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The term Indochina can hardly be used any more. It refers to the former colonial empire of France: Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. Today, these are three independent states, visited by millions of tourists every year. I was there too - I have just returned, the jet lag still in my bones. And already I'm being asked: What about the wine? A joke comes to mind that has been circulating for years, but it refers to a completely different country: "Go ahead and travel to Poland, your car is already there!" That's how I experienced - wine-wise - Vietnam and Cambodia. Wines from wine countries have long been there, in every restaurant, on all drinks menus, on all shelves where food is sold. The three countries have upgraded wine-wise, they owe it to the tourists. On our ship - seven days on the Mekong - wine was served at every meal, à la discrétion, included in the price, one red and one white, from the carafe. It was a local wine, I was told. But I didn't believe it. I was never allowed to see the labels. In my research, I did not get to the labelled source. But I am convinced it had to be some merchant wine (from a steel barrel or box) imported from Australia or Chile.

Good food on the ship - trivial wine (Photo: P. Züllig)

The wines presented - at least where tourists come - are exclusively from Chile (by far the most common), Argentina, Australia, South Africa, plus usually a wine from France (Bordeaux or Rhône). For a long time I was on the lookout for the local wine, which at least exists in Vietnam, grown only in a single small area around Dalat, the still French-looking resort where the heat-stricken Colons, as the French were called, once fled. Dalat is located in the southern part of the Central Highlands on a reservoir, a good 200 kilometres north of Saigon, in a mild climate where fruits such as coffee, strawberries and grapes, which are rather rare in Southeast Asia, also grow. Unfortunately - it was not a wine trip - we did not visit this place "where milk and honey flow". Our itinerary took us - mainly on the Mekong - south to Cambodia to the temples of Ankor. In this area, hardly any vines can thrive - not even for table grapes, let alone for good wine - if only for purely climatic reasons, but also in terms of the soil. The grapes on the local market all come from Australia, I was told.

Grapes from Australia on the market (Photo: P. Züllig)

On the fourth day of our trip, the time had finally come: in a restaurant we finally got the Vietnamese wine we had been longing for, from Dalat of course, on my wife's birthday of all days. To be honest, I would have preferred a better birthday wine for her. The second wine of the evening was not a real showstopper either: an Argentinian wine, Malbec Trivento from Mendoza. More like a dozen wines, with wood, strong structure and all the characteristics that make the wine drinkable even for wine lovers, but certainly not something you put on the table on a birthday. Well, we were not somewhere in Europe, but in a country that - as we were repeatedly told - is not a wine country, despite the French colonial period, which certainly once brought wine customs to the country. Today, there is hardly any sign of that. The wine lists in the restaurants are exclusively geared towards tourists, the local wine - although it exists - is rather hidden (at least in Hanoi and Saigon) and hardly expected of the foreign guests. A typical wine list contains at least one French wine, very often Mouton Cadet or Baron Philippe de Rothschild - sometimes a winery from the Bordelais or the Rhône that is completely unknown to me.

Wine list in a 5-star hotel (Photo: P. Züllig)

My first impression of the local wine: interesting, but rather unusual for our aroma spectrum and very difficult to classify. I try to guess the grape variety, read (almost desperately) the label. There is no year printed on it, the alcohol content: 12% vol. About the grape variety: "Blended from Cardinal and Syrah varieties". The Cardinal grape - almost unknown to us - is mainly used to make wine in Vietnam and Thailand. Is this the reason for the somewhat unusual aroma for us? I rather suspect that the term "varieties" is interpreted a little too generously. This means that other fruits - such as mulberries - also give the aroma a helping hand. If it doesn't say "export" on the bottle, I was told, it also contains mulberry and/or fruit juices. I brought two bottles from Vietnam and I will write about them in more detail - probably in the next column - as soon as I have tasted the wines. Whether mulberries, fruit juices or even palm juice are used in it - or not - probably bothers more the purity fanatics, but not the wine drinker who is open to new experiences. In any case, I have also brought a pure (original) palm wine from Cambodia and am already looking forward to tasting it.

Wine from Vietnam (Photo: P. Züllig)

Otherwise, however, the wine experience in Vietnam (and Cambodia) is rather monotonous, boring and adapted to the rather upscale mass tourism. International hotels with international wines, mostly merchant bottling and now and then - in the international wine business - rather bizarre grape varieties and wines. Several times I came across a Pinotage from South Africa, a wine that I appreciate (for its idiosyncrasy) but don't necessarily expect to find in Vietnam, if only because of its limited majority ability.

Again and again I heard and probably understood the one sentence: Vietnam is not a wine country, neither in terms of production, nor in terms of consumer demand. It is the tourists who expect and drink wine here. Unlike in China, wine is also not a prestige object and thus not an expression of wealth, prestige and power. Wine - unlike in China - is also not judged on the basis of the price per bottle, but it is also not defined by its quality. It is and remains simply an important segment in the tourist offer, pragmatically positioned (about five red wines and five white wines), everywhere where tourists go in and out and consume.

Hotel in Hanoi from the colonial era (Photo: P. Züllig)

In one respect, Vietnam differs from Cambodia in terms of wine. Vietnam produces its own wine - Cambodia (to my knowledge) does not. But Vietnam is not proud of its own wine. The euphoria - which also arose in viticulture after the departure from the planned economy in the late 1980s - has long since subsided. Advertising restrictions on alcoholic beverages have deterred potential investors. About three or four wineries or wine producers (also bottlers) can be identified, but without mutual competition and already operating almost "behind the scenes", as people keep confirming to me. Wine production in Vietnam exists, but it seems to have hardly broken away from the former planned economy.

In Cambodia, on the other hand, they are trying to achieve a certain independence in wine as well (which is part of the national pride that is pronounced here). On the last day of our trip, I (almost) found Cambodian wine. In the refrigerated wine cabinet of a restaurant, my travelling companions - helping me in my hunt for local wines - discovered a red and a white each, labelled in English and Khmer, meaning Cambodian wine. But then - I was about to buy the bottles - I discovered in tiny little writing: "Wine from Australia". A bitter disappointment! I was only comforted by the prospect that I would not have to pay for excess luggage on the return flight. The wine trophies that could (or had to) travel back with me are too few.

Sincerely
Yours

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