A Vineyard in Myanmar?

Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)
Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)

A vineyard is probably not the first thing you would think of when you plan a trip to Myanmar (Burma), but we spent a lovely, relaxing day at one of  two (two!) German owned vineyards close to Inle Lake. We visited in sunny December (seriously, so sunny and warm compared to Beijing) and enjoyed a relaxing and delicious day at Red Mountain Estate.

It was easy to find. We grabbed  a map from our hotel, hired slightly dodgy bicycles from one of several  side-of-the-road places in Nyaung Shwe, and set off for the vineyard. It was a very pleasant and short bike ride passing by some interesting, small villages. Well, mostly pleasant. On part of the country road they were doing some kind of road works. Maybe even actually building the road, I’m not too sure. I hated having these huge trucks fly past us and basically force us off the road! Other than that, the cycle ride was great! 🙂

Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)
Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)

The vineyard is beautiful. If I didn’t know better, I could have imagined we were in Italy. We had a free tour of the vineyard and then grabbed a table with a view ready for some wine tasting. We made friends with three German guys and enjoyed a good few hours of drinking wine in the sun and chatting about all kinds of worldly things! First, we all had the taster of 4 different wines (two red, one white and one rose), then we ended up buying and sharing a few more bottles together. The wine was surprisingly delicious! It was a really lovely, relaxing day in the sun and I would definitely recommend this as a a side trip from Nyaung Shwe.

Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)
Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)
Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)
Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)
Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)
Red Mountain Estate Myanmar (Burma)

Have you ever done a vineyard tour? If so, where (I probably want to go..!)?

And have you found any unexpected sights on your travels (also where, because I probably want to go…)?