I have already announced and informed you about the 3rd International Symposium on Tropical Wine to be held from 12. to 18. November in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Now the first draft program is out. Gosh there are so many interesting sessions, international and national speakers, and exciting field trips on offer that I might not know where to go. I cannot attend all for them.
Have a look and check it out.
By the way, you should register, I have already done it.
Leave a Comment » | 
culture, food and wine, history and culture, vines, vineyard management, Vineyard profile, vineyards, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: 3. International Symposium on Tropical Wine, Chiang Mai, New Latitude Wines, Thai wine, Thailand, wine | 
Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
I am very excited. Recently, I was invited to the above event. From November 14 to 16, 2011 the Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL) in Chiang Mai, Thailand will host the 3rd International Symposium on Tropical Wine.
It will be the most significant gathering of wine experts, scientists, vintners and wine drinkers here in tropical Asia. Thailand is maybe the best developed producer of new latitude wines. Although the Thai wine industry enjoys some protection from outside competition, it’s technological progress is remarkable, many of it’s wines are outstanding.
Wineries such as GranMonte Family Vineyard and PB-Valley Khaoyai Winery have become household names. Many new latitude wines have won major awards at international wine competitions. Chiang Mai and it’s surroundings will be a wonderful location for the event.
Needless to say there is a facebook group to promote the event. I suggest you better join this exciting group to always be up to date about the progress we make.
See you in Chiang Mai in November.
Leave a Comment » | wine, wine regions | Tagged: Chiang Mai, New Latitude Wines, Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, Thailand, Tropical wine, wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Right now it’s winter time in Thailand. Temperatures are between 24 and 28 during the night and up to 32 Celsius in the daytime in Bangkok. A nice time of the year. This is why so many tourist are now arriving here in Thailand.
These days my terrace garden is in full bloom. Some of the beauty I will share with you. Just fill you glass with a delicious and crisp Chardonnay, a Sauvignon Blanc or a Riesling and scroll down at your leisure.
Season’s greetings from the Happy Gardener
Leave a Comment » | general | Tagged: Chardonnay, New Latitude Wines, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Thailand | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Pinot Noir by Red Mountain Estate
My friend Moritz brought some bottles of wine from a trip to Burma back to Bangkok. He gave me a ‘2009 Pinot Noir Taunggyi Wine’ by Red Mountain Estate which is located in the Southern Shan State at the picturesque Inle lake. The vineyard was planted in 2003 at about 1000 meters altitude.
When I opened the bottle and found a plastic “cork” my enthusiasm declined rapidly. Well, what will the wine taste like, I thought, with such an enclosure?
To say it from the outset, the wine is a project in the making. The technology used by Red Mountain Estate may be ultra modern. All equipment is imported from Europe and the wine is aged in Hungarian oak. However, the tropical conditions, as customary to New Latitude wines, is still a challenge.
The colour of the wine is a dark red. It is medium bodied and has 12.5 % alcohol. The taste is a mixture of saw dust and rubber, not unpleasant though, and perfectly drinkable.
I had the chance to taste some more of the Red Mountain Estate products at Moritz’s house. I liked the Chardonnay best followed by the Rose. The reds were not particularly strong, a bit thin, for my taste. As I said, work in progress.
Front label of Red Mountain Estate Pinot Noir
The location of Red Mountain Estate is very beautiful, almost spectacular. Photos of the Inle Lake, the vineyard and the winery can be found on the estate’s webpage (Moritz has some on his facebook site). I should visit this region and have a look myself.
The back label of the Pinot Noir by Red Mountain Estate
PS: We had some antipasti – fried salami – before the main course, a pasta. The recipe is from a Jamie Oliver cookery book. Wonderful, so tasty, with olive oil and fresh Parmesan cheese.
The fried salami antipasti
Address:
Red Mountain Estate
Taung Chay Village Group, Nyaungshwe Township,
Southern Shan State, Myanmar.
Tel: +95-081-209366 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +95-081-209366 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
+95-081-209554
Fax: +95-081-209475
Mobile: +95-09-5174312
www.redmountain-estate.com
Leave a Comment » | Vineyard profile, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Burma, Inle Lake, Jamie Oliver, Myanmar, New Latitude Wines, Pinot Noir, Red Mountain Estate, Taunggyi wine | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
This is the time of the year when the thermometer shows already 32 degrees Celsius at 6:30 in the morning. In mid April it may reach 40-44 Celsius at noon. Alcoholic drinks are not ideal under such conditions. However, a glass of wine with lunch is still something desirable. So what to drink?
Well, my first choice is obviously white wine, maybe a rose, but the wine needs to be chilled. Gran Monte Estate, one of the nine Thai wineries, is located in the Khao Yai region, a two hours drive north of Bangkok, and offers both, white and rose.
Today I talk about their ‘2009 Spring Chenin Blanc’, a fresh and vibrant young wine, very well made with tropical fruit aromas. The grape variety is not my preferred choice when it comes to white wine but for the Gran Monte I make an exception. This Chenin Blanc is perfect for hot days and goes well with Italian and Asian dishes. The alcohol is 12.5% only which makes it also easy to drink in hot weather.
If you live in Thailand or visit Bangkok, try it out. It is worth the odd 500 Thai Bath you pay for the bottle if you purchase directly from the Gran Monte Bangkok shop.
PS: Gran Monte offers also a Syrah rose (the Sakuna rose) in a half bottle which I have tried as well. More about this wine another time.
Address in Bangkok:
Granmonte Co,Ltd.
17 / 8 Soi Sukhumvit 6, Sukhumvit Road,
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Tel : 02-653-1522
Marketing@granmonte.com
Leave a Comment » | wine | Tagged: Bangkok, Chenin Blanc, Gran Monte, Gran Monte Estate, Khao Yai region, New Latitude Wines, Thai wine, Thailand | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Wine tastings at PB Valley
PB Valley is the largest of the Khao Yai vineyards and wineries. It’s total production is about 600,000 bottles a year. It is also the oldest vineyard in the region. It was started in 1989 on a large plot of land. It took a couple of years to identify the most suitable grape varieties for the climate.
PB Valley wines have won a number of international wine awards (mostly at AWC in Vienna). Apart from vineyard and winery, it also has a restaurant, the Great Hornbill with about 200+ seats, and holiday accommodation. I like their reserve Shiraz and Tempranillo wines best.
Unfortunately, we had no time for a winery tour or any organised tasting. We just dashed to the cellar door and bought a couple of bottles. As in other wineries, the product range includes all kinds- of non-wine products from health care, cosmetics to nutrition.
The entrance to the sales room
The cellar door
Wide product range
If you visit Bangkok, rent a car with driver for the day and visit the wineries and vineyards of PB Valley and Gran Monte. This gives you a perfect start for the exploration of new latitude wines. The area is beautiful and the national park offers some unique experiences of Thailand.
If you have no time, visit their sales offices in Bangkok and stock up on their wines.
7 Comments | Vineyard profile, wine, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: AWC Vienna, Khao Yai, New Latitude Wines, PB Valley, Shiraz, Tempranillo, Thai wine, Thailand | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
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
2 Comments | Vineyard profile, vineyards, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: Asoke Valley, AWC Vienna International Wine Challenge 2009, Chenin Blanc, Gran Monte, Gran Monte Vineyards and Winery, Khao Yai, New Latitude Wines, Nikki Lohitnavy, Thailand, Visooth Lohitnavy | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
This blog entry if the first of three looking at various vineyards in Thailand. During the Christmas vacation, we went on a winery tour, visiting three Thai vineyards; Holiday Park, Gran Monte and PB Valley, except Holiday Park, all in the Khao Yai area.
Holiday Park, about two hours north of Bangkok, is a complex undertaking, more a holiday home cum entertainment facility than a vineyard cum winery. However, they do produce grapes, as it seems mostly table grapes for direct consumption. When we arrived in the place, vineyard workers were busy “cleaning” the grapes, which was thinning individual bunches of smaller berries so that the remaining ones could grow bigger. The table grapes we saw were very healthy.
Vineyard workers thinning bunches under the trellis system
Table grapes at Holiday Park
Small tractors were converted into small “locomotives” with wagons so that visitors can be driven around the property including a holiday housing park, a lake, an activity centre, the vineyards and a play ground.
The locomotive
The undertaking is obviously targeting domestic tourists and visitors. The staff at the tasting counter did not speak English. But nonetheless there were wines and juices to be tasted. It was my first ever experience with small plastic cups for a tasting.
Plastic cups for wine tasting at Holiday Park
I assume the wine made is just a by-product of the table grape business. The grapes which cannot be used as table grapes and/or are left over are made into wine. The price of the bottle was THB 250 (about 5 EURO or A$ 7.50). We did not buy any wine.
Holiday Park red
If you have small children, Holiday Park is still worth visiting. I suggest you go there early in the morning when it is not too hot. From there on you drive to Khai Yai to visit other wineries or the national park.
I could not find any address for Holiday Park on the internet in English. Sorry folks.
9 Comments | Vineyard profile, vineyards, wine regions, wineries | Tagged: blogging, Gran Monate, Holiday Park, New Latitude Wines, PB Valley, Thailand, vineyards, wine bloggers | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
Well, it was the first day of 2010 and we wondered what type of pasta we should have for tea (Australian for dinner). We intended to try a bottle of the Tempranillo we had bought a couple of days earlier at PB Valley Winery in the Khao Yai Region, Thailand.
The ‘2007 PB Valley Tempranillo’
What type of pasta would go with this wine, was the question. Margit searched the internet and found the website of Fiona Beckett called Matching Food and Wine. She could not find anything suitable for what we had in mind. The website is still under construction anyway and does not yet contain inputs on every topic. However there was a button saying, “if you want to know anything please contact me” and this is exactly what Margit did. Within an hour we had a reply from Fiona. How amazing.
Fiona suggested a pasta with the spicy Spanish ‘chorizo’ sausage, originating in Extremadura, which we accidentally had in our fridge. It was made by our local Thai German butcher (TGM standing for “Thai German Metzger”). We also had the needed red peppers, onions and tomatoes. The result was a wonderful pasta which went very well with the wine. God bless you Fiona. This was a great suggestion. It made for an awesome dinner. I highly recommend visiting Fiona’s site. There is so much to learn about food and wine pairing.
The chorizo pasta
The wine, a ‘2007 Pirom Tempranillo’ from PB Valley was just ideal with the food just as Fiona had predicted. The intensity of the red berry fruit is very nice, no oak which could “taint” the natural flavours (the wine is aged in stainless steel “). They go for low yields at PB Valley to produce this wine. Thai wine has come a long way but many of the new latitude wines are of a quality which can easily match wines from temperate regions. The awards and medals won at international wine shows are witness of this development.
What a beautiful colour the Tempranillo has
Address:
พีบี วัลเล่ย์ เขาใหญ่
102 หมู่ 5 ต.พญาเย็น อ.ปากช่อง
จ.นครราชสีมา 30320 ประเทศไทย
โทร: +66 (0) 3622 6415 – 16
แฟ็กซ์: +66 (0) 3622 6417
PB Valley Khao Yai Winery
102 Moo 5, Phaya Yen, Pak Chong,
Nakorn Ratchasima 30320, Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 3622 6415 – 16
Fax: +66 (0) 3622 6417
E-mail : info@khaoyaiwinery.com
www.khaoyaiwinery.com
Leave a Comment » | food, wine | Tagged: chorizo, Extremadura, Fiona Beckett, Khao Yai, Matching Food and Wine, New Latitude Wines, PB Valley, Spain, Tempranillo, Thai wine, Thailand | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
For many Germans lamb is not their favourite meat but for Australians it is a kind of a staple. We had four lamb recipes to choose from and decided on an Irish lamb chop stew. The recipe came from Best Recipes where you can find it.
I show you what the stew looks like.
Five kinds of veggies as the base (potatoes, onions, carrots, broccolini and leeks).
The lamb chops with some ham.
All of the above in layers.
Until you reach the top.
Hm, yummy food. Even for a not so enthusiastic lamb lover such as me, the chops were just great.
The children gobbled it up in no time.
How about the wine, you might ask?
Well, I had no Cabernet Sauvignon left, therefore my ‘2006 Primavera Syrah’ from Gran Monte in Asoke Valley, Khao Yai, Thailand was the natural choice. This Thai wine is wonderful, spicy, peppery and with “umpf”, my favourite wine from Thailand. It went very well with the lamb chops.
But after this delicious meal, we were longing for something else, something homely, maybe Victoria? I grabbed the only bottle of ‘2006 Two Hills Merlot’, still unlabelled, which I have, ah, now had, a fruitbomb. I tell you this wine feels like biting into pure cherries. Incredible. I was glad I had not opened it with the lamb. It is a wine which stands on it’s own, so to say; ideal with cheeses, I would say.
It made all of us homesick in the most positive way one can imagine.
Soon we’ll be on the farm in Glenburn again.
Leave a Comment » | food, wine | Tagged: Australia, Bangkok, Best Recipies, Glenburn, Gran Monte, Gran Monte Primavera Syrah, Gran Monte Syrah, Irish Lamb Chop Stew, New Latitude Wines, Thai wine, Thailand, Two Hills Merlot, Victoria | Permalink
Posted by themanfrommoselriver
The Man from Mosel River
The Man from Mosel River 