Puff aims to build a Thai legacy

Kathrin Puff, winemaker at Thailand’s Siam Winery, has spoken of her determination to leave a lasting legacy of domestic winemakers in the south-east Asian country.

German-born Puff has been producing the winery’s Monsoon Valley wines for three-and-a-half years and during that time has recruited a team of keen, if somewhat raw assistants whom she hopes will one day be confident and knowledgeable enough to take on the top job for themselves and usher in a new age of winemaking expertise among the Thai population.

Speaking to the drinks business during a visit to London, Puff (left) admitted she felt slightly anxious about setting up in a country not renowned for its wine production.

“Of course I was sceptical, as anyone would be,” she said. “But I like to give new things a try and once I start something I always want to see it through to the end.”

Puff was initially drawn to Thailand as it presented an opportunity to experiment as well as a challenge.

“I got my first winemaking job in Tuscany and the traditions of the Old World presented something of a blockade creatively,” she said. “Everything by its very nature should be able to evolve and I started to get very frustrated by constantly having to produce the same styles of wines.

“I tried my hand at a couple of New World vintages in New Zealand and found it infinitely more rewarding when I was able to be creative and try to change people’s minds about certain things. I then saw than Siam needed a new winemaker and just went with them.

“There was already a full team in place – sales, vineyard management, everything – but they needed somebody to oversee them and teach them about wine. I send them overseas a lot as it’s important that they come outside of their own culture to experience new cultures and new wines. I had to show them just how small they were in terms of global wine production and how much they still had to learn.

“Being so fresh and new into the industry they have such a refreshing drive and I am confident that they can take over the job from me fully in a few years time. There shouldn’t be the need to have a foreigner heading up their winemaking operations.”

The challenge for Monsoon Valley now is to convince the rest of the world to shed their preconceptions and give their wines a try.

The market for Monsoon Valley is split relatively healthily on paper 60/40 between its domestic and export markets, with the UK being its biggest export market, followed by Japan, Singapore and the US.

Puff feels that the UK is an ideal market for Thai wines, but yearns for greater appreciation in the rest of Europe.

“The UK team have great belief in Monsoon Valley and people in the UK are generally very open to new styles of wines and there are a great number of quality Thai restaurants through which we can introduce them to our wines,” she said.

“There is a better perception of Thai products in the UK than there is in certain other countries. In Germany in particular it is very difficult for us as they perceive Thai goods to be of low quality and they just see the country as a cheap travel destination while the quality of Thai restaurants over there is quite low.”

Sales manager Neil McIlwee added: “It is a slow process but momentum is starting to build in the UK.

“The product has to be seen in the right places and we have a number of new stockists. For example, we are soon to be listed in Gilgamesh in Camden, London. When people try the wines then they leave their preconceptions behind them, and that’s what we need to build up.”

The need to build the export side of things is made even more critical by the fact that the Thai duty system is so harsh on wine. Puff told db: “Taxes on wines are so high that the average worker in Thailand would never consider buying a bottle of wine.

“The average bottle would cost the equivalent of around €30, €40. It’s a really big problem for us, hence the need to focus more on exports.”