Quality Wine

[Mobi]

The reason for high tax on wine is simple: it is a way to soak "rich" farang tourists and locals.

No it's not.

The tax was increased at the behest of the companies who manufacture and sell Thai whiskey and beer, because at the time the tax on winewas hiked to ridiculous levels (including wine made in Thailand), wine was becoming very popular with the middle classes, so the established booze pedlars feared the competition....

That's the way they do business and protect their interests in LOS.

Farang consumption is irrelevant - a 'drop in the ocean'

[ade100]

I bought some Thai wine when I first arrived here. I, seriously, thought I was going to vomit. Never tasted anything like it. We gave it to the security guard in the condominium who was probably too polite to decline.

But a few months ago I tasted a delicious Chilean Sauvignon Blanc in a hotel. I found out who their supplier was and now buy it by the crate at a reasonable price.

Chin chin

[Chang_paarp]

snip......

I have e-mailed wine merchants around Bangkok, and using the Penfolds as an example enquired how much it would cost if I ordered in volume, i.e. 24 and 48 bottles. However, I was told uniformly that they will not import to order, we can only buy what they already import. This seemed to me to be a bit of a lazy ‘don’t want to deal with it’ kind of reply.

In short, I have reasoned with myself that attempting to buy half decent wine in Thailand is just not possible, and I’ll be sticking to duty free wine and the B300-500 corkage charge at the restraints. Another point here is the price of wine in the restraints also, using the same examples; I’ve seen Penfolds Bin 407 in restaurant menus from B7000 up…. ouch !

Possible good news (if there is any and if I am correct with my understanding) is that with trade agreements, the taxation on Australian wine (I don’t think this will happen yet with wines from other regions) will be taxed less over the coming years, further information on this can be found on the internet.

Chon geaw…

One of the reasons they will not do limited imports is that every vintage that is imported has to be approved by the Thai FDA as part of the process. This is a costly and time consuming exercise. Raro explained it to me over a beer one night, it is why importing small quantities is uneconomical.

So if you import Taylors Bin555 2003, and get all the paperwork right, you have to the same thing for 2004, and the same for each variety. This makes importing "generic" blended wines such as Hortons White Burgundy a better proposition for long term import.

It will be intersting to see what happens as the FTA regulations kick in, Southcorp will push hard as they can see a market here that is going begging.

[Beardog]

Incidentally, I can understand that the climate in Khao Yai and Loei might be suitable for wine growing, but am mystified at the "Silverlake Vineyards" which are soon to come into production just outside Pattaya, on the way to Sattahip. I wouldn't have thought the climate in those parts would be at all suitable - but what do I know about wine growing?

I wish I could enlighten you about Silverlake Vineyards. We went there during our last trip in April, but they didn't have any wine!

It looked as though the grapes had been recently harvested, as the vines had no fruit and looked "autumnal", so maybe they had sold all last year's stock, or it was the first harvest. They were selling red grapejuice, which was pretty insipid, and I couldn't imagine it making decent wine, but maybe it had been treated or watered down or something.

Being fairly near the coast and not in a swamp, the climate there is a little more airy and less humid, so it may succeed. I certainly hope so, as I plan to plant a vine in our garden just down the road in Banchang when we live there full-time. We're going out there for a break in a couple of weeks time, and if we stop by the vineyard again I will post any further info.

I live 6 mites or so from Silverlake winery- their claim to fame is delicious grape drink. If it were made into wine it would be a dynamite Mogan David or mad dog 20/20 .Most of the wine here in Thailand tastes like swine swill after living in sonoma-napa california in the U.S. It takes a real season(a cold snap- not snow but 0-5 degrees celcious for the grapes to mature into a great tasting wine.Otherwise it misses the mark. The grape needs to go into a hibernative state to develope the correct sugar to alcohol ratio to blend correctly & too hot is a Mogan David-boonesfarm flavor-fine if your into a sterno type wino high but pallet ably unacceptable to a wine affection ado! Although the grape juice is very tasty & the grounds are very pretty & well worth the trip. just do not put it on the must do wine tasting tour & expect it to be good. I got to try some wine made from a worker there & it was shwag(swill if you will) The grape juice on the other hand is very arroy!

[mogoso]

Yeah, the only way to build-up a wine cellar is to slowly import your bottles when you go in and out of the country.

I used to bring two bottles of wine with me when going to Thailand from the US. Now that the 3 ounce liquid rule is in effect, I cannot carry by hand and don't wanna pack in suitcase. I tried bringing a case of wine from France in the 90's but arriving in the US I was told it had broken in transit and no there was no reimbusment. It was in a wooden case, so either in was dropped or someone got thirsty.

[Expat2B]

I tend to like a broad range of wines from bog standard drinking wines (typically Pinot Grigio these days) to higher end fare (e.g. a nice Montrachet or some Krug).

Mrs E2B and I went to the Thai Food Festival near Guildford last year (at Secretts Farm I think) and one of the stands was promoting Thai Wine which was actually not that bad it was certainly drinkable (unlike any other Thai wine I have ever tried), unfortunately I cannot remember the name. The big problem though was the price. I seem to remember the per bottle price in the UK was only a little under £10. Whilst both red and white varieties were drinkable, at best they were on a par with nice but cheap Chilean or South African wines. I thought that the price was at least twice to three times what I would actually pay.

I normally find drinkable Aussie wine in Villa for around 500-600 a bottle occassionally cheaper with promos (I remember Villa Lang Suan had a range of Hardys for around 350 to 400 THB a bottle a year or 2 ago).

I just do not think it is worthwhile buying a high end wine in Thailand (outside perhaps the upper echelon hotels) for the same reason I would tend to avoid buying similar wines from a supermarket in the UK. You can just never be sure how carefully the wine has been kept and I really just would not be able to face having a discussion about cork taint with one of the staff in Villa etc.

Compared to some other countries I think the price of the lower end Australian wines in Thailand are quite reasonable.

[GuestHouse]

I've tried a number of Thai wines, and I really did want to like them - but they were all awful.

I compare that with the wine store in the street were we lived in Rome - It was almost impossible to find a bad bottle of wine.

Thai wine - I wouldn't even use it for cooking with.

Mind, I wouldn't write Thai wine off altogether ... It could find a market as feed stock for a Bio Fuel Plant.

Edited December 20, 2007 by GuestHouse

[yorkman]

I've tried a number of Thai wines, and I really did want to like them - but they were all awful.

I compare that with the wine store in the street were we lived in Rome - It was almost impossible to find a bad bottle of wine.

Thai wine - I wouldn't even use it for cooking with.

Mind, I wouldn't write Thai wine off altogether ... It could find a market as feed stock for a Bio Fuel Plant.

I had a drive up to the Chateau Loei vineyard and bottling plant, not too far away. Its got to be said, it is impressive, It's huge compared with most family places in France. Well cared for too.

The white is..errr...ok (I am not a person of delicate palate), the red was paintstripper. Horrible!!

I asked how they made sweet wine. "Add sugar" was the answer with a smile, its even shown on the production process.

A good day out, they do a lovely Macademia nut icecream, and got a big bunch of cheap grapes (they were nice, gawd knows how they wreck them after that) and some raisins in a bag. They added chillis to the raisins, not mentioned on the packet, so passed to TW after a "gasp" moment.

Did somebody here really say they paid 899B a bottle ??

[PattayaParent]

I tried the Siam Wines and Khao Yai wine a few years ago when I first saw them on the shelves in Pattaya.

350 baht a bottle and they were horrible.

I've recently tried the 190 baht OTOP wine and that's much better.

Now I bring in a few bottles of Vietnamese Da Lat wine every time I travel from VN. Only 100 baht a bottle and SO much better than the Thai wines.

[billp]

I've been to Chateau de Loei and I have to say I found their whites to be perfectly OK. It may take a few years, but I think they will eventually be quite good. The plateau is cooler than most of the rest of the country and grapes seem to do well there. By the way, wine in northern Europe is often fortified with sugar to boost its alcohol content. This process has just this week been reviewed and certified by the EU agriculture ministers as part of a sweeping reform of the wine industry. So Chateau de Loei adding some sugar would not be out of line with worldwide wine production standards.

[roamer]

Those cheap Air asia flights to Langkawi, a duty free island where its a pretty idyllic place to sit and drink Tiger at 15B a bottle, also the location of a magical cash & carry with a temperature controlled wine store where you can pick up stuff like New Zealand Cloudy Bay at jaw dropping prices, excellent Aussie Reds, some superb vintages.........all this on a Muslim island. The 3 lite Lindeman boxed stuff wouldn't appeal to those with more sophisticated tastes...but at 300B a box, not so bad in the fridge.