HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Vietnamese cuisine is world-famous. As with most other Asian countries, wine is not the first commodity that comes to mind when thinking about Viet Nam.
But that has now dramatically changed.
Wine has a very long development history, and France is seen as the country that knows more about the secrets of winemaking art than others.
Arriving in Viet Nam in the mid-19th century, the French chose Da Lat to build the first winemaking plant. And now, Lam Dong Foods (Ladofoods) Company continues to produce and introduce the Da Lat wine brand name to the Vietnamese people, as it has done for the last 20 years.
With its premium wine, Ladofoods has created a breakthrough product by constantly innovating and adjusting its techniques. Foreign experts have been invited to speak about the latest technology and information, including different kinds of yeast, methods of brewing wine, and other needed techniques.
Ladofoods has invested in grape plantations by co-operating with local farmers. Hundreds of soil samples were sent abroad for testing and thousands of grape seedlings from different Italian and French areas were planted during the pilot programme.
Foreign experts have regularly provided the latest knowledge about planting grapes and convinced local farmers about the future of the Vietnamese grape plantation and winemaking industry.
Finally, thanks to a more advanced grape plantation process, high-quality grapes have been harvested at a high capacity, with fewer insect infestations. An internationally standard wine was successfully made.
This is just the beginning of a bigger dream of expanding the brand worldwide. Chateau Dalat wishes to be marked the Vietnamese brand name on the "New World Wine" map in near future.
Ladora Winery & Chateau Dalat
Professional winemaker Ladora Winery early this year was established by Ladofoods.
Chateau Dalat, the first product of Ladora Winery, marks the company's initial success.
The name Chateau Dalat stems from two factors closely linked to wine. The French first brought wine into Viet Nam, and in France, large manor houses known in French as chateaus often had good winemaking plants.
The French also discovered and named the highlands town of Da Lat brought their architecture to a wide range of buildings, including villas, colleges and train stations, among others. All of these contributed to making Da Lat a beautiful, dreamlike city. The city's year-round cool weather was also suitable to making wine.
The new Chateau Dalat brand is a meaningful achievement of the winemaker in the premium segment besides its popular Vang Da Lat (Dalat Wine), which is widely loved by locals because of its exquisite taste and relative affordability.
Vietnamese and foreign wine lovers have begun drinking Chateau Dalat – the first Vietnamese wine that can compare in quality with other imported products. And the quality of Chateau Dalat has proven that it is worth its welcome as a strong symbol of Vietnamese enterprises in the wine market -- a tough challenge for local products as they had to compete against imported products.
Many foreigners and Vietnamese have expressed their delight about the new brand since it was launched in early September. As one of them said: "If we want to organise a reception for our friends or customers from afar, we would like to use Vietnamese taste, style and brand names. In the past, we mostly had no choice of wines in the premium segment and we had to choose imported products. The convincing appearance of Chateau Dalat has filled the gap and elevated the subject of winemaking in the country."
Chateau Dalat is now viewed as a surprising new Vietnamese taste. – VNS