GranMonte in Forbes | Why You Should Visit A Tropical Vineyard In Thailand

Located at the foothills of Khao Yai, a national park renowned for its biodiversity, GranMonte (whose name means “Big Mountain”) is set across 40 acres of land in Thailand’s Asoke Valley. Though the property’s Italian-inspired VinCotto restaurant and wine cottage may be reminiscent of the Tuscan countryside, the occasional sighting of elephants in the vineyard will remind you that you’re not in Europe anymore. You’re in the tropics.

 

Tropical viticulture may seem like a novel concept, but grapes have been growing in unexpected places since time immemorial. From islands and cliffsides to the arctic and the tropics, vitis vinifera is a resilient species that can adapt to extreme climates and with a careful hand, can be coaxed into expressing a terrain in an entirely new way.

 

“Our region isn’t only beaches and coconut trees,” says Nikki Lohitnavy, the first and only certified winemaker in Thailand, and lead enologist of GranMonte. Together with her family, she has helped spearhead production in a new terroir.

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