WineNZ Summer 18-19 (1)

cellar door | feature
Monsoon Valley winery has a pleasant terrace overlooking the vineyard.
Warm wine
Elephants, bananas and grapes live happily
together at Monsoon Valley, writes Paul
Taggart.
There is a winery in New Zealand
with an elephant — Hawke’s
Bay’s Elephant Hill. It is an
impressive beast, which was
shipped all the way from
Myanmar. However, the
elephant in question is made of wood.
To find a winery with real-life elephants,
you have to travel a bit further afield.
At Monsoon Valley winery, near Hua Hin
in Thailand, there are two elephants, which
earn their keep by doing some work among
the vines, but mainly by giving tourists rides
around the vineyard.
While riding elephants, patting tigers and
holding snakes seem to be going out of fashion
with many Western tourists, as it is seen as
animal abuse, the Monsoon Valley elephants
seemed reasonably chilled to me. One was
working — taking a mother and her son on a
trip round the vines with a mahout up front,
while his friend had a day off, which meant he
got to eat lots of bananas fed to him by excited
children and equally excited adults.
Intriguingly, the vineyard is on the site of a
former elephant corral where wild elephants
were domesticated back in the day.
About 110 hectares are now under vines at
the site. The earliest varieties planted included
colombard, chenin blanc, sangiovese, rondo,
and syrah. Other varieties have been planted
since, including sauvignon blanc, although
there was none available for tasting, or buying,
the day I visited.
Lunches were adequate.
www.winenzmagazine.co.nz
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