Top Thai wines Down Under

Well-known Thai vineyard and winery GranMonte introduced its range of wines to the Australian market recently at a launch held on two consecutive evenings at the famous Sailors Thai restaurant at The Rocks in Sydney.

Nikki Lohitnavy, Thailand’s first female winemaker, is now working in the newly-established GranMonte Asoke Valley winery.

Guests at the launch included Kiattikhun Chartprasert, consul-general of Thailand in Sydney; Korakot Chatasingha, general manager of Thai Airways International, Australia; Numpfhon Boonyawat, TAT director for Australia and New Zealand; Saowanit Pongsai, director of Thai Trade Center for Australia and New Zealand. Presenting the wines were GranMonte's founders, Visooth and Sakuna Lohitnavy, and their daughter, winemaker Nikki Lohitnavy.

A seven-course Thai menu was served at the launch, and as the guests arrived they were served the medium-dry GranMonte 2010 Sakuna Rosaace Syrah to freshen their palates. The first two dishes were matched with GranMonte 2010 Spring Chenin Blanc and the 2010 Sole Chenin Blanc/Viognier.

An appetising smoked pork sausage was served with salmon roe, oysters and shallots, and paired with the 2010 Z Rosaace (completely dry, with the Z indicating zero sugar) and the 2009 Asoke Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah.

The Asoke is a breakthrough to a new horizon for the Thai wine industry which has, until this release, been without a majority cabernet blend red.

GranMonte's flagship reds, Heritage Syrah (2009) and The Orient Syrah (2009), were served with a robust duck red curry, salted duck eggs and grilled squid in tamarind and coconut relish with witlof, deep-fried fish and green mango salad. The palate was then finally cooled off with a mango and white sticky rice desert.

GranMonte launched its first wines in 2001. It is now producing around 70,000 bottles of wine each year, principally from chenin blanc, viognier, syrah and cabernet sauvignon grapes grown in meticulously tended vineyards at an altitude of 350 metres in the Asoke Valley, adjacent to the Khao Yai National Park, 160 kilometres northeast of Bangkok.

The vineyard is managed with a precision farming Smart Vineyard system for micro-climate tuning of the vines. And it is obviously working well: GranMonte wines have won medals in open international competition in the UK, France, Austria, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Last September, the internationally-recognised AWC Vienna wine challenges awarded GranMonte's latest vintages five silver medals for the 2009 Sole Unwooded Chenin Blanc, 2010 Sakuna Rose Syrah, 2008 Fiori Unfiltered Syrah, 2009 Heritage Syrah, and 2009 Asoke Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah, as well as two seals of approval for the 2010 Sole Chenin Blanc/Viognier and the 2009 The Orient Syrah.

However, the most satisfying testimonial proof for GranMonte are the two silver medals from the 2008 and 2010 Syrah de Monde competitions in Ampui, France _ for the 2006 Primavera Syrah and the 2009 The Orient Syrah. They made GranMonte the only winery in Asia to received this level of award on two occasions.

"When your wines are appreciated by professionals at this level around the world, you know we are on to something. That's called consistency in quality winemaking," said winemaker Nikki.

"The Thai wine industry has come a long way in such a short period of time. It's only been about 20 years since Thailand became a wine-producing country.

"It took us a shorter time than Australia, Chile, Argentina, South Africa or even the United States to become internationally recognised.

"We don't care to make mediocre wines, but premium quality wines that are highly sought after by consumers here in Thailand now and overseas.

"With the knowledge and the technology that Thai winemakers have, we can make unique, premium quality wines that reflect our climate and terroir."

Nikki is Thailand's first female winemaker and comes to the task with outstanding academic credentials, including winning the Fosters Prize for Excellence in Winemaking at Adelaide University.

As part of the prize, Nikki did a vintage at the Wolf Blass winery in the Barossa Valley in 2008, adding to the practical experience gained in her first vintage, in 2007, at Brown Brothers, in Central Victoria.

She also did the 2009 vintage during September-December 2009 in Europe with Chateau Angelus in Saint-Emilion and La Fleur de Bouard in Lalande de Pomerol, France and Anwilka of Stellenbosch, South Africa and she recently returned from working the 2010 vintage with Quinta de Roriz in Portugal's Douro Valley.

Currently she is the winemaker in the newly-established GranMonte Asoke Valley winery.

GranMonte wines are imported to Australia by Sydney-based premium wine merchant, Quality Estate Distributors.