The vineyards of Southern Vietnam

Grape syrup at Thiên Thảo winery in Ninh Thuận province. Photo by Nam Cheah.

When you think about wineries, Vietnam is likely one of the last places in your mind. Yet, the half a dozen wineries and vineyards in Southern Vietnam, not only sell their products locally, they also export wine to other countries in Asia and Africa. While the wines can’t compare to those from Napa and Tuscany, the country's history from the French occupation era combined with its own Vietnamese grape beverage heritage lends a unique flair to the Vietnamese wine.

The Birthplace of Vietnamese Wine: Dalat

While you can find wineries all over southern Vietnam, the best ones can be found in Dalat. Dalat is a mountain town in the south-central highland of Vietnam with a milder climate. When Vietnam was Cochinchina in the late 19th century, it was a popular escape for the French.

 With the French came wines, and wineries. Though not well advertised or well known, these wineries are still in business today. You can find their bottles in stores around the city and can visit the wineries yourself.

Photo by Nam Cheah

One of the oldest and the biggest wineries in the region is the Dalat Beco. Founded by the French in 1974, the winery grows its own organic grapes and produces various types of red and white wines. They offer a different variety of import and export wines and it is possible to taste them all at their Dalat store. The export Sauvignon Blanc Cardinal (a table grape that some French regions allow in wine) is smooth, sweet, with a floral scent and the best white wine I’ve tried in Vietnam.

 Also around since the ’70s, the Vinh Tien Winery is a 10-minute drive west of Dalat in a pink, European-style manor. Winemakers there like to mix grapes to produce unique flavors, selling domestically as well as to Thailand. The Vinh Tien Winery offers free wine tasting where you can try its popular Syrah and various other red and white wines. I preferred La Chat Noir, which is smooth with a lovely floral woodsy aroma.

Seeking the Vineyards of Vietnam

Initially, grapes were imported from France and Italy for the Dalat wineries. But soon winemakers began looking into growing grapes. The soil in the Dalat region is not suitable so wineries turn their eyes to the coastal Ninh Thuận province, which is only a few hours’ drive away.

This area has long been an agricultural region with fertile soil, and it’s no stranger to fruits.

According to a study by the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations, grape growing began in the ’70s in the north first, but only on a small scale. It is much more successful in the Ninh Thuận province, where 26 hectares of grapevines planted in 1985 increased to 2,400 hectares in 1999. 

The climate there is ideal for grapevine growing and can yield up to three harvests per year. Following the viticulture trend, a few family-owned businesses near Mui Ne have also taken up winemaking but with a Vietnamese twist.

The Vietnamese twist

The wineries in the Ninh Thuận province might not produce wine as good as those in Dalat, but these family businesses didn’t limit themselves to only producing western-standard wine. They also make what the Vietnamese are used to drinking.

 One of them is the Thiên Thảo Winery, on the edge of Thap Cham and owned by a former wine factory worker who joined the trend of grapevine growing in the ’90s. It was a complete surprise to visit the bare-bones showroom on the side of the highway and see the vast vineyards behind it, hidden from plain sight. 

Now run by his daughter, it produces red, white and green wines. However, the green wine is actually like the common white wine, while the white wine is a traditional Vietnamese-style strong liquor made from distilling a pot of boiling grape through a bamboo tube. The taste resembles a mild vodka with a light fruity scent, and it’s a popular dinner drink.

If you are looking for Thiên Thảo’s best sellers, they don’t come with any alcohol percentage. First is the Mat Nho Thiên Thảo, a fermented syrup that doubles as a stomach medicine. It’s naturally fermented for around three years with a vinegar-like aftertaste that makes it bittersweet. The grape syrup. Siro Nho Thiên Thảo, is a take on the fruit syrup popular for the Vietnamese, but made with grapes. The sweet, fruity number only takes three days to make compared to its alcoholic counterparts and makes for a refreshing drink when mixed with cold water.

 Vineyard at Ba Moi Winery. Photo by Nam Cheah.

You can also find the Vietnamese-style grape liquor at the Ba Moi Winery nearby. They started growing and making wine 15 years ago and brand the liquor as a brandy, which has 30 percent alcohol by volume. The winery also makes grape syrup with green grapes and fermented with some sugar for three to six months, giving them a peachy color with richer flavor.