Nashik (Maharashtra) : As winter goes on the wane to make way for spring - a 'tipsy' gourmet music festival here has 12,000 Indian and international visitors flocking to not only tickle their 'wine buds' but also enjoy a rare mix of music genres.

Amid the lush green landscape, the 10th edition of the SulaFest 2017 opened to a grand start on Friday in the foothills of Sahyadri mountain range.

The event, that had started as a one-day event in 2008 with 300 visitors, has burgeoned to a three-day festival that attracts a huge gathering of connoisseurs of wine, music and food from far and near.

The weekend is set to see around 17,000-18,000 visitors, according to organisers.

This year being the decadal year, the festival has been scaled up with more stalls of wines and a stellar musical lineup.

At the SulaFest Bazaar - where people buy their preferred wine and liquor from the counters, Bruno Vanzan - the brand ambassador of Antica Sambuca and Volare Liqour - drew a sizeable crowd as he presented his signature style of preparing cocktails with a sprinkling of acrobatics and dance on Friday evening.

People cheered the music bands that regaled the audience with groovy foot-tapping numbers as well as soulful Sufism-soaked renderings.

Be it electro acoustic, techno, pop, electronica, rock, Indie or reggae, it was all there,

Among those to perform on Friday evening, were Zoya Mohan, Indian-origin US-based DJ known for her innovative folk-intertwined remixes; Donn Bhat, an electronic producer; Nucleya - one of the early proponents of the dance music form Dubstep; Neeraj Arya of Kabir Cafe fame; Raghu Dixit of The Raghu Dixit Project and the all-season Indian Ocean, among others.

With their Sufi-tinged numbers and numerous 'jugalbandi' on different instruments, Indian Ocean were the favourites of the day.

 --IANS