Wine has now become a real luxury in Thailand

[Speedhump]

7 minutes ago, Klonko said:

Rule of thumb: wine retail prices in Thailand = restaurant prices in Europe. I buy wine in the 1000-3000 THB range, but spend less money than my beer drinking buddies, because a bottle lasts 3-4 days maintaining the quality with the Coravin system.

That only means you probably don't drink anywhere near as much alcohol as your beer drinking friends. One large glass of wine a day, 250-750 Baht. For 250 Baht they could drink several large bottles of local beer, Federbrau or Heineken, or two 1 litre cans of the nice dark German beer whose name I forget. I've given up wine here because I like to drink at least two or three glasses with a meal, and not the local muck. ????

Edited August 20, 2022 by Speedhump

[xylophone]

23 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

Where the price impact is felt the most is with less expensive wines, as their price is low enough that true price is declared and the tax/duty is added on.

So it's quite amazing how some of the less expensive wines can be as good as they are, given the duty/tax payable.

 

I can't for the life of me remember the name of the Zinfandel which Tesco Lotus cleared out a few years ago (it was selling at around 1400 baht a bottle but was reduced to around 450 baht), but it was very good, as was the Brunello de Montalcino, so having taken a bottle home to taste, I bought about 40 bottles of the Zinfandel and about a dozen of the Brunello, however have never had that sort of luck since!

 

I haven't been in Wine Connection for a few years now, but I thought they were quite clever in the production of some of their wines, whereby they would produce fruit wines in Vietnam, by shipping in grape juice from France and Australia and blend in the fruit juice there, hence the reason they were being sold so cheaply here in Thailand.

[xylophone]

11 minutes ago, proton said:

Does the fruit wine have different coloured tax stickers? Just opened a Nadin 777 red that is fruit wine, yesterday at wine connection a bottle of French wine there was fruit wine, almost all of it is. Nadin has a blue tax sticker

As I have just mentioned in another post, Wine Connection does sell French fruit wine, and I believe one of the labels is "Le Solstice" and the cheaper end of their range has others of similar ilk.

 

Used to be mixed/blended/bottled in Vietnam, but not sure about now.

 

I think it's the blue sticker which denotes an imported wine. More info here..........

 

https://oasissoicowboy.com/ordering-and-buying-wine-in-thailand/

[Metapod]

its cheaper just to fly to vietnam and back to drink wine than drink it in bkk. 

 

 

[xylophone]

6 minutes ago, xylophone said:

I think it's the blue sticker which denotes an imported wine. More info here..........

 

https://oasissoicowboy.com/ordering-and-buying-wine-in-thailand/

I hadn't thought about this before, but I have just looked at the few bottles I have in my wine cooler, and the Appassimento (Veneto, Italy) and the "19 Crimes" (Australia) both have orange stickers on the top of the bottles, as does the bottle of Port (Portugal) so despite what the link says, it would appear that the orange sticker, which denotes an imported wine??
 

[proton]

2 minutes ago, xylophone said:

I hadn't thought about this before, but I have just looked at the few bottles I have in my wine cooler, and the Appassimento (Veneto, Italy) and the "19 Crimes" (Australia) both have orange stickers on the top of the bottles, as does the bottle of Port (Portugal) so despite what the link says, it would appear that the orange sticker, which denotes an imported wine??
 

19 crimes is OK got 4 bottles for 20 quid in Morrisons UK on offer, here it's 599 baht a bottle ????

[ikke1959]

58 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

Depending on the type of wine one drinks, prices are not necessarily higher in Thailand. I pay the same price in the US as I do in Thailand for specific wines like Le Volte (about $30/1100 baht) and il Bruciato (about the same). For Barolos and Barbarescos in the $50-100 range, prices are also about the same. Ditto for Super Toscanas

 

For higher end Italian wines like Sassicaia and Solaia, Tignanello, Guado al Tasso and that ilk, prices are lower in Thailand than the US (because importers under declare the cost and most Customs officials are unfamiliar with these wines).

 

if one buys in bulk, discounts are available from major importers. I enjoy a good wine with a meal, so I load up on favorites.

 

Where the price impact is felt the most is with less expensive wines, as their price is low enough that true price is declared and the tax/duty is added on. The wines at Wine Connection tend to be cheap wines, so the full markup is felt in Thailand.

I don't understand why you have to show off with such expensive wines..We are talking here about normal wines, not exclusive expensive ones...

[proton]

Just now, ikke1959 said:

I don't understand why you have to show off with such expensive wines..We are talking here about normal wines, not exclusive expensive ones...

Some people just have more money than others

[ikke1959]

Grapes are fruit too. Besides If they halved the taxes on wines maybe the people and espially expats would drink more and sales could be doubled or more and therefor more beneficial for the tax office 

[Pedrogaz]

Too rich for me. After a life time of paying taxes I'll ignore expensive items where the costliness is caused by taxes, items such as wines. 

[Excel]

1 minute ago, Pedrogaz said:

Too rich for me. After a life time of paying taxes I'll ignore expensive items where the costliness is caused by taxes, items such as wines. 

After a lifetime of paying an awful lot of taxes I am fortunate I can afford the odd bottle of wine

[ThailandRyan]

7 hours ago, Excel said:

Many of us do otherwise there would be no need for wine retail outlets.

I buy monthly at least a case or two to keep my wine refrigerator stocked. The wines I buy now are mainly Shiraz or a good gravity Cabernet.  I have a few Bordeaux but they are for special occasions.  I miss ordering on-line and having it delivered to the condo.  Life is good with a nice glass of wine.

[sqwakvfr]

Just finished a bottle of Charles Strong  Red.  Been lucky because a local Lotus market sells it for 319 Baht.  I consider this a great price for a half way decent bottle of wine in LOS.  When I am back in the USA I usually buy Charles Shaw (Red or White) for $2.49 at a local Trader Joe's.  I prefer wine over beer but if the cost of a cheap bottle of wine in LOS is equivalent to $9.00 then I can accept it and carry on(that is after my wine nap).  

[John Drake]

If you can't do without wine, just pay up for it. Wine, cheese, and other western foods cost more than back in your home countries. I never imagined when I was moving to Thailand that I was coming just to get a cheaper version of my home country.

[Isaan sailor]

I too, seek out moderately priced red wines.  Thanks for the recommendations.  I usually concentrate on Australian and Chilean wines, as Thailand seems to have bilateral trade relations with them.  One of the better brands (600 Baht) is Louis Philippe Edwards in the Malbec and Pinot Noir, available in Topp’s Market.  And if you can buy and wait a year—some of the less expensive reds at BigC turn out OK—such as LaVida.  I even find some decent California reds—Gallo and Robert Mondavi from time to time.

I drink less wine and more beer now because of the cost.  And I only drink socially anyway.  Happy hunting.

[Baron Samedi]

With such high taxes on imports, Thais should be able to start their own production at a very competitive price. Any decent Thai wine out there? Just curious...

[Walker88]

37 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

I don't understand why you have to show off with such expensive wines..We are talking here about normal wines, not exclusive expensive ones...

There's a wide range of wine drinkers in Thailand, so I assume also on this site. The market here caters to all income ranges, and since the article is about excessive prices in Thailand, I noted that it depends on one's price point. Medium to higher price wines---at least Italian ones---are no higher in Thailand than the US.

 

Nobody knows me, and never will, so if I'm 'showing off', it's for a crowd of 1.

 

Drink whatever the eff you want.

[xylophone]

44 minutes ago, proton said:

19 crimes is OK got 4 bottles for 20 quid in Morrisons UK on offer, here it's 599 baht a bottle ????

I manage to buy it from a small local "supermarket/wine shop" here for 480 baht, whereas it is 599 baht in Central!! 

 

IMO it is the best wine I can buy locally in that price range, although no doubt it will be going up again soon like most everything else!

[Hummin]

8 hours ago, tingtongfarang said:

surprised anyone would buy wine in thailand at these prises

Depending how much you love a good wine, and often you drink wine, or drink at all. 
 

We might do not drink for months, but when we drink, we like to head out for a higher end restaurant and enjoy a good meal and a few bottles. Worth every baht for a good experience out. 

[Peterphuket]

8 hours ago, Henryford said:

"has now become" ? wasn't it always a luxury.

1400 thb for a 10 ltr pack fruit/wine was not real luxury, but that's already 5 years ago.

[TaoNow]

For those readers with price envy -- fear not.

 

Studies have shown that the average wine drinker (like the blokes on this Forum) cannot tell the difference between affordable wines and the much more expensive bottles (e.g., $20 versus, say, $75-$100).

 

In the case of Thailand, the important distinction is whether you can taste the difference between Mont Clair/Mar Sol, and the 600-700 baht wines.

 

Word to the wise...

[Chongalulu]

3 hours ago, xylophone said:

I love my wine far too much to not buy it here, so I do seek out wines which are not too expensive (although the occasional one is great to taste) and which suit my palate.

 

I'm not a beer drinker, nor do I like spirits, so wine it has to be and as long as I can still find a few reasonable Aussie wines in shops here, then I'm happy, although I have just ordered six bottles of Appassimento (from Veneto) by way of a change.

 

One can still find reasonable bottles of Aussie wines in certain shops and a favourite of mine at the moment is the "19 Crimes" red blend which I can buy here at 480 baht a bottle. Then there is the Barwang range which can still be bought for 399 baht (although I've seen the price of this shoot up by 100 baht a bottle just recently in some shops). Then of course there is the Wolf Blass Eaglehawk range which sells for 399 baht, and although it is the lowest wine in their range, it's an okay wine with Thai food or pizza, but not one that I buy.

 

I get the occasional very good wine from an importer/distributor here who sometimes has a clear out of his slow-moving wines and have paid 600 baht for a wine that was retailing at twice that amount, and it was fabulous.

 

The bargains are out there, but beware, so is the rubbish wine, and it doesn't hurt to buy the occasional good wine just to break the monotony – – and for the record, I wouldn't touch Jacob's Creek anyway, and especially not at the price quoted by another poster!

At 600 baht I find the Yellowtail range (Australian)a reasonable compromise of price vs quality,but that’s still double the U.K. price so drink wine very rarely.

[KannikaP]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

According to online figures the Wine Duty and VAT is £2.23 per 75cl bottle of still wine. £2.86 per 75cl bottle of sparkling wine. £2.89 per 75cl bottle of fortified Port wine.

I thought they used Baht in Thailand.

[Orinoco]

1 hour ago, Speedhump said:

That only means you probably don't drink anywhere near as much alcohol as your beer drinking friends. One large glass of wine a day, 250-750 Baht. For 250 Baht they could drink several large bottles of local beer, Federbrau or Heineken, or two 1 litre cans of the nice dark German beer whose name I forget. I've given up wine here because I like to drink at least two or three glasses with a meal, and not the local muck. ????

I would drink a bottle of red a day at home,  even at very low end 480 baht per bottle,

That's 175,200 baht a year !!!!!!!!!!! for ok ish wine.

you could easy double that and some for a nice bottle of wine per day.

No thank you Thailand, you just take the piste.

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by Orinoco

[KannikaP]

38 minutes ago, Baron Samedi said:

With such high taxes on imports, Thais should be able to start their own production at a very competitive price. Any decent Thai wine out there? Just curious...

The stuff I produce in my back room from Jamago concentrate or frozen berries from Makro are absolutely fine.................for me & my girl!

[proton]

11 minutes ago, nchuckle said:

At 600 baht I find the Yellowtail range (Australian)a reasonable compromise of price vs quality,but that’s still double the U.K. price so drink wine very rarely.

Wolf Blass is good as well at around 400 baht

[Hummin]

This is such a place Im talking about. Absolutely loved this place, and hopefully will see this place again at same standard. 
 

Wine and food experience worth every baht you put in, and a happy ending with coffe and a fine Armagnac. 

 

 

https://lebistrot-chiangmai.com

 

Sorry for off topic, but this place deserves it, and hard to find even in BKK at same prices same quality. 

[Lacessit]

Australian wines that would be classed as barely drinkable there are priced outrageously here, so I don't bother. Jacob's Creek for 700 - 800 baht a bottle, spare me.

 

Thai wine is dreck, for two good reasons.

 

The first is air pollution. Smoke taint on grapes ruins a vintage quicker than anything, as Australian vintners find out every time there is a bushfire season.

 

The second is technical knowledge. Wine analysis is a very specialized and niche industry, and dedicated laboratories are few and far between. There are only two such facilities in Australia, I doubt there would be any in Thailand. If a wine-maker here has a stuck ferment or smoke taint, I doubt they have the knowledge or tools to measure them accurately. If you don't measure it, you can't control it.

 

I've tasted Thai wines a few times, they invariably are out of balance on acidity, tannins, residual sugars and fruit. Yet to encounter one I would call drinkable, let alone supernacular.

 

 

[Lemsta69]

9 hours ago, Henryford said:

"has now become" ? wasn't it always a luxury.

only for the hoi polloi 

[xylophone]

5 minutes ago, Orinoco said:

I would drink a bottle of red a day. even at very low end 480 baht per bottle,

That's 175,200 baht a year !!!!!!!!!!! for ok ish wine.

That was also my intake/consumption here up until about two years ago, when I then decided that after more than 50 years of drinking a bottle of red per day, that I probably needed to cut back!!!! (A bit late I hear you say).

 

So now I drink half a bottle, followed by a nice glass of Portuguese port, and the rest of the wine has the air pumped out and put back in the fridge for the next evening.

 

In my former life, and earning a great salary, and in days when I had my own winecellars, my choices were the French Grand Cru Classe wines, plus the wines from Cote Rotie and just the occasional Burgundy, and a few from around the world, including some great Aussie wines.

 

But now, and not earning that salary, I am more careful about what I buy and as in my previous post (or two) I seek out the midrange/good value wines and am particularly fond of those from Australia and sometimes Italy, whereas wines from Chile I haven't really taken to as yet.

 

I will admit to splashing out on a top end bottle of red if I am going out to a nice restaurant, or if indeed I decide to cook a steak with a stilton sauce, at home.

 

Everyone to their own and that's the beauty of wine because it is diverse enough to suit just about every palate.