Just a few years ago, Thai officials said it couldn’t be done. The nation was in the midst of a wine-drinking boom in 1996. Wine imports doubled, as wine bars opened all over Bangkok. European, Australian and American wines sold at three to four times the prices overseas. Thailand became one of the biggest markets outside France for great vintages from the Bordeaux region. Amid this craze, the Excise Department soberly declared Thailand’s climate and soil could never produce wine in sufficient volume or quality to substitute for the imported vintages.
Then Chateau de Loei set out to prove the experts wrong, with Thailand’s first serious attempt at winemaking. The vineyard launched its first vintages in 1996 - a red from Syrah grapes, and a Chenin Blanc white. The wine sold out each year, but until recently reactions were mixed. The Syrah won respectful, but few rave reviews, and the white lagged behind. So last year the vineyard hired a new, award-winning winemaker, a young Australian who has revamped the wines with great success, especially the white. "This year we changed the Chenin to a fruit-driven, off-dry style, which is a good accompaniment to the spicy, heavy, chilli-based food in Thailand," says Peter Burford (pictured opposite), a native of Adelaide who worked four years in Sonoma County, the heart of California wine country. "This shows the challenge can be overcome. The wine would be well received in California." Oenophiles are taking notice: Chateau de Loei will be featured in their favourite journal, The Wine Spectator.
Now that the wine’s quality is up to scratch, Chateau de Loei just has to double its production of 150,000 litres to break even. Chaijudh Karnasuta, who owns and runs the winery, plans to keep cultivating more land until a capacity of 700,000 litres is reached. Quality too will improve as the vines mature. "The depth and complexity of the wine will increase as the years go on," says Burford, 31.
Before turning his hand to viticulture, Chaijudh was a construction tycoon. Now, at the age of 80, he is finally living his lifelong dream of being a farmer. "Now I spend more time up here in the countryside than in Bangkok. It’s half work, half play," says Chaijudh, who relishes the fresh air and nurturing his new business. This is his second shot at entrepreneurship. His first venture did well. Italian-Thai Development, which he co-founded at the age of 28, became the nation’s largest builder, with some 60,000 employees before the Asian crisis.
But construction was a distraction from his true love. As a boy, Chaiyudh enjoyed visiting his uncle’s plantation outside Bangkok. He dreamed of becoming an expert in farming, and won a scholarship to study agriculture in France. The outbreak of World War II forced Chaiyudh to stay home, but no Thai college offered programs in agriculture. Instead, he studied medicine, and practised as a doctor for a few years before starting his building firm with an Italian civil engineer.
Farming had to wait until Chaijudh retired from regular duties at Italian-Thai 10 years ago. He founded a plantation in Loei Province in Thailand’s arid and poor northeastern region, Isaan. Starting out with fruits like lychee and longan, he soon branched into macademia nuts, and now uses hydroponics to grow vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce and green peppers. He added wine grapes after the government opened winemaking to newcomers in the mid-1990s.
Marketing has been a cinch. The wine sells itself in Thailand, thanks partly to consumer patriotism. The economic crisis has made it both practical and chic to "buy Thai". And the government, drowning in red ink, doubled import duties on wines. Chateau de Loei vintages now sell for about 280 baht (US$6.40), about half the local price of quality imported wine.
Chaijudh ships 2,000 cases of white wine to Japan each year. Now he hopes to serenade America’s love affair with Thai food, sending four times as much red and white to California.
A wine industry, if it can ever take root, would be good for the Thai economy, just as fine wine has helped Chile, South Africa and Argentina. Thailand is one of the world’s largest food exporters, but it lacks high-value farm goods. "It will take a few years, but for sure a wine industry would help Thailand," Chaijudh says.
Burford is confident that Thailand has a "huge potential" to develop viticulture. Not that growing wine is easy in the tropics. Drenching monsoons during the May to August growing season swell the grapes, damaging 20% of the crop. But unlike in Europe, there’s a second growing season, during the dry months from September to February.
The monsoons can be a blessing in disguise. The rainy-season grapes are excellent for distilling brandy. This year Chateau de Loei is launching a 450 baht fine brandy named Victory - the English translation of the name Chaijudh. "Once the brandy comes out, you’ll see a change in perceptions - Chateau de Loei will climb," Burford says.
Soon the vineyard will be an all-Thai operation. Burford is training two young Thais to take over his role as winemaker. "I’m ecstatic about how far they’ve come - they are fantastic," Burford says. "It takes time to develop your palette, to know all the different flavours you can get. Wine is only a recipe. It’s the winemaker’s addition that makes each wine different."
Chaijudh, for his part, doesn’t touch the stuff. He marvels at the prices some Bangkok restaurants charge for fine wine - as much as 120,000 baht. "They drink it there like it’s Coca-Cola. I can’t tell the difference! That’s the thing about expensive wine - the one who drinks dares not to pay. The one who pays, dares not to drink." But he is excited about Chateau de Loei’s delicious new vintage: "Word is out - people used to order 10 cases - now they want 100."