1989 - 1994

         Our history began back in 1989 on a large piece of land with the total area of 320 hectares surrounded by mountain range and preferred macroclimate for viticulture.  It was also a birth place for Khao Yai wine producer region. The owner, Dr.Piya Bhirombhakdi who once was the president of Boonrawd Brewery Co.,Ltd. (Singha Beer) and a visionary entrepreneur with a great appreciation for the finest things in life set about his mission to produce wine with a world-class taste under his initial “PB” for the people of Thailand.

         For a start, we had a great difficulty in selecting suitable grapevine varieties for our soil and tropical country like Thailand. At beginning we experimented growing over 50 grapevine varieties originated from several countries like Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Australia and after 2 years trial, we did come out with a good results, Shiraz (Syrah), Tempranillo, Chenin Blanc and Colombard were doing well in their new home with reasonable amount of yield per hectare. Propagation of these varieties was carried out ever since with initial planting area of 20 hectares including table grapes.

Our first vintage began in the following year, 1998 under the supervision of Prayut Piengbunta, the first Thai wine maker of the country. We produced 3 varieties for 1998 vintage including Shiraz, Chenin Blanc and Rose? under “Khao Yai” lable and bottled in clear fancy flask shape bottle with screw cap. Flask shape bottle was use for one vintage only and the year after it was replaced by proper Bordeaux bottle with cork due to marketing reason.

In 1999, our second vintage was still under Khao Yai label but the quality was much improved comparing to 1998 vintage due to maturity of the grapevine and experience from previous vintage. The Great Hornbill on vine cane logo was also introduced this year as our symbol under Dr.Piya concept as the hornbill is the symbol of wealth and also the symbol for Khaoyai national park. The most important part is that hornbills have a deeply meaning of faithfulness and loyalty. In fact, male or female hornbills will only have one partner for the rest of their life; one of them cannot live without another.

The same way as our wine, faithful and loyal to customer without any adjustment or modification, our wine is purely produced from 100% high quality grapes growth within our vineyard, from the hand of local workers. Thus, the great hornbill logo is filled with quality and faithfulness. We continue using this symbol for our products even since.

         In 2006, Due to the demand in purchasing options, the company desired to create another two product ranges under Pirom as a premium and Sawasdee as a standard labels. Tempranillo was first introduced under Pirom label for red and Chenin Blanc remained the main variety for white targeting experienced wine drinker and collector while Sawasdee labels is targeting for beginner and house wine markets. The word “Pirom” came from a part of Dr.Piya family name “Bhirombhakdi” with a meaning of joyfulness and satisfied while Sawasdee is a traditional Thai greeting word which reflects a lively warm welcome.
          Early before the launch of this vintage, the company desired to send the whole vintage ranges to Austrian Wine Competition 2006 (AWC) held in Vienna, Austria. This event is considered as the world second largest wine competition with more than 6,000 wineries attending from all around the world. The result came out with PB Khao Yai Reserve Shiraz 2002 being selected as silver medal class wine with a total score over 80 and that was when Thai wine first became internationally known. The following year in 2007, new vintage ranges were sent to the same competition again (AWC 2007) and this is when we got the first gold medal from Pirom Khao Yai Reserve Tempranillo 2006 with the total score over 90 and second times for new vintage PB Khao Yai Reserve Shiraz 2003 to gain silver medal. Most remaining range of wines also won seal of approvals and this is another step of success for Thai wine and people of Thailand.       
         After nearly 20 years of operation, all the prizes achieved are from the hand of all the labors and experience. We are proud to be admired by many leading national and international organizations and this is clearly proved that the goal of Dr.Piya who’s has vision to produce world class Thai wine for Thai People is accomplished but this is not the end of the story, with all the experiences together with technology and pioneer people, we intend to further develop world class Thai wine for the Thai people and the world.