 One of the pleasant stops on my tour of Khao Yai was Granmonte. The winemaker, Nikki Lohitnavy, studied winemaking in Australia and only returned home for the 2009 crush to help her father, Visooth. They now have eighteen hectares of vineyard and produce about 80,000 bottles of year. The Syrah 'l'Orient' from her maiden vintage was a positive surprise! The 2011 from ungrafted vines that we tasted from cask may be even better. This is not quite Hermitage, but certainly one of the best offerings this country can manage. In any case, I prefer it to the Asoke, which sports a majority Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Comments
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