Vang Đàlạt Classic White Wine

At last I found a locally-produced wine, made right here by the good people in Vietnam!  What?  Wine made in the tropical climate of Vietnam?  Here’s what wikipedia has to say:

The area was first cultivated for viticulture during the French colonial rule of the region in the late 19th century. The region’s tropical climate was ill-suited for the type of Vitis vinifera that the French colonists were used to and the wine industry turned its attention to fruit wineproduction. The late 20th century saw renewed focus on the development of Vitis vinifera with the assistance of flying winemakers from regions like Australia. In 1995, a joint venture with Australian winemakers started an aggressive planting scheme to reintroduce international grape varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnayto land that was until recently littered with landmines left over from the Vietnam War.^[1]

As I didn’t have a wine key of any kind along, I bought that barely-functional overly decorative souvenir de-corkifier, because I needed one and I’m a sucker for silly things to begin with.

So, what’s the wine like, Steve? Ok, I’m really a terrible wine taster as I can’t stop eating spicy food.  In fact, I sometimes eat food so spicy that people next to me start sweating.  So it’s no surprise that subtle flavors may escape me.  I think I can detect a little bit of pear and apple, it’s really a perfectly fine uncomplicated light white wine.  Not fabulous, but nothing wrong with it.

Google Translate of the wine description from their web site reads as follows:

With the complete fermentation technology from the bunch of Cardinal grape varieties to ripen to create notes of notes of grapefruit and lemon. Sour taste in harmony with the light aroma of balance. Dalat White Wine – Classic is the perfect choice for enjoying dishes made from seafood, poultry or salad.

These guys are a bit more judgemental, though they were drinking the red (which I haven’t seen yet) and it had to travel in a suitcase to NYC.

What A Sommelier Thinks Of Vang Dalat, The Mighty Table Wine Of Vietnam

Later that night I was relaxing in something like a Vietnamese sports bar, a simple place with cheap food, copious amounts of cheap beer, big TV screens and good people watching.  In another collision with our Western society, the Strongbow Cider brand ambassador girls came by.