The first harvest of grapes this months are the result of years of hard work by Daniel Carsol from the French wine-producing region of Avignon. Growing grapes to make the finest quality wine has been the main occupation of Carsol’s family, who own a 150-hectare vineyard in France.

Instead of staying home to take care of the family business, Carsol spent nearly 20 years traveling through Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, China and Japan searching for land to grow wine grapes. In 2000, Carsol married a Vietnamese girl. A few years later he began growing wine grapes in Vietnam, after unsuccessful attempts to grow the fruit in Cambodia and a number of East Asian countries.

His first attempt in Vietnam also fell short as his partnership with a local company broke up in 2004, forcing Carsol to leave his one-hectare vineyard in southern Dong Nai Province. Three years later, Carsol joined forces with domestic wine producer Dalat Beco to lease 15 hectares of land on Ta Nung Mountain, 23 kilometers from Dalat. Samples showed the land on Ta Nung was acidic but growing grapes would still be possible.

No one in Dalat knew anything about wine grape cultivation before Carsol arrived. He took charge of every aspect of setting up his farm, from plowing the soil, planting, pest control and training local farmers in cultivation techniques. One of the biggest challenges for Carsol was how to make the vines grow in the acidic soil. But the viticulturist’s experience and his knowledge of how soil gives wine its flavor gave him the encouragement to continue working the farm. Carsol first grew four types of premium French wine grapes on Ta Nung but none of them survived.

After another year of research and hard work, Carsol was able to solve the problem. “The work of growing grapes and producing wine is like an art that likes to play tricks on people and you just have to let it play you,” he said.

Under the joint venture between Carsol and Dalat Beco, 30,000 grape vines were planted on the mountain. The vineyard only employs six farm hands, with most of the work handled by machine.

Upon seeing how much hard work the farm involves, a deputy director of the joint venture, who did not wish to be named, has offered to work for the company for free. “As long as he succeeds, this will be a special gift for our country,” he said.

Carsol’s work has also received support from his loved ones in France. His father, who passed away last year, told Carsol to continue with his work in Vietnam instead of going back to France to be with him in his final days. “As long as you keep on conquering the grapes in the exotic land like you wish, I will be happy,” Carsol’s father told him. The Frenchman’s work is highly appreciated by local wine producers.

Tran Phu Loc, a director of a wine company in Dalat, said the wine produced in Vietnam was made with table grapes grown in south central Ninh Thuan Province, which were not really suitable for producing wine.

The grapes were mixed with fermented mulberry juice, French wine extract or even premium-quality French wine, he said.

A country must be able to grow wine grapes on its land in order to become “wine nation” such as France, Italy, Australia and Chile.

If Vietnam wants its wine to be known internationally, the country must establish a network of wine grape vineyards, Carsol said. He said Vietnam’s climate and geographical features were suitable for growing wine grapes and developing a wine industry.

Vietnam is making its first step with Carsol’s vineyard. With the first harvest about to begin, he forecast the grapes grown on Ta Nung will create a light fruity flavor for Vietnam’s first home-grown wine vintage.

Carsol said it normally took three years for fine-quality wine grape varieties such as syrah, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and caladoc to be bear fruit but the vines on Ta Nung only took one year, which he said was miraculous.

The farm’s annual output is expected to reach five tons of grapes per hectare next year. From the fifth to 10th year, the output would rise to 25 to 30 tons per hectare, Carsol forecast.

The farm would be able to make 250 to 300 tons of grape extract a year to make 200,000 to 250,000 liters of wine, he said. Such volume is small compared to the Vietnamese consumption of 10 to 15 million liters of wine a year. But local producers have high hopes for the development of a wine production industry in Vietnam, with Carsol’s vineyard possibly kicking off a wine grape farming boom in Vietnam in the near future.