5 minutes ago, vogie said:

Just looking at the Nadin Bin 22 chardonnay priced at 345 baht from Tesco Lotus, read on the net that it's quite fruity and quite palatable, anyone tried it.

Is it proper wine and not fruit wine?

It is fruit wine.

Whatever one says, the wine tax is a rip off in this country.

20 hours ago, xylophone said:

I have posted many many times on numerous threads about the wine here in Thailand and how and where to source it at a reasonable price.

 

No use comparing it to prices in other countries, because it will just get you frustrated and you can't do anything about the taxes applied here anyway.

 

As someone else has posted, wines from Chile can be bought at under 500 baht a bottle and I buy two or three good Aussie reds for the same sort of price, it's just a case of looking for them.

 

Places like Villa Market are normally expensive, however I noticed just a few days ago that they have a Cabernet Sauvignon on offer from Chile at 409 baht a bottle. In addition I have contacted several importers and distributors and I buy a very good Italian red which normally retails at well over 800 baht, for 580 baht and likewise with a good Aussie Shiraz at 420 baht.

 

Occasionally the big stores have clear outs and there are some very good wines to be had at extremely low prices.

 

I have collected and drunk top quality wines for 50 years or thereabouts and although the quality of the wines that I drank back then are just not available at the right price here, one has to seek alternatives and/or adjust one's tastes accordingly, within reason of course!

 

Xylo: I tried the Chilean Cab Sav you mentioned above (it's actually 429 baht) and it was fine; nothing special but a cut above most wines you can buy here at about the 400 baht level.

 

As you said, if you look around there are bargains to be had but you don't see promotional signage as that is illegal in Thailand. Villa had some good bargains a few weeks ago but as the shelves were empty one day after I bought an excellent Lindemans Shiraz Cabernet for 500 baht I assumed that some knowledgeable wine person had bought up all the bargain stock!

 

The prices of some of the wines in the new Central in Phuket are scary; I'm talking those in the special temperature controlled area, where there are plenty of bottles on sale at over 5000 baht. I just look longingly through the glass!

 

 

10 minutes ago, xylophone said:

It is fruit wine.

NadinBin 22 Chardonnay 2014

White wine from South Australia, Australia

 

Can they call it a Chardonnay and put fruit in it in Australia?

13 minutes ago, madmitch said:

The prices of some of the wines in the new Central in Phuket are scary; I'm talking those in the special temperature controlled area, where there are plenty of bottles on sale at over 5000 baht. I just look longingly through the glass!

Yes, I do so now as well, although at one time when I was gainfully employed, I would drink several bottles like that in a week!!

 

Interesting what you said about the Brisa wine from Villa Market, because just a few days ago I saw it on special at 409 b a bottle.............obviously that promo has finished??

 

IMO one of the best red wines around at the moment, and at 440 baht a bottle, is Hopes End and today or tomorrow I will set off to buy a dozen bottles to keep in my cooler!

46 minutes ago, madmitch said:

Xylo: I tried the Chilean Cab Sav you mentioned above (it's actually 429 baht) and it was fine; nothing special but a cut above most wines you can buy here at about the 400 baht level.

 

As you said, if you look around there are bargains to be had but you don't see promotional signage as that is illegal in Thailand. Villa had some good bargains a few weeks ago but as the shelves were empty one day after I bought an excellent Lindemans Shiraz Cabernet for 500 baht I assumed that some knowledgeable wine person had bought up all the bargain stock!

 

That was basically my contention that one can find a decent wine here (500 baht - 429) for a couple of hundred baht more than the West.  

36 minutes ago, xylophone said:

IMO one of the best red wines around at the moment, and at 440 baht a bottle, is Hopes End

As mentioned before xylo here in Pattaya at Villa (cannot find elsewhere) it is now 515 baht......

The wines you are talking about have never traveled well nor store well in particular coming to a much warmer climate.

There are some great wines available here including Penfolds Grange & Cloudy Bay Semillion Blanc if you are prepared to pay for them.

No use complaining they have always taxed wine as a rich mans tipple & it will remain

Cheers

5 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

That was basically my contention that one can find a decent wine here (500 baht - 429) for a couple of hundred baht more than the West.  

Most of this thread seems to have been about semantics and obfuscation - mainly by you........ "Decent" is very subjective and means different things to different folks. 

Why not give it a rest?

Don't whine about wine. 

If it is important for you to have high end wine for cheap then you are in the wrong country. 

I'm here for ????????️???????????? what I can't have elsewhere for a lot of money. 

23 hours ago, Mark P said:

To put my assertion into perspective, a nice bottle of wine can be purchased in many European countries for circa 20 Euros, say 40 Euros in a restaturant (1,500 THB). 

 

To put the situation in perspective, in Europe everyone pays tax. In Thailand, I believe the figure is around 10 per-cent. So the government puts a huge tax on what they see as luxury goods, such as wine and cars, to get enough money to run the country. Simple, really, although it means that we are denied a decent glass of wine at a reasonable price. The vast majority of locals don't care because they drink gutrot or cheap whisky or what they call beer because they don't know any better.

56 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

That was basically my contention that one can find a decent wine here (500 baht - 429) for a couple of hundred baht more than the West.  

Bro have you even been back to the West since like 1963?

You heard of 2 buck chuck? 

You ever walk into a Trader Joe's or a Safeway and gaze at the lines of wine for under 150 baht?

 

Off topic obfuscation posts about prices of wine in Australia have been removed as this topic is about "Good Wine why is it banned in Thailand"

1 hour ago, topt said:

As mentioned before xylo here in Pattaya at Villa (cannot find elsewhere) it is now 515 baht......

Sorry to hear that topt..............I wonder if it is possible that you could order from the shop here?? Carriage won't be much, or I could post you a bottle to try??

22 hours ago, RJRS1301 said:

Jacobs Creek, that is not even medium quality

You know you do have choices.

1. Suck it up buttercup and realize you are not in a wine region rich country. 

2. Import the wine you want pay thecduty and enjoy

3. If you can not live without your spanish wines then don,t let the gate hit you on the ass when you leave

 

22 hours ago, kkerry said:

135 baht... ($5.95)

 

https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_902874/jacob-s-creek-classic-shiraz

 

 

Actually saw it for $4.99 @ Dan Murphys on special while ago. 

15 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Sorry to hear that topt..............I wonder if it is possible that you could order from the shop here?? Carriage won't be much, or I could post you a bottle to try??

Very kind of you xylo but no need as I have been buying it at that price anyway.

I looked at Wine by VL and having to order 12 bottles (for Pattaya) plus vat on their headline prices made it a bit expensive to try stuff site unseen as it were.

 

Unfortunately resigned to drinking far less wine (let alone "decent") than I would like......????

23 hours ago, ratcatcher said:

Good wine is not banned in Thailand. Villa market Soi 33 Phrom Phong, Bangkok has a huge selection of good wines upstairs and in many of its branches. Foodland too. 

The Thai government has taxed wine to make rich Thais pay more tax. Poorer Thais don't drink much wine as is evidenced by their eating and drinking habits in restaurants.

Westerners traditionally drink wine with a meal, Thais will drink rum whisky of varying qualities, all the way up to a superb Johnnie Walker Black.

The Thais won't rethink their taxes on imported wines, because the buyers can already afford and are willing to pay such high prices.

 

I and my friends have for years tried to import "Must" (grape juice) or wine from Australia, we even tried to import a patented method of fermenting Must into good quality wine in 3 months! No chance! The Thai customs rate grape juice as wine, 400% tax!

 

The reason is they want to protect their own wine "industry", if you travel around the country and visit the wineries you will see a facade! It would appear that the "wineries" seem to be a front for the production of Rosella and other fruit wines that most people wouldn't clean their windscreens with!

 

The local (imported), low priced wines are good enough for the average "Joe" so if you thirst for better then a passport and an airline ticket loom in your future! 

3 hours ago, marcusarelus said:

If you look at the photo I posted the wines from Chile have a cork and are stored on their side as are all of my wines.  However as of late most wines imported to Thailand have a twist off cap and it does not matter if stored upright or on their side. 

Jeez you are argumentative and wrong in almost every aspect of every post you have made on this thread. 

On 4/21/2019 at 12:41 PM, marcusarelus said:

Australia and Chili have favorable country status in Thailand and the wines are 65% less than other countries.  I'd suggest you get educated.  Below cheap and decent.

All depends on your definition of cheap

I always considered that a good wine is one that you like to drink, not what others suggest you should be drinking.   The wine snobs, and there are many of them, including here on the forum I suspect,  are totally irrelevant to what an individual considers as a nice wine. Wine must be one of the last bastions of snobbery. A bit like when the French poo poo'd the idea of screw top wine bottles heavily promoted by Australians.  Look where that got them !!!.

 

But that said it is unfortunate that imported wine in Thailand is so expensive.  The local markets' wine is not to my pallet but there again "good" is a personal opinion as I said.

19 hours ago, giddyup said:

I don't see three or more times the Australian price as being 200 baht more. I cask that sells in Australia for A$12 is A$40 here.

Cask wine, who drinks that anywhere??

 

1 hour ago, kingstonkid said:

You know you do have choices.

1. Suck it up buttercup and realize you are not in a wine region rich country. 

2. Import the wine you want pay thecduty and enjoy

3. If you can not live without your spanish wines then don,t let the gate hit you on the ass when you leave

 

I don't drink Spanish wines here, nor do I drink Jacobs Creek,

The comments on JC wines were because another person intimated they were reasonable, which I disagree with.

So buttercup read the posts correctly before going off on an tangent 

On 4/21/2019 at 1:03 PM, marcusarelus said:

500 to 600 baht.  Lotus and Makro.  How much at home? 

About $9/10 a bottle in Australia

3 minutes ago, ianezy0 said:

About $9/10 a bottle in Australia

Never more like $6-$8 aud

8 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

Cask wine, who drinks that anywhere??

 

Mate, buy a cask, go to the beach, drink said cask, inflate the inner bag and use as a pillow, sleep it off!

1 minute ago, RJRS1301 said:

Never more like $6-$8 aud

Yup, would agree mate, bottom shelf in Australia

9 minutes ago, ianezy0 said:

Yup, would agree mate, bottom shelf in Australia

Aye mate if living in Australia that would be a valid comment. 

Just now, marcusarelus said:

Aye mate if living in Australia that would be a valid comment. 

or anywhere else really, have you actually tasted it??

10 minutes ago, ianezy0 said:

Mate, buy a cask, go to the beach, drink said cask, inflate the inner bag and use as a pillow, sleep it off!

Like your reply that makes me conclude that you are a realistic Australian  rather than a toffee nosed prat who considers wine as anything other than a nice drink. Am I wrong ?