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.
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.
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.
It was a gorgeous day when I drove from my home town Trier at the Mosel to the airport in Frankfurt. I passed through the hilly country called the “Hunsrueck”, a large plateau with deep forests and not-to-infertile plains where grains, maize and rape seed are grown. After a couple of kilometres clouds appeared and it started to rain.
The yellow of the rape seed fields contrasted beautifully with the surrounding green of the grains, the grass and the trees. From the moving car I took a couple of shots to capture the contrast. Reality is almost always more beautiful than those quick digital camera shots.
I had about two hours for contemplating about life, death and the universe. I love these rare occasions of introspection. I love the short life between the worlds, leaving Germany for the tropics of Thailand. Having left a world behind but not reached the desired destination, leaves me in a kind of vacuum, an emptiness full with feelings.
The last leg of my journey led me through parts of the Nahe and the Rheingau wine regions. At this time of the year the vines appear tender and soft, near the flowering stage maybe, but the green of the leaves is still a light green.
The rainy season would wait for me on the other side of the world. Only the long hours in the narrow plane would be between “me in Germany” and “me in Thailand”, the past and the future, the wines of Germany and the wines of Australia and Thailand of course.
Some of my favourite wines from Thailand come from Gran Monte Family Vineyard. The ‘2005 Fiori Unfiltered Syrah’ from Gran Monte is the best I had drunk from this family estate. The wine has 13% vol. alcohol and a very beautiful colour, it is dark, dark ruby-red. It’s a fine example of a wine from the tropics, a beautiful New Latitude Wine.
It was awarded two medals: one Gold-Platinum by the Wine Style Asia Award in 2007 and a Silver Medal by IFHS also in 2007 (International Exhibition of Food and Drink, Bangkok)
The nose is typical Syrah, one can anticipate the spicy, peppery, fruity red liquid. There is a lot of black forest fruit on the palate. The wine has character, is well balanced, elegant, with a long lasting finish. Just so yummy. The best Thai wine for me so far, i would say. 2005 must have been a great year for Gran Monte.
The wine has its price, though, 2100 Thai Bath per bottle, which is about 45 Euro or US$ 59. But it’s worth it, no worries; a wine for a special evening or just a day when you need a good drop. The only sore point for me is the label. I just don’t like this colour stuff. If in Bangkok just go and get a bottle and take some home: Thai wine, smooth like silk.
Where to buy?
Address:
Gran Monte Co. LTD
17/8 Soi Sukhumvit 6
Sukhumvit Road, Klongtoey
Bangkok 10110
Thailand
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
State of the art trellis systems, spacing and row management
Mr. Vissoth, the owner, explaining the vineyards to his visitors
Modern stainless steel cellar equipment
Freshly fermented grape juice
The tasting room of Gran Monte
Another view of the Gran Monte tasting room
The vineyard owner, Mr. Visooth Lohitnavy, in the tasting room
The “normal” product range
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.
On the 8th of March 21 years ago, I entered an Italian language class and sat next to a blonde girl from Australia. In the morning of the same day, my boss, Luciano Montesi, had send me out to buy flowers for all the women working in our service. This is how I learned about world women’s day.
It was a glorious day in Rome and I was glad that my friend Jim had taken me to his language class. What I did not know at the time was that I would marry that blonde Australian two years later.
Today, we felt like celebrating this first encounter and decided to go out for lunch. We called the Patara Restaurant which is only one Soi away from us in Thonglor, Bangkok, and they sent their tuck-tuck to pick us up at 13:20 h. All four of us like Thai food, so the choice of Patara came very natural.
Patara is located in Thonglor, Soi 19. The building used to be a private residence in a single house with a large garden, I guess. Inside you’ll find an elegant Thai restaurant, just the right place for such a celebration as ours was.
The interior of Patara
The decoration is very tasteful
We ordered two starter platters, a selection of various small Thai dishes and the three dumpling assortment. Don’t get fooled by the colours. The dumplings are most delicious.
This was the first starter platter
Three kinds of Thai dumplings
Then we ordered the main dishes, among them a tofu in red curry, a green chicken curry, an oxtail red curry, some green vegetables and some rice (which came in four colours, unfortunately my photo of the rice was blurred). All of us like spicy food, therefore we just followed our instincts when ordering.
The main dishes
Green chicken curry
The ossobucco-type dish
Green veggies
The food was so wonderful, so perfect, so delicious; our taste buds went from one sensation to the next. This is Thai food at its best, wow. I could not believe it. Margit and the kids had visited Patara earlier but for me it was the maiden visit. This was the best Thai food in ages.
What about the wine? Food and wine pairings in Asia are at times a challenge. Patara has a well assorted wine list. Since the first encounter had taken place in Italy, I choose an Italian wine. The ‘2005 Campogrande Orvieto DOC Classico Superiore’ by Antinori seemd to be just the right choice.
First, many times we had stopped in Orvieto when returning to Rome from Umbria so that a lot of happy memories are tied up with Orvieto Classico wines. Second, just a day earlier we had this wonderful ‘2005 Antinori Tignanello’, so I thought why not stay with the same producer.
Wine is expensive in Thailand. The bottle was under 2000 Bath, not bad for a restaurant offer. I know that this wine retails for about US$ 10-12 in other parts of the world. The wine has a pale straw colour. It is elegant and fresh. The wine has a good structure and a very pleasant palate of tropical fruit.
As typical for Orvieto Classico, the wine is a Trebbiano blend. Varieties include Procanico, Grechetto, Verdelho, Drupeggio, Malvasia and – surprise surprise – Chardonnay (15 %!). Antinori went up to the maximum allowed as regards Grechetto (27%). With the exception of Verdelho and Chardonnay, I have never tasted any of the individual varieties included in this blend as single wines.
Cheers
Happy children
After lunch the children entertained themselves in the garden.
These are the ingredients for Irish coffee. It’s worth to order it. It’s freshly made at the table, a spectacular show, truly amazing.
The finished product: Irish coffee
Before we got on the tuck-tuck again, we were served refreshing towels. What a wonderful celebration this family meal was, a delight for the palate, a pleasure for the eyes. The staff at Patara is incredibly professional, very friendly and extremely helpful.
Happy diners
If you want to experience something special and you have the chance to drop in a Patara Restaurant, please do so. I highly recommend it. And if you are in Bangkok, the choice is clear: visit Patara, its’ worth it.
After so many years living in the tropics we finally decided to buy a wine fridge. Storing fine wine in a tropical climate is just no fun. In Jakarta we had a larder which was permanently air-conditioned. Wine would keep for some time but it was stored their with all the other food items a family of four needs.
Isn’t it a nice piece of furniture?
We bought only a small wine fridge here in Bangkok. Our kitchen is small and we did not want it to be too big. Anyway, strangely enough wine does not keep in our family. The fridge holds about 30 bottles which is usually sufficient. No cellaring folks.
Treasures, somehow
You might want to know what wine I store in this fridge. Well, some bottles of our house wine (Bushman’s Gully), some bottles of Thai wine (Gran Monte), some “rarities” given to me by friends (wines from China, Myanmar) and one lonely bottle of Saar Riesling (Van Volxem) for a Sunday treat.
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.
Posted by themanfrommoselriver 
The Man from Mosel River 