Wine & Pineapple

Sitting on top of a hill, sipping cool rosé wine, enjoying the scenic views of a sprawling verdant vineyard surrounded by pineapple fields as far as the eye could see, we couldn't help but be guiltily entertained at the sight of poor elephants trudging slowly around the grounds while lugging on their backs a box full of the all too familiar I-went-to-Thailand-and-I-rode-on-the-back-of-an-elephant tourists. It was almost a surreal moment. We were cooling off in The Sala Wine Bar & Bistro at the Hua Hin Hills Vineyard, set among rolling jungle hills dotted with temples and the occasional stupa, right smack dab in the middle of pineapple growing country, a few hours’ drive south of Bangkok.   

         

Spanning across a land of 500 acres at 140-210 metres above sea level, the Hua Hills Vineyard offered us a side to Thailand that we did not even knew existed. I for one had never associated Thailand to wine making. After doing a bit of research, I found out that wine accounts for less than 2% of the total alcohol beverage market in Thailand. But wine is, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network assessment, enjoyed by 10 per cent of the population. The reason for this discrepancy? Vino is in demand from us “farangs”, whose tipple of choice is wine back home and who still have a hankering for the stuff when in the land of smiles, and also from affluent Thais who believe that a meal with a glass or two is a sign of social status. 

The trip down to Hua Hin Hills had been interesting but long; long due to a combination of my inept sense of direction and a faulty road map, interesting due to the rural life along the way, stopping to photograph and buy baby pineapples and the occasional random monkey along the road. Hua Hin Hills consists only of a vineyard; after harvesting, the grapes are transported north to to the Siam Winery in Samut Sakorn (45km from Bangkok) where wine is made. It not being a winery, we didn’t expect barefoot grape squashing; but that’s okay, we weren’t there to squash grapes with our feet…been there, done that…we were there to sample some premium wines, and so we did. 

Upon arrival at the Hills, we immediately went to the the Sala Wine Bar & Bistro, an enchanting Thai-inspired pavilion that is the centrepiece of the vineyard and sits at the top of the hill overlooking much of the plantation.  This trendy, open structure split into various levels serves as a platform to provide information for visitors, a wine bar; bistro, retail shop, wine cellar, and a meeting facility. It was airy and breezy, and the full vineyard panorama scene is nothing short of  breathtaking; a perfect place to chill out especially after spending a few hours driving and looking at pineapples while dodging monkeys.

One of the first things I noticed were that all the wine bottle labels were emblazoned with the mythical naga, a Thai guardian figure, and the bottles were stamped with the Thai Buddhist year — currently, it’s 2560 — rather than the widely used Gregorian calendar in which we just rang in 2017.  The Vineyard lays on a former elephant corral, a sublime place where wild Asian elephants were domesticated. This explains those tourists looking ridiculous touring the vineyards sitting on lawn chairs on top of elephants; I guess it is not just a marketing ploy but rather a rendition to the history of the area. Whatever reason, they still look like stupid tourists riding on poor elephants. Anyways, on to our mission at the wine sampling bar.  We were offered a sampling of three wines, a white, a rosé, and a red, all for 280 Baht ($10). I am certainly no wine connoisseur, as a matter of fact, I have zero knowledge of it and certainly cannot distinguish among varietals. However, I know what I like and what I don't...wine to me is either good, or it sucks. Actually the only really bad stuff I ever consumed was that god-awful vile fermented gag-inducing home-brewed rotgut that I and every other expat in Saudi concocted while serving our work sentences in Riyadh... I digress, back to Hua Hin Hills. I was pleasantly surprised by just how good the wines I tasted were here. 

There’s no mistaking it — these are Thai wines produced from Thai grapes to complement Thai food. After sampling our second wine, we informed our host sommelier that we could do with some food and were immediately led to a table in the restaurant section of the Sala, on a deck overlooking another breathtaking view of the vineyards and across the valley. In the distance, we could see a golden pagoda, a Buddhist Temple in the horizon, as if standing tall to protect the entire area. It was a reminder that we were in Thailand, easy to forget when you look around 360 degrees and all you see are vineyards. We were presented with an impressive menu, mostly comprising of Thai dishes paired with recommended wines. My travelling buddies chose things like smoked duck breast with tamarind nam prick and the crispy snapper on a mango salad. Madeleine went for a combination dish of fried river prawn with Panaeng sauce and the Yom Yum Tuna Loin. I, the ever so food sophisticate elitist that I am, ordered a cheeseburger and fries. "Pray tell, Raymond, how was your cheeseburger," Madeleine asked me in the car on the drive back. "It was just divine dear...the smoky bacon and char-broiled ground beef were perfectly complemented by the Monsoon Valley Cuvée de Siam Rouge, which boasted similar meaty aromas and flavours in addition to ripe, fruity notes of dark berries and cherry. Furthermore, the deft layers of pepper and tobacco brought out the ground meat's salty char, and the wine's texture and tannins harmonized with the generous processed swiss cheese". Madeleine was turned on. Not.