London, March 20:

A vineyard set up by a German mining engineer with no knowledge of winemaking, in a country run by an oppressive military dictatorship, seems an improbable addition to the growing list of wine producers around the world.

Burma’s first winery, set in Shan state, is winning plaudits for its reds, whites and in particular roses, and as sales mushroom there are hopes of exporting to China.

Myanmar Vineyard, which uses the military-imposed English name for Burma, began marketing the fruits of five years’ lab-our in late 2004 and is about to harvest its fourth vintage from which it hopes to sell 100,000 bottles this year.

Visitors to the 40 acres of vineyards in the rolling hills of the eastern Burma’s fabled Blue Mountains have noted that the glorious aspect owes more to Tuscany than the tropics. The well-drained limestone soils at 1,300 metres, 150 straight days of winter sun and mo-derate temperatures offer growing conditions similar to southern France and Italy.

The winery above the Inle lake is the brainchild of Bert Morsbach, 69, a one-time mining consultant from Dusseldorf. After studies of the area he gambled with GBP50,000 of his savings and imported some classic European grape varieties to the region in 1999.

The results, nurtured by chief wine-maker Hans Leiendecker, are beginning to match Morsbach’s wildest dreams. One critic said the 2004 Aythaya sauvignon blanc “should worry France”.

But the top seller is the rose crafted from Italian moscato grapes. The chilled wine best accompanies spicy Burmese food, with most of the GBP4.50 bottles selling to the country’s tourist industry catering for foreign visitors.

Morsbach, who intends to add a sparkling prosecco to the winery’s repertoire this year, has his sights set on international sales. He exports all over the world, except to Europe, he says, “where there’s too much wine already”.

Farmers near the vineyard are being contracted to grow extra grapes to meet the winemaker’s vaulting ambition. But again the little winery has an unpredictable target market - its large neighbour. “Wine drinking in China is exploding,” said Morsbach.