GranMonte Estate – 2009 Sakuna Rosé

October 9, 2011

“New latitude wines”, is a catchphrase coined in 2004 by Bangkok based wine writer Frank Norel.

For a long time the tropics were not considered suitable for the production of grape vine. The territory between latitude 30 and 50 were vintners “nowhere land”, so to speak.

This has certainly changed over the last decade. Nowadays grapes are grown in places like Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Brazil, and of course Thailand.

In November this year (12.-18.11.) already the 3rd International Symposium on Tropical Wine will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Beautiful colour – Rosé is ideal for the hot days in Bangkok

So far, I have visited about half of the Thai wineries. I love the wines produces by GranMonte Estate, a Thai wine producer from the Khao Yai wine region in the Asoke valley.

GranMonte is a family business and boutique vineyard. At this years Decanter World Wine Awards GranMonte won two silver and one bronze medals. This is recognition of the hard work of Nikki and her parents, Sakuna and Visooth Lohitnavy.

GranMonte Estate – 2009 Sakuna Rosé

Recently I discovered that I had “forgotten” a bottle of 2009 Sakuna Rosé in my wine fridge. Since it was a beautiful sunny day, the GranMonte Rosé wine was my natural choice to accompany our lunch.

Thai wines lend themselves to be paired with Thai food as well. The high acidity of the whites is a good requisite for such food and wine pairing. The Colombard and Chenin Blanc varieties are doing well in the tropics and are producing stunning examples of New Latitude Wines. But also Syrah and Cabernet are doing well.

The back label advised to consume the bottle within one year. Oh, I thought, it’s 2011 now and the wine was from 2009! Would it be too late?

Alas, it turned out that the bottle was perfectly fine. The Rosé made from Syrah grapes tasted fresh and fruity as the previous bottles I had served.

In an earlier blog entry I have described how to get to GranMonte Family Vineyard. The winery is definitely worth a visit. The trip from Bangkok to the Asoke valley takes less than two hours. However, I do know how the current monster floods have affected the region and the roads to get there. Maybe the end of the rainy season is a better time for a visit.

Luckily there is shop in Bangkok where you can get the GranMonte wines.

Address:
Granmonte Co,Ltd.
17 / 8 Soi Sukhumvit 6, Sukhumvit Road,
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel : +66-2653-1522 Fax : +66-2653-1977
Mb. : +66-8-9169-7766
Marketing@granmonte.com

Address at Khao Yai
Granmonte Vineyard & Wines
52 Moo 9 Phayayen, Pakchong,
Nakornrachasima, Thailand
Tel : +66-36-227-334-5

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Vineyards of Thailand Part 2: Gran Monte, Asoke Valley, Khao Yai

January 11, 2010

Gran Monte vineyards

I have visited Gran Monte located in the Asoke Valley in the Khai Yai area before. But this time we did not have an appointment with the boss, Mr. Visooth Lohitnavy, and a winery tour was out of the question. We played the innocent tourist, and walked right into the cellar door and tasted the new vintage.

Cellar door to the right, beautiful mountains ahead

The tasting room

2009 was a great year for Gran Monte. The winery won about 20 national and international awards for its “new latitude” wines, and is now firmly established as one of Thailand’s top producers easily matching international standards.

Wines on display in the tasting room

2009 Spring Chenin Blanc

Though Chenin Blanc is usually not “my variety”, I just loved the ‘2009 Spring Chenin Blanc’ which won a silver medal at the AWC Vienna International Wine Challenge 2009. It’s a very fresh wine with a beautiful bouquet, and a clean finish. I liked it much better than the ‘2009 Sole Unwooded Chenin Blanc’. The ‘2009 Sakuma Rose Syrah’ was not for tasting but we bought some bottles nonetheless. Finally, we bought a whole selection from different vintages, varieties and price ranges. More about the food and wine pairings and our experiences with Gran Monte wines will follow soon.

Newspaper reviews about Nikki Lohitnavy

The daughter of Visooth Lohitnavy, the managing director and CEO, is Nikki (or Visootha). She is the first female wine-maker in Thailand. With a degree in oenology from Adelaide, the young vintner is on a mission, and one can feel this when visiting Gran Monte. The 2009 vintage with its excellent whites shows her hand.

Gran Monte has a guest house and restaurant at the winery. The park around the house and the cellar door is very lovely too. When we visited the place was very busy, with many visitors dropping in, most of them Thai. Apart from wine, there are a wide range of local produce including creams and lotions available from the shop.

Gran Monte is definitely worth visiting when going on a winery tour in Thailand, a “must” so to say. There are many other interesting things to visit in the Asoke valley and its surroundings. Khao Yai is just a beautiful region.

Address:
GranMonte in Bangkok
Granmonte Co,Ltd.
17 / 8 Soi Sukhumvit 6, Sukhumvit Road,
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel : +66-2-653-1522
e-mail: Marketing@granmonte.com

GranMonte Vineyards and Wines at Asoke Valley, Khao Yai
52 Moo 9 Phayayen, Pakchong,
Nakornrachasima, Thailand
Tel : 081-923-200-7 , 084-904-194-4, 081-900-828-2 , 080-661-755-5
www.granmonte.com

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Back in Bangkok

April 13, 2009

Our flight from Jakarta to Bangkok was pleasant. Though we had about six hours delay. We arrived in the evening after 9 pm. From the Internet we knew that there were violent clashes between the armed forces and the red-shirt demonstrators in the centre of town. As long as the airport is not occupied…, we thought, it should be fine for us getting home. And so it was. The streets were deserted and it took no time to reach Thonglor, Soi 17. The family had come back from Krabi island the same day. Reunion, what a joy.

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Easter Monday is an official holiday in Germany. Now that the family was together again, we did one of our normal Sunday routines: reading, listening to music, doing some sport and eating together. After about a week on Asian food, I longed for a pasta and a pasta it was to be! (rigatoni ricotta spinaci).

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No better wine than a Thai wine, I thought; it would go well with this meal. I chose a bottle of ‘2006 Fiori Unwooded Chenin Blanc’ from Gran Monte Family Vineyard in Asoke Valley. Chenin Blanc is usually not one of my favourite white varieties but I knew that Gran Monte produces a decent one.

The wine has a nice golden colour, not much of a nose though, but typical Chenin Blanc flavours with a well- balanced acidity. The tropical fruit flavours went well with the pasta. This is a nice wine.

The sun was shining, four people were digging in, hungry like construction workers and busy telling stories from the holidays on Krabi and the elections in Indonesia.

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Thailand: New Latitude Wines – GranMonte Vineyard

March 27, 2009

As you probably know, I am busying myself with finding drinkable Thai wines. My first ventures into the world of Thai wines did not yield promising results. Alas, after some more tastings I was successful.

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Main building, Gran Monte family Vineyard

We visited GranMonte Family Vineyard, a family winery in the Asoke Valley in Khao Yai, about a two hours drive north of Bangkok. This nascent wine business is owned by the family of Vissoth Lohitnavy. His daughter Nikki is the first-ever female oenologist of Thailand. She was recently awarded a Bachelor degree with honours by the University of Adelaide in South Australia.

The GranMonte Family vineyard is a state of the art boutique producer of fine wines. The return of Nikki marks a new chapter in the development of the family business. A new winery has been built and new equipment was bought including stainless steel tanks from Germany.

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During the last couple of years Thailand has become a grape and wine producing country. High taxes on imported wines make sure that the international competition does not destroy the domestic wine industry. However, various awards won by Thai wines at international wine shows are proof that the wine in this tropical land has made good progress.

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The general wisdom was that wine grapes could only be successfully produced between the 30th and 50th latitudes north and south. However, in recent years countries in the tropics and the sub-tropics such as Indonesia (Hatten Wines on Bali Island), Brasil, India and Thailand have shown that this is not true.

New latitude wines, a term coined by local wine writer Frank Norel, is the catchword. Much has been written about “New Latitude Wines” and wine production and I will come back to this topic at a later stage in more detail. The climate allows for two, or even three harvests but some producers forfeit the second (and/or third) vintage altogether and go for low yields.

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As regards the varieties it seems that Chenin Blanc and Colombard of the white, and Syrah/Shiraz of the red varieties grow well at least at GranMonte family vineyard. The total area under vines is about 40 acres, 25 of which are planted with red and 10 with white grapes.

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State of the art trellis systems, spacing and row management

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Mr. Vissoth, the owner, explaining the vineyards to his visitors

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Modern stainless steel cellar equipment

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Freshly fermented grape juice

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The tasting room of Gran Monte

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Another view of the Gran Monte tasting room

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The vineyard owner, Mr. Visooth Lohitnavy, in the tasting room

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The “normal” product range

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The award winners

I recommend to buy the award winners. They are the best wines. I particularly like the unfiltered Syrah, a great drop, smooth in the mouth, with plenty of fruit and a wonderful explosive finish.

So if you should visit Thailand in the near future, please plan a trip tpo Khao Yai and GranMonte Vineyard. The family of Mr. Vissoth is very enthusiastic and will make you feel very welcome. Below you’ll find the address and a map.

Address:
Granmonte Co,Ltd.

17 / 8 Soi Sukhumvit 6, Sukhumvit Road,
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110

Tel : 0-2653-1522 Fax : 02-653-1977
Mb. : 08-9169-7766
Marketing@granmonte.com

Address at Khao Yai

Granmonte Vineyard & Wines
52 Moo 9 Phayayen, Pakchong,
Nakornrachasima, Thailand
Tel : 036-227-334-5

Map
map-granmonteweb

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Thai Wines II

December 10, 2008

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Today some Thai colleagues invited me for dinner and presented to me a Thai wine. What a pleasant surprise that was. We tasted a ‘2004 Kirimaya Syrah’ from Gran Monte Family Estate Vineyard. The vineyard is located in the Khao Yai region north-north-east of Bangkok in the Asoke Valley.

The Gran Monte Winery is set in 800 acres of beautiful land. The varieties planted are: Syrah, Tempranillo, Chenin Blanc, and Clombard. My friends told me that the vineyards are family owned and operated. About 40 acres are under vines mainly Syrah and Chenin Blanc. The ‘2004 Kirimaya Syrah’ won a gold medal somewhere ( I could not identify it because it was too dark in the restaurant).

I loved this wine; it was very yummy. It showed all the characteristic of a well made Shiraz. My Thai friends promised to bring me some more bottles and suggested I should go and visit. The owner-winemaker supposedly worked for some years in Australia.

Great prospects, I would say, and another exciting plan for 2009. The Asoke Valley and the Gran Monte Winery are waiting for me. I’ll keep you posted.

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