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Tasting Success
register the company.
“Maybe it was stupid,” says Rivard,
but Thailand, with its abundant fruit
harvests to supply the winery and its
millions of tourists to buy the wines,
seemed an ideal location. Two years
later, Apsara Valley Wines, located 30 miles north of Bangkok, is
A cosmopolitan vintner distributing its first batch of pineapple, passion-fruit, mangosteen
gambles that Thai fruit wine and lychee wines to high-end restaurants and resorts in the area.
Rivard’s next goal: to bring these libations to the U.S. market.
will please U.S. palates. A 36-year-old Canadian who has served as head winemaker for
more than 10 producers in Canada and China, Rivard has spent
By Malika Zouhali-Worrall most of his life in the business. At age 17 he made his first batch of
Photography by Christopher Wise wine from dandelions and concord grapes in his backyard. Later he
took sommelier classes. After a brief stint working in a wine labo-
ratory, he launched his own business as an enological consultant,
advising companies on both sides of the Pacific.
In 2002 Rivard was offered a joint venture with a provincial
agriculture ministry in China, which gave him a minority stake in
the firm and second billing in the company, Tianjin Kernel Rivard
Wines. Two years later the business was struggling. Investment
in equipment had been heavy, but Rivard believed that essential