TL;DR: Khao Yai, about 180-200km (2-2.5 hours’ drive) northeast of Bangkok, is Thailand’s best-known “New Latitude” wine region, growing tropical-adapted grapes like Chenin Blanc, Shiraz/Syrah and Tempranillo at 350-550m elevation. Four wineries do regular public tours: GranMonte Estate (฿590 / ~$18 for a 1.5-hour tour and 4-wine tasting, or ฿1,390 / ~$42 with a set lunch or dinner), PB Valley Khao Yai Winery (฿380 / ~$12 adults for a 70-minute tour with 3 wines, 4 departures daily, book 72 hours ahead), Alcidini Winery (Thailand’s smallest, family-run, small tasting fee, Shiraz and Muscat Blau specialists), and Village Farm & Winery (vineyard-resort-restaurant combo with European-style cellars). Grape harvest runs roughly late January to early March, when some estates run harvest festivals and picking activities. You need a car, driver, or organized tour to link the wineries together; none are walkable from each other or from the national park gate. All prices at ฿33 = US$1 (July 2026).
Thailand and wine country don’t sound like they belong in the same sentence, but Khao Yai has been proving otherwise since the late 1990s. This limestone-hilled district about three hours from Bangkok has four working wineries doing daily public tours, a genuine grape-harvest season, award-winning bottles exported to Europe and Asia, and a growing crop of vineyard restaurants and stay-overs. This guide covers the main estates with 2026 tasting and tour prices, what “New Latitude” wine means, when harvest happens, and how to combine a visit with Khao Yai National Park next door. Every price below comes from official winery pages and current tour listings, cited in Sources, in Thai baht (THB) with US dollars in parentheses at ฿33 = US$1 (July 2026).
For the rest of the district, see outthailand.com’s things to do in Khao Yai pillar guide, and for the park itself, the Khao Yai National Park guide.
Khao Yai wineries at a glance
| Winery | Known for | Tasting/tour price | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| GranMonte Estate | Award-winning, most polished operation | ฿590 ( | On-site restaurant (VinCotto) and 8-room cottage stay |
| PB Valley Khao Yai Winery | Largest and among the oldest, 800+ acres | ฿380 (~$12) adult / ฿300 child, 70-min tour, 3 wines | 4 fixed daily departures; book 72 hours ahead |
| Alcidini Winery | Thailand’s smallest winery, organic, family-run | Small tasting fee (credited toward purchases) | Personal, family-hosted visits; Shiraz and Muscat Blau |
| Village Farm & Winery | Vineyard-resort-restaurant combo | Tasting sessions on-site | European-style cellars; overnight rooms available |
Prices from official winery pages and current tour listings; see Sources. Prices at ฿33 = US$1 (July 2026).
What is “New Latitude” wine?
“New Latitude” wine means grapes grown well outside the traditional temperate wine belts, using elevation and microclimate instead of latitude to get a workable growing season. Classic wine regions sit roughly 30-50 degrees from the equator, where the seasons naturally slow ripening. Khao Yai sits much closer to the equator, but its vineyards are planted at roughly 350-550 metres elevation, high enough that nights cool down even though days stay tropical. That swing is what makes wine possible here, and it’s why “New Latitude” is now the accepted label for Thai and other tropical-latitude wine regions, rather than “New World,” which still assumes a temperate climate.
The tradeoff is real: these are young vines by Old World standards (the industry dates to the late 1990s), and yields don’t match a century-old European estate. But the region has picked up real recognition; GranMonte’s wines carry international awards and export to Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, France, Sweden and Switzerland, per the estate.
What grapes grow in Khao Yai?
Chenin Blanc is the standout white because it shrugs off humidity that kills more delicate varietals; Shiraz (Syrah) and Tempranillo lead the reds. Growers here went through a long trial-and-error period testing which European grapes could survive the tropics. Tempranillo was hit hard by humidity and mildew in the early years and several estates have only recently gotten it right; Chenin Blanc, by contrast, proved hardy almost immediately, followed by Colombard and Shiraz. PB Valley’s reserve wines include Chenin Blanc, Shiraz, and a Chardonnay sourced partly from South Australia; other varietals in the valley include Muscat Hamburg (Black Muscat), Cardinal, and Sauvignon Blanc. Alcidini works with Muscat Blau, a less common cross grape that copes well with the heat.
GranMonte Estate
GranMonte is the region’s flagship winery and the best pick if you only have time for one. Its standard vineyard-and-winery tour runs ฿590 (about US$18) per adult, takes about 1.5 hours, and walks you through the vines and the working winery (fermentation tanks, barrel room, bottling line), finishing with a guided tasting of four premium wines paired with snacks (minors get grape juice instead). A fuller version bundles the same tour with a set three-course Thai or Western lunch or dinner for ฿1,390 (about US$42). Book ahead through GranMonte’s website or by phone, especially for weekends.
The estate also runs its own restaurant, VinCotto by GranMonte, built around vineyard and local Khao Yai farm produce, and, if you’d rather not drive back the same day, the GranMonte Wine Cottage, an eight-room guesthouse on the 40-acre estate with vineyard and mountain views.
PB Valley Khao Yai Winery
PB Valley is the biggest of the four by land and one of the oldest, dating to the late 1990s, and its tour is the cheapest of the main operations. Spanning more than 800 acres, its 70-minute guided tour covers the vineyard (Chenin Blanc, Shiraz and Tempranillo blocks, plus dragon fruit and passion fruit orchards) and the production site, finishing with a tasting of three wines, currently a Chardonnay, a Reserve Chenin Blanc, and a Reserve Shiraz. Pricing is ฿380 (about US$12) for adults and ฿300 for children under 12, with children under 4 free (kids get grape juice instead of wine). Tours run four times daily at 9:15am, 11:15am, 1:15pm and 3:15pm, and PB Valley requires reservations at least 72 hours ahead, so this is not a same-day walk-in stop.
Alcidini Winery
Alcidini is Thailand’s smallest commercial winery, producing around 1,600 cases a year, and the pick for travelers who want a personal, unpolished visit rather than a scheduled tour group. Family-run since 2001 on a hillside near the national park at around 550 metres elevation, Alcidini farms organically, without synthetic pesticides, and its calling cards are Shiraz and Muscat Blau. Visits are typically hosted by the family themselves, with a small tasting fee often credited toward bottles or raisins you buy on the way out. There’s no big tour infrastructure; call ahead to confirm they’re open before making the drive.
Village Farm & Winery
Village Farm & Winery combines a vineyard, a resort, and a restaurant, with European-style wine cellars and on-site tasting sessions, making it a reasonable choice if you want to fold a winery stop into an overnight stay rather than a tour-and-go visit. It leans more toward the resort side of the equation than GranMonte or PB Valley’s tour-first setups, with mountain views around the property.
When is grape harvest season in Khao Yai?
Harvest runs roughly late January through early March. That window lines up with Khao Yai’s dry season and coolest stretch, which is also when the grapes finish ripening. Some estates hold a harvest festival in this period, with grape-picking, winemaking demonstrations, and extra tasting events open to visitors, a good reason to time a trip for January or February if seeing an active harvest matters to you. Outside this window you can still tour and taste, you just won’t see picking in progress.
Vineyard restaurants and eating at the wineries
Eating at the estate is part of the appeal, not an afterthought. GranMonte’s VinCotto restaurant runs alongside its cottage and cellar, built around local Khao Yai produce, and its tour-plus-meal package (฿1,390 / ~$42) is the easiest way to turn a tasting into a full lunch or dinner without a second stop. PB Valley and other operators also run vineyard-view dining, best pre-arranged alongside your tour booking.
Staying at a vineyard
If you’d rather not drive after tasting wine, GranMonte Wine Cottage (eight rooms on GranMonte’s own 40-acre estate) and Village Farm & Winery’s resort rooms are the two vineyard-based overnight options confirmed above. Both put you inside the estate itself, so an evening tasting or dinner doesn’t require getting back in a car.
How to visit: do you need a car?
Yes, effectively. Khao Yai’s wineries are spread across Pak Chong district with no shuttle linking them, so you need a rental car, a private driver, or a booked day tour. Khao Yai sits roughly 180-200km from Bangkok, about a 2-2.5 hour drive. You can reach Pak Chong town, the district’s hub, by public bus from Bangkok’s Mo Chit terminal or by train from Hua Lamphong, and get around locally by songthaew, but that only gets you into the area, not between vineyards several kilometres apart. Most visitors either self-drive, hire a driver for the day, or book an organized tour from Bangkok bundling two wineries and lunch into one day. If you’re not driving, arrange a designated driver or a car-and-driver booking before a multi-winery day, since tastings mean multiple pours per stop.
Honest downsides
- Not Napa or Bordeaux. The vines are young by global standards (industry dates to the late 1990s), and it’s a handful of estates, not hundreds. Come for an interesting “New Latitude” curiosity, not a world-class wine trail.
- You need a car or a driver. There’s no wine-trail shuttle bus. Skip this if you can’t arrange transport, or book an organized tour instead of self-driving.
- Book tastings ahead, especially PB Valley, which needs 72 hours’ notice and only runs four fixed times a day. Turning up unannounced risks missing the tour.
- Weekends get busy at GranMonte and PB Valley with tour groups; for something quieter, go on a weekday or try Alcidini’s smaller-scale setup.
Combining wineries with Khao Yai National Park
Most visitors pair a winery afternoon with time in Khao Yai National Park, since both sit in the same district a short drive apart. The park’s foreigner entrance fee is ฿400 (about US$12) for adults and ฿200 for children 3-14, plus a ฿30 vehicle fee for a car (฿20 for a motorcycle); the ticket is valid one day, or three days if staying inside the park. A common pattern is wildlife-watching or a waterfall hike in the cooler morning hours, then a winery tour and tasting once the midday heat sets in, or the reverse if your tour has a fixed morning slot.
Conclusion
Khao Yai’s wine country is a genuinely different side of Thailand: cool hills, working vineyards, and a style built around elevation rather than latitude. GranMonte is the best all-rounder, PB Valley the best value and biggest vineyard, and Alcidini the pick for something small and personal. Bring a car, a driver, or a booked tour, and time it around the January-March harvest to see the vines at their most active.
For the wider district, start with outthailand.com’s things to do in Khao Yai guide, and see the Khao Yai National Park guide for pairing a wine day with wildlife and waterfalls. Coming from the capital first? Check outthailand.com’s things to do in Bangkok guide before heading out to Pak Chong. For what’s on in the region while you’re visiting, browse outthailand.com’s live events listings.
Sources
- GranMonte: Guided Tours of GranMonte Vineyard: tour structure, restaurant and cottage details
- Ticket2Attraction: GranMonte Vineyard tour pricing: ฿590 tour price, ฿1,390 tour+meal pricing, inclusions
- PB Valley Khao Yai Winery: Winery Tour: ฿380/฿300 pricing, 70-minute tour, 4 daily departures, 72-hour booking rule, wine list
- Zest In A Tote: The Ultimate Guide to Vineyards at Khao Yai: PB Valley acreage and history, harvest season (February-March), winery overviews
- Yoga Wine Travel: Best Things to Do in Khao Yai: GranMonte, PB Valley, Alcidini and Issara Estates overview, transport requirements
- Tantai Farm: Alcidini Winery Review: Alcidini’s organic practices, grape varieties, family-hosted visits
- WIPO: Khao Yai Wine, Thailand’s Award-Winning New Latitude Wine: “New Latitude” wine concept, GranMonte export markets
- Beverage Trade Network: Khao Yai Valley wine region: grape varietals grown, Tempranillo/Chenin Blanc growing challenges
- Khao Yai National Park: Park Entry Fees: ฿400/฿200 entrance fee, ฿30 car / ฿20 motorcycle vehicle fee, ticket validity
- Renn Driver: Bangkok to Khao Yai Road Trip Guide: driving distance and time from Bangkok