indian women to own a winery in the United States, Neeta is not simply producing wine; she is sharing a story. Her winery, LXV Wines, is inspired by the ancient Indian concept of the 64 arts—cultural skills that traditionally defined a worldly, expressive, and thoughtful life. At LXV, Mittal believes the 65th art is the one we each write for ourselves. And for her, that story is one of community, resilience, and joy.
“It’s almost a given… everything that we have as a philosophy here, I stand tall on the shoulders of so many people,” Mittal says.
She fluctuates between a dual hope: to be a trailblazer if needed but also to normalize the idea of an Indian woman in the wine industry.
“If there aren’t enough Indian people doing this, then we should, and I feel like it’s high time that it’s about the wine and not about the fact that it’s an Indian woman. We’ve had an influence of many languages in wine making, and now it almost feels like it’s now about the wine and and just not about the heritage,” she details.
Beyond the Glass
Mittal’s journey with wine didn’t begin in a vineyard nor a tasting room. Growing up in India, she was taught that expression was a language—movement, rhythm, and meaning layered together to tell a story, as she elaborates, “I used to be an Indian classical dancer, so trying to find my expression in this world, being an engineer and an Indian classical dancer, trying not to disappoint mom and dad. I come from an Indian culture so if you are not an engineer or a doctor, then you’ve really, really disappointed them. So all of that put together, I think wine was that story that really felt right in the beginning. It was about exploration. It was about finding myself, in some sense, like what’s my place in the world?”
“What it has come to mean is so much deeper now…there are people who come into this tasting room and just the way their faces light up when they do the wine tasting and the pairings without me even being here. I’m not even a part of that story now. Now it’s the team that carries the story for us, and it’s fantastic how this language has raised the moment for so many people, and then for it to translate into something that we had never intended it to be.”
Mittal discusses the various hats she wears, such as steward of the land, caretaker for her team, and physical producer of wine; “There are days where you feel like you’re doing the right things, and then there are days you question, and you say the emotion there is one of confusion. Sometimes it’s an emotion of doubt.”
These are internal conversations that so many women face in their various walks of life.
LXV’s Downtown Paso Robles, CA Tasting Room (Photo: @brandfoto by Melani Negri)
A Global and Flavorful Experience
There are expansive and decadent flavors that can be attributed to Indian culture. As we sit across the table in her Downtown Paso Robles Tasting Room, you can smell the delicious blends of tandoori chicken, spiced tomato butter sauce, Khmeli Suneli and many other homages that connect back to her home country. Mittal explains that the pairing with spices is a unique aspect of their brand, rooted in her personal connection with wine through food.
“Where it started was purely wanting to bring something that I understand. This is how I’m connecting with wine. My entire journey with wine has been with food, and so that’s how I express wine is always through food,” she said.
Mittal coats various cheeses in these spectacular blends and offers dairy alternatives for those with sensitivities. She had no desire to walk the traditional path of providing a simple charcuterie board with her vino.
“We are now actually creating spice blends for cancer patients, for their palate, to see how spice blends can build some bridges for people who have gone through treatments whose palates have been affected,” she adds.
Photo: @brandfoto by Melani Negri
Grapes, Grit and Gratitude
The local community—rooted in collaboration and mutual uplift, chose to embrace Mittal not as an outsider, but as one of their own. “Over the last 15 years, not once has somebody said anything to me about my ethnicity or me being a woman, or me being Indian and being in the wine industry. Not one once has that conversation come up in Paso, which is one of the most beautiful parts of our journey. Your community shapes your destiny. I don’t know if I could have done what I’m doing here in a different community. I don’t know, and I say that very, very, very sincerely.”
When you enter her space, there is laughter, conversation and community. She is creating connections one glass at a time, remaining authentic and rooted.
“Double down on who you are, and that will just open these magnificent portals. It will really interestingly, take you on paths that even you didn’t think about only because you allowed yourself to do that, don’t allow other people or other narratives to constrain how you think,” she states.
Neeta and her husband, Kunal (Photo: @brandfoto by Melani Negri)
Her story is not only about being “one of the first.” It is about building something that invites others to see themselves here too. “Once you start thinking about your personal purpose, you start limiting yourself. It doesn’t mean that you don’t do something with intent that’s different. But when you say you’re going towards that, you have eliminated all of these other directions you could go into. That’s one big thing I’ve learned through LXV. LXV never started with this purpose or that, because I did not know. I admit I had no idea about the wine world, the food world, the spice world, look where it could go!”
The vines grow. The seasons shift. The narrative continues. The 65th art, Neeta’s story, is still unfolding, sip by sip, shared joyfully with all who come to the table. You can book your tasting by visiting their website or send an email to tastingroom@lxvwine.com. Follow their journey on Facebook and Instagram.
