Any wine drinkers here ?

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, Luuk Chaai said:

Paolo e Carlo  PRIMATIVO DI MANDURIA RESERVA CLASSE 1966    go for the 2018 or 2019 

I have 30 in my cooler right now

Thanks again and where can I buy it here in Thailand??

[richard_smith237]

11 minutes ago, still kicking said:

I don't have an aircon and today it was 33 degrees and I buy my wine boxed and my fridge is small never had any probs drinking it, and I am in the west now. I buy 4 or 5 litre boxes because it is verry cheap beer is too expansive in OZ.

 

 

What temp would you guess your wine is at when drinking it ???

 

(not being critical - just curious).

[riclag]

3 liter box, red or white is good enough for my liver!

I keep it in the frig! One ,usually last me 3 weeks ! the box color is green& white for the white wine or red & white for the (red).Can buy it in Tops, Tesco& Big C ,993bht

[still kicking]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

I'm confused... 'your fridge is small'...  does that mean you drink wine from the fridge or... whatever temp its at ?? (ambient)...

 

What temp would you guess your wine is at when drinking it ???

 

(not being critical - just curious).

I buy wine in casks because it is verry cheap in OZ I have 2 houses which I am renting out and live in a 2-bedroom condo on the ground floor which is very cool. So, I have a small fridge for now and a 4 or 5 litre wine cask does not fit. I can buy a 4 lite wine cask for less than 300 baht.

[metisdead]

Some posts contravening the following Forum Rule have been removed:

 

42. You will not advertise, display, promote, review or endorse, directly or indirectly, the name or trademark of any alcoholic beverage. Such actions are potentially in contravention of Section 32 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (2008).

[Kalasin Jo]

In error because in a hurry I recently bought a bottle labelled medium dry red wine in a 7/11. You can't look closely because what they offer in 7/11 is behind the counter so always a pantomime of misunderstanding with staff there for me. The price looked reasonable for Thailand, the label looked French. On closer inspection back home there was a picture of mangosteen, not as I had thought grapes, on the label and yes, , made in Thailand from mangosteen juice. 12% alcohol. Vintage 2012 would you believe! Colour in the glass was dark red, no "nose" to speak of.  On tasting no worse than some of the cheap end Aussie wines in offer in the supermarkets at around the same price. And it was medium dry. I got sufficiently inebriated. So quite a good effort at faking the real thing. Haven't seen it since.

Anything decent is imported and 800 baht up. The sky is the limit! Aussie tends to be less expensive than Europe.

[StayinThailand2much]

On 12/10/2023 at 9:19 AM, The Cobra said:

Can anyone recommend a nice Red wine that's readily available in Big stores like Big C Tesco Makro etc? 

 

I know nothing about the stuff and don't want to end up with something thats like Vinegar.

 

Any help appreciated., thanks.

 

I tried different Australian red wines for a while, but for what I paid 400 or 600 baht a bottle was so awful that I stopped buying wine here. (What they sell here at the supermarkets, no-one in Oz would even pay 8 bucks for.)

[Fab5BKK]

7 hours ago, Peterphuket said:

You order? Than you'll have to pay a lot of tax, maybe nearly the same price as in LOS.

But yes you'll have one of the best wines in the world.

 

Yes, I do it. And I do it tax free...

[LatPhrao]

3 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

Villa Market, Ari is my local and does have a great choice of wines for those of us in the area.

 

And they have a very helpful staff dedicated to the wine section there.  There is so much wine on their shelves, can be a challenge to locate the wines by country but they will guide you quickly and make suggestions.

[still kicking]

I actually bought a bottle of red at B/C imported from Australia for 390 baht but can't remember the name.

[bangkok19]

The (dry) wines they sell in Lotus and Big C are the usual suspects that wines companies from the 'new world'  mass produce with the export market their target. You'll see the same Chilean, Oz and South African labels on both their shelves.

They're overpriced by Thai standards because you can get a "premium" wine for a similar price in Villa Supermarket, Bangkok (upstairs) ot Rimping Supermarket, Chiang Mai. 

I'm basing this on what you can buy for 650/750 baht. In the Big C you'll pay that for a Jacobs Creek Shiraz which is pretty basic...  in Villa it can get you a pretty nice NZ Pinot Noir.

Stock storage conditions (temperature controlled), if inadequate, can spoil some wines very quickly. The "screw top" is a plus as I've had so many crumbling corks over the years in Thailand.

Rimping Supermarket always have "specials" in the bargain barrels.. 

quite possibly old stock.

 

To sum up the above...  next time you're in BKK, take a look in Villa Supermarket. If you were going to spend 400 baht in Lotus or Big C (or worse) Makro to buy skunk juice, then pay a little extra for a wine that you can actually drink FOR THE TASTE, and not JUST the effect.

And...  to state the obvious, leave the Red in the fridge for 45 minutes before opening!

 

[Andycoops]

On 12/10/2023 at 10:31 AM, bignok said:

Too hot for wine. Wine is for cold climates.

Perhaps you've never come across white wine then as it's usually taken and served cold from the fridge, just like beer here is...

[GammaGlobulin]

On 12/10/2023 at 9:19 AM, The Cobra said:

Can anyone recommend a nice Red wine that's readily available in Big stores like Big C Tesco Makro etc? 

 

Anywhere there are grapes, there will be wine made of grapes.

 

Don't worry about WHAT wine...

 

Just....

 

DRINK the wine....and SPILL that wine....

 

 

 

 

Just...

Please...

 

Try to refrain from spilling your seed....

 

 

[Andycoops]

I always buy the cheapest wine in BigC, currently 299 baht in my branch, that is above 11% in alcohol content because I refuse to pay the absurd prices for more expensive stuff because of the words on the label.

I also find the 3 litre plastic containers very good value at 569 baht.

[Henryford]

15 hours ago, khunjeff said:

 

They're not trying to protect the (tiny) local wine industry at all - the levy on wine is just a luxury tax, pure and simple.

 

I always thought it was to protect the (powerful) beer industry. The main beer brewers don't want the Thai population to switch to wine.

[Negita43]

En Vino Veritas

'what soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals'; 'he speaks in his drink what he thought in his drouth'; and 'a drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts'.

 

Having lived in Spain for quite a few years where you can get a good wine for a few Euros I was shocked at Thai wine prices - on the other hand I couldn't get lunch for 60 Baht in Spain.

 

Swings and roundabouts wherever you go in the world.

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, Andycoops said:

I always buy the cheapest wine in BigC, currently 299 baht in my branch, that is above 11% in alcohol content because I refuse to pay the absurd prices for more expensive stuff because of the words on the label.

I also find the 3 litre plastic containers very good value at 569 baht.

 

Sensible move... If you think the 'words on the label' are just 'words on the label' you'd be wasting your money on anything of taste.

 

I generally drink the same swill with spicy Thai food (if at that time I prefer not to have a beer), it would seem a waste to drink pricer wine to wash down something loaded with spice.

 

Perhaps that fruit wine can be counted as part of the 5 a day (portions of fruit recommended per day !!)

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

A lot of people recommending Aussie wine..  

...  Does it give you more of a headache...  It may be somewhat of myth and the headache is just confirmation bias, however, for the last 10 years or so I've tended to avoid Aussie wine for this reason. 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

4 hours ago, Henryford said:

20 hours ago, khunjeff said:

 

They're not trying to protect the (tiny) local wine industry at all - the levy on wine is just a luxury tax, pure and simple.

 

I always thought it was to protect the (powerful) beer industry. The main beer brewers don't want the Thai population to switch to wine.

 

I too believe this...   and we can see it with the the regulations against craft beer brewers.

 

 

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

A lot of people recommending Aussie wine..  

...  Does it give you more of a headache...  It may be somewhat of myth and the headache is just confirmation bias, however, for the last 10 years or so I've tended to avoid Aussie wine for this reason. 

 

 

 

Does wine coolers count,

I like the Full Moon Dark wine coolers, 7% alcohol and cost 27bht/bottle (300bht/12) in Makro.

Although I've recently given up on alcohol, when you compare it to cannabis at 30bht/g.

0.5g cannabis (15bht) does the trick of 4x wine coolers (110bht).

So it's a considerable saving and no hangover next morning.

[richard_smith237]

12 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Does wine coolers count,

I like the Full Moon Dark wine coolers, 7% alcohol and cost 27bht/bottle (300bht/12) in Makro.

Although I've recently given up on alcohol, when you compare it to cannabis at 30bht/g.

0.5g cannabis (15bht) does the trick of 4x wine coolers (110bht).

So it's a considerable saving and no hangover next morning.

 

Kind of..  Its basically wine and soda... so its still wine.

 

I can also see the logic in taking a bit of weed... 

I won't smoke the stuff, but I've enjoyed the 'gummies' from time to time... but the issue I have with them is I get smashed even in half a gummy and can't carry a conversation properly !!... 

So in a social environment I still prefer beer, wine, Whisky....  

 

 

Firstly, I hope you're recovering well Brit.

Question (a little off topic)...  As we all know, booze is an excellent anaesthetic, does the dope help with the pain while recovering ?

 

[Luuk Chaai]

19 hours ago, xylophone said:

Thanks again and where can I buy it here in Thailand??

I purchase @ Bluport Hua Hin

[xylophone]

2 hours ago, Luuk Chaai said:

I purchase @ Bluport Hua Hin

Sorry to ask again, but what is the name of the shop?? I believe that Bluport is the name of the shopping mall.

[Jai Dee]

4 minutes ago, xylophone said:

Sorry to ask again, but what is the name of the shop?? I believe that Bluport is the name of the shopping mall.

 

Maybe Wine Connection on the ground floor?

[xylophone]

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

A lot of people recommending Aussie wine..  

...  Does it give you more of a headache...  It may be somewhat of myth and the headache is just confirmation bias, however, for the last 10 years or so I've tended to avoid Aussie wine for this reason. 

 

 

 

I've had more than my fair share of Aussie wine over the years, and a couple of decades ago, or so, an American wine critic called Robert Parker sampled some of the Australian wines with high alcohol content and thought they were brilliant, and gave them great write-ups, and then the high alcohol wines became de rigueur (unfortunately) and along with their tannins can cause headaches.

 

I've had a few 15% ABV Aussie Reds, and they can be a bit harsh on the brain cells, especially as they sometimes can be so delicious/tempting, that one puts away more than one should!!!

 

The everyday drinking Aussie Reds with slightly lower alcohol come from south-east Australia from the Riverland area and this is the main area for the cask wine and cheap drinking plonk, although they can produce some fairly good wines, and "19 Crimes" comes from this area I believe.

 

Many wines mentioned on here already are actually "fruit wines" and that's because they are mixed with fruit juice or fruit, and have to be labelled like this, although Montclair seem to get away with missing this off of their casks and bottles.

 

A basic rule of thumb would suggest that anything below 450 baht a bottle is suspect with regards to fruit wine and someone mentioned a Rhône wine at a good price, which began with the letter "B", however unfortunately that wine is also mixed with fruit juice.

 

If you are drinking wine for the alcohol buzz, then the quality of it matters not, so fruit wine/cask wine/2 L bottles/cooking wine will do, however if one wants to really savour and search the wine for the taste of "blackcurrants, blackberries, black fruits, plums and so on" then one has to pay for the privilege, and that's why I've started moving up the table as regards price on red wine, because I'm getting older and need to spend a bit more on myself.

 

[xylophone]

10 minutes ago, Jai Dee said:

 

Maybe Wine Connection on the ground floor?

Thanks Jai Dee and I will investigate that wine at Wine Connection here in Patong, because it's many years since I've actually been to Hua Hin.
 

[Jai Dee]

Here is the Wine Connection online wine list. 

[xylophone]

On 12/15/2023 at 1:40 PM, Jai Dee said:

Here is the Wine Connection online wine list. 

 

Many thanks Jai Dee, however I cannot see the wine mentioned by Luuk Chaai on the list so will need to keep looking!! 

 

Having said that I have just discovered a rather lovely, full bodied Negroamaro wine from Italy and have stocked up on it......ostensibly for Xmas, but then again!! 

[Expat68]

19 minutes ago, xylophone said:

 

Many thanks Jai Dee, however I cannot see the wine mentioned by Luuk Chaai on the list so will need to keep looking!! 

 

Having said that I have just discovered a rather lovely, full bodied Negroamaro wine from Italy and have stocked up on it......ostensibly for Xmas, but then again!! 

Where did you buy from?

[xylophone]

21 minutes ago, Expat68 said:

Where did you buy from?

Will send you a pm as don't want to fall foul of forum rules!