The toast of Khao Yai

By LEKHA J SHANKAR
SPECIAL TO THE NATION
Published on July 18, 2009

Tasty tours of three excellent Nakhon Ratchasima wineries are set for next week and again in September

For someone who has revelled in intoxicating wine tours around the world, finding an outstanding weekend wine odyssey just two hours from Bangkok is an unexpected delight.

Boasting three of the country's top wineries - Granmonte, PB Valley and Village Farm - Khao Yai in Nakhon Ratchasima might well be described as "Thailand's Bordeaux".

And these three wine producers have just launched a string of scintillating tours. The first was in April and the others are scheduled for the last weekends of July and September.

April's excursion was to Village Farm's Chateau des Brumes atop one of the highest points in Khao Yai. Owner Viravat Cholvanich employs a French winemaker and utilises French-oak barrels and welcomes guests to his delightful 40room inn.

It's magical to stand on the open veranda with a glass of bubbly in hand, viewing 300 rai of vines swaying in the breeze.

The cosy, all-wood rooms offer arresting views of the mountains and vineyard.

At our first tasting we learn the different ways to hold a glass - regular, traditional or diplomatic - sniff the bouquet and savour the taste.

Award-winning sommelier Pairach Intaput, who runs the restaurant Vintage in Bangkok, is chatty and knowledgeable as he indoctrinates us.

You might not know as much about hybrid rose wines as you think, for example, Pairach points out, calling them the kathoey of wines.

We visit the underground cellars where the Chateau des Brumes boutique wines are made - only 40,000 bottles a year of the top-of-the-line "prestige" vintages and popular syrah and chenin blanc.

Dinner at the Village Old Barn restaurant is a true gourmet experience with pasta, lamb and cheese washed down by endless good wine while a duo of guitarists entertains.

When I awake the next morning, I realise why this place is called "Chateau in the mist". Across the hills lie layers of swirling grey fog.

There's no time to experience the "wine therapy" at the spa because we have to drive nearly 100 kilometres to visit the other wineries. It's a lush jaunt along flower-trimmed roads, though, to the Ashok Valley, home of the Granmonte estate.

Granmonte means "big mountain", and the vineyards are spectacularly surrounded by a pictureperfect peaks.

Owner Visooth Lohitnavy tows us by tractor around his 36 rai, pointing out such features as a microclimate monitoring system. At the winery his daughter Nikki takes over as guide.

Nikki, who did her wine studies in Australia, is Thailand's first female oenologist. She explains the methods behind the firm's "unfiltered, unwooded" wines.

Our next tasting includes a lesson in white wines, another illuminating session with sommelier Pairat.

Lunch at the open-air Vin Cotto restaurant is a treat, demonstrating the culinary prowess of Visooth's wife Sakuna, who prepares a smoked duck-breast salad, grilled salmon fillet and braised short ribs in wine.

These delights are accompanied by wines including Granmonte's award-winning Syrah Primavera and Chenin Blanc Fiori.

Our final stop is the property of PB Valley, owned by the Singha beer group, which turns out to be just as adept at winemaking.

The country's oldest winery and the biggest in Southeast Asia, PB has vines covering almost 300 acres and produces between 150,000 and a million bottles a year. It's the only Thai winery that exports to neighbouring countries.

Director Prayukt Piangbunta, who studied wine in Germany and became the first winemaker in Thailand, takes us around and explains the processes for making the fruity Sawasdee "beginner's wine", the PB Valley regulars and the premium Pirom wines, named after owner Piya Pirombhakdi.

Our tasting is devoted to reds from all three Thai companies represented on the tour, and we begin to understand the differences in aroma, bouquet and body.

And dinner is once again superlative at the oft-mentioned Great Hornbill Grill.

On the menu is the signature pork in vine leaf, along with lobster bisque, New Zealand mussels and chicken pizza. Paired with these are Sawasdee Chenin Blanc, PB Valley Shiraz and Pirom Tempranillo.

Heavy in the stomach but light in the head, we stagger to our bus for the journey back to Bangkok.

The wine tour is outstanding. It's a blessing to know that grand wine getaways don't have to involve airfare to France, California or South Africa.

If you go …

The next Wine Appreciation Tours take place on July 25 and 26 and September 26 and 27. Call Sunita at (086) 092 0069 or (02) 653 1522, extension 20.

Source : nationmultimedia.com