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World Winetour 2010, Anja and Georges: Helping change lives in Laos
The Words of French consulting viticulturists entering the Khao Yai valley 'This isn't like France, wine can't possible grow here,' had little impact on the Singher Beer Family from starting PB Valley Winery almost 20 years ago as one of the first wineries in Thailand. After many pioneering years experimenting with root stocks, grape varietals, and viticulture, 1995 marked the construction of the winery and soon thereafter Prayut Piangbunta, having studied winemaking in Germany, became employed as the first Thai winemaker. Still there now Prayut continues his dream of furthering the Thai wine revolution.
PB Valley Winery also offers great accomodation for its visitors. Here seen is the TeePee lodge, which will be replaced in the coming years with a full-on little lodge community for guests of all ranges to come and visit. While there, bike around the vineyards and enjoy the surroundings, we did!
Whats going on at the winery?! Click on video to see!
When asked what the greatest challenge was for Prayut, he gave an answer that was familiar to us across the Asian wine continent that we have seen, that he must first convince Thais that Thai wine can actually be a quality product (years of loosely using the word 'Wine' on many Thai beverages of poor quality has given the sounds 'Thai Wine' a bad connotation). What Prayut saw as the second challenge was then to convince the world. More challenges hold the Thai wine industry back, high taxes stifle most efforts of uplifting the industry, and the market is found swamped by many foreign wines illegally brought into the country, thus avoiding taxes all around (In Thailand you can easily order a bottle of 'Penfolds' to be delivered to your door, avoid many middle-men including the government).
A pioneer in Thai Winemaking, PB Valley is now experimenting to create a 'Thai Rootstock' for its vineyards.
Adding to this, the hospitality manager running the Winery's popular restaurant found many costumers bringing these very same 'Penfolds' to dinner. "Do they think these vineyards are for decoration?". A clear sign that Thai wines are still alien to the consumer, though conversion quickly happens once offered to taste the product. Thai wines have a distance still left to go, but slowely but surely as people actually take the time to taste what the wines are, and PB Valley in particular, they will soon find pleasant surprises and surely be converted.
Always thinking about quality, PB Valley uses oak casks for winemaking. Our auction will feature the Pirom Tempranillo 2007, a fine wine made from 10 year old vines conveying rich berries and soft spices into the wine. The Pirom Reserve Chenin Blanc 2007, also available for the auction expresses tropical fruits and a sharp crisp taste coming from 100% stainless steel aging.
We would like to thank PB Valley for donating two bottles of its highest end wine: A Pirom Tempranillo 2007 and a Pirom Reserve Chenin Blanc 2007. Be sure to get your hands on these at the auction! Thanks PB Valley!
A great dinner and tasting with PB Valley's winemakers. Thanks!
~Anja and Georges
During this project, Georges and Anja will travel the globe collecting wine bottles from participating wineries. All bottles will be shipped back to California thanks to JF Hillebrand, where an auction will be held at Robert Mondavi Winery in 2011. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to the Lao Rehabilitation Foundation Inc, helping change lives in Laos. The Charity works on a variety of projects, from caring for a school for blind children, to operating medical missions in remote areas, to building schools, building clinics, and bringing medical supplies into the country. The charity is currently supervising the construction of an aquaduct to bring water to a village of over 500 inhabitants whose fresh water supply has dried out. The funds raised by the auction in 2011 will go to help rebuild a school destroyed by massive flooding of the Mekong River in 2008.
Anja Cheriakova :
Anja is originally from Belarus and immigrated to the Netherlands with her family. She is a Master student at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and will simultaneously be performing research during the World Wine Tour. Fluent in many languages, she has recently turned her attention to one more: Wine!
Georges Janssens :
Georges is a California native with French background. He has recently graduated from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Having grown up in the Napa Valley, Georges has enjoyed working in several wineries there. Webmaster for the project, he is currently writing about himself in the third person. If you would like to comment, login.
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World Winetour 2010, Anja and Georges: Helping change lives in Laos 
