Why Is Thai Wine More Expensive Than Imports?

[bangkokburning]

I find it hilarious people drinking wine in the tropics. What is more insane than carting in bad wine to be sold at insane prices? growing worse wine.

Bourbon!

[seriouseats]

Meh a good sangria in the tropics is pretty much heaven.. shame they dont make them anywhere.

[coolhandjoe]

It's all image.

Price yourself cheap, you look like an inferior low end product.

As with many things in the boutique market, I find price rarely reflects quality/value for money.

I've worked on a vineyard and tried wine from 200 year old grape vines.

I've tried many different varities expensive and less so.

I can safely say that the only drop i can touch is called Baron von rouge and costs £2.99 from a low end supermarket.

However i much prefer beer

[PattayaParent]

There is no reason for them to price the wine cheaply. Production is very small, and Thai restaurants and food are incredibly popular and common world wide. There is already a market of people who will be willing to try a bottle, especially at a Thai restaurant.

Dalat wines in Viet Nam are priced about US$3 a bottle and is vastly superior to Thai wines.

[GreenSnapper]

There is no reason for them to price the wine cheaply. Production is very small, and Thai restaurants and food are incredibly popular and common world wide. There is already a market of people who will be willing to try a bottle, especially at a Thai restaurant.

Dalat wines in Viet Nam are priced about US$3 a bottle and is vastly superior to Thai wines.

Superior - yes.

But crap too. At least they charge what it is worth.

[Semper]

Also remembers thais do not care if food tastes good. You will see a big road with tons of thai restaurant, each of them making it taste as horrible as they can to save money and a bunch of thais will flow there everyday because its close to them(CONVENIENT) and they will probably say it tastes good afterwards. Also most farang restaurant(even high end) are pretty crappy compared to other countries. People here just like convenience.. having a bottle with thai letters on it, lets go for it!

I would think thais would start by trying to beat laos at beer making before going into wine.. not add more failure to their arsenal haha

well, there we have it, no need for further comment after this excellent analysis. thais dont care about food.

They do care, but their main concern is if it's spicy/hot enough. Have you never had Thai people over for dinner, and the first question from the chef (your wife) would be "pet mai?".

[smallbear]

Actually Siam Winery did not produce the Mont Clair in Thailand.

It's coming directly from South-Africa - Breede River Valley- in containers and it's bottled in Samut Sakorn.

I'm not sure if Siam Winery is the grower based in Hua Hin? We visited Hua Hin in 2009 and the representative told me that the manufacturing process is in Samut Sakorn, so reading your post rang a few bells.

I have tried some of their produce but I could only drink the white - the red was undrinkable to me, as at the time, I had been used to French wine. The comparison was just staggering. In France, the quality is brilliant and the price extremely affordable. In my experience at least, it has been the opposite of that in Thailand.

Nevertheless, at Hua Hin I was interested in trying a sample, to see if things have improved, but on asking for a taste, I was told that we had to pay!!! I really wanted to laugh, given that the previous time I'd bought anything, I found it undrinkable. I'm beginning to feel very mean writing this, but I must say, the prices and the variable quality have been getting on my nerves a bit. By way of comparison, if I think back to the 1980s when some of the newer wine-growing countries were coming on the scene, notably East European etc., one of the advantages was simply that the prices were great, even if the wine still left some improvements to make.

In Thailand however, it seems to be that the quality still isn't good enough and the price is high. The double-whammy in other words.

With some of the other posters' comments above though, referring to lack of wine-producing skills, I have heard before of French and other European experts being employed by the Thai growers. I'm sure these people are some of the best in the industry, so don't wish to knock them in any way. I'm sure their task must be a tremendous challenge. Notwithstanding this, the quality of wine production in Thailand clearly has a lot of catching up to do.

And frankly they need to tempt buyers with better prices, rather than arrogance, dare it say it?

[smallbear]

Also remembers thais do not care if food tastes good.

I started out loving Thai food, but it was in the days that I used to visit only for holidays. I was happy to eat fancy and pricey Thai food, such as seafood buffets and some of the royal-style cuisine that you see in the nicer hotels. I loved it very much and still do. But is it very healthy? Not really.

After settling here, I went through a stage of eating street food most evenings because I found it fun, convenient and relatively inexpensive. However I'm absolutely convinced that my heath deteriorated a lot during that year or two. I lost a lot of weight and got ill for no reason. Eventually my lifestyle changed and I stayed at home and cooked for myself every night. I switched back to Western food with potatoes, fresh vegetables and interesting salads (not the Thai salad of cabbage, carrot and cucumber), and my health and strength improved immediately.

I believe that Thai people are very interested in tasty food and they love food, but in general that's as far as it goes. Quite often, the spicing-up of the food, disguises the blandness. Take out the chili and the food is just plain and of little interest. There's a staggering amount of sugar used in dishes which aren't, to my mind, suitable for sugar, unless you've got a craving for sugar.

The other thing is that a lot of food is fried. It's quite often the only method they have for cooking. Last night we went for street food. There was some fish displayed in the 'cart'. But it was already fried to oblivion - all the goodness gone from it. I remember the first time I ordered Pla Grapong and looking forward to nice white flesh. When it arrived all the flesh was like leather, and gold from the colour of the cooking oil. Ghastly. But it's normal for fried fish here.

I do enjoy steamed fish though - that's a healthy exception.

The other, often overlooked subject, is hygiene. I believe a passion for food should not just be about presenting a tasty dish, but about the storage and preparation. This is a sore subject, as I spent a night I hospital because of this...

Edited July 6, 2011 by smallbear

[nocturn]

Meh a good sangria in the tropics is pretty much heaven.. shame they dont make them anywhere.

are you kidding?i can think of two places that make sangria on my soi alone.

[nocturn]

Also remembers thais do not care if food tastes good. You will see a big road with tons of thai restaurant, each of them making it taste as horrible as they can to save money and a bunch of thais will flow there everyday because its close to them(CONVENIENT) and they will probably say it tastes good afterwards. Also most farang restaurant(even high end) are pretty crappy compared to other countries. People here just like convenience.. having a bottle with thai letters on it, lets go for it!

I would think thais would start by trying to beat laos at beer making before going into wine.. not add more failure to their arsenal haha

well, there we have it, no need for further comment after this excellent analysis. thais dont care about food.

They do care, but their main concern is if it's spicy/hot enough. Have you never had Thai people over for dinner, and the first question from the chef (your wife) would be "pet mai?".

being unmarried, that seems unlikely, however, not all Thais were reared on scorching slop. your experience is hardly universal

[Semper]

Also remembers thais do not care if food tastes good. You will see a big road with tons of thai restaurant, each of them making it taste as horrible as they can to save money and a bunch of thais will flow there everyday because its close to them(CONVENIENT) and they will probably say it tastes good afterwards. Also most farang restaurant(even high end) are pretty crappy compared to other countries. People here just like convenience.. having a bottle with thai letters on it, lets go for it!

I would think thais would start by trying to beat laos at beer making before going into wine.. not add more failure to their arsenal haha

well, there we have it, no need for further comment after this excellent analysis. thais dont care about food.

They do care, but their main concern is if it's spicy/hot enough. Have you never had Thai people over for dinner, and the first question from the chef (your wife) would be "pet mai?".

being unmarried, that seems unlikely, however, not all Thais were reared on scorching slop. your experience is hardly universal

How would you know?

[craigt3365]

One troll post has been removed. Please be respectful when you post.

[crossmyloof]

How much duty free wine can I import at any one time?

Crx

[nong38]

I bought a thai "reserva wine" once is Tesco it was like very very dry sherry awful stuff. I just have to accept that thai wine is expensive first and secondly not to my idea of whats worth drinking. I have also tried some stuff in Big C based on rosella/pineapple what a strange combination! Face it chums its a luxury here. I only drink it for medicinal purposes.

[Richard4849]

How much duty free wine can I import at any one time?

Crx

One bottle.

[happyrobert]

Not just about taxes.

Same reason Thailand grown Jasmine rice is more expensive here than at the little Thai grocery around the corner from my house in southern California, let alone at Wal-Mart or Costco or Sam's Club. You can also buy Thai rice in Mexico cheaper than here.

Same reason gas or milk costs as much as it does anywhere in the world.

It's what people are willing to pay. When they stop buying, the price will go down.

Can't imagine what the average Thai would think if they knew I used to pay about 70% of the price for their rice after it traveled 10,000 miles.

[anon7867763]

It takes a knowledgable grape grower and expert wine maker to produce descent wine.

Garbage in garbage out is what winemaking is all about. Without quality grapes, you simply can not make good wine.

Generally speaking no good wine grapes could be grown in Thai weather. It's just too hot all the time without cool morning and evening breeze.

It rains too much, it dilutes sugar contents in the grapes and causes root decay. You also need state of art facility with wine makers with years of

experience. I can not imagine rich Chinese winery owners investing millions of dollars in a business they can not succeed.

I read last week that the Chinese are beginning to invest millions into wine production , guess they can do OK with the local market.Most people with no wine consuming experience will drink it.There again China is a big country and probably there are areas with that cool morning and evening breeze

[anon7867763]

Actually Siam Winery did not produce the Mont Clair in Thailand.

It's coming directly from South-Africa - Breede River Valley- in containers and it's bottled in Samut Sakorn.

I'm not sure if Siam Winery is the grower based in Hua Hin? We visited Hua Hin in 2009 and the representative told me that the manufacturing process is in Samut Sakorn, so reading your post rang a few bells.

I have tried some of their produce but I could only drink the white - the red was undrinkable to me, as at the time, I had been used to French wine. The comparison was just staggering. In France, the quality is brilliant and the price extremely affordable. In my experience at least, it has been the opposite of that in Thailand.

Nevertheless, at Hua Hin I was interested in trying a sample, to see if things have improved, but on asking for a taste, I was told that we had to pay!!! I really wanted to laugh, given that the previous time I'd bought anything, I found it undrinkable. I'm beginning to feel very mean writing this, but I must say, the prices and the variable quality have been getting on my nerves a bit. By way of comparison, if I think back to the 1980s when some of the newer wine-growing countries were coming on the scene, notably East European etc., one of the advantages was simply that the prices were great, even if the wine still left some improvements to make.

I've been eating Thai food for 9 years and only once I had a stomach problem.It might seem unhygenic (or however you spell it) because it's a run down food store but I think that Thai food is normally very fresh and clean.Different food for different stomachs in this case !

In Thailand however, it seems to be that the quality still isn't good enough and the price is high. The double-whammy in other words.

With some of the other posters' comments above though, referring to lack of wine-producing skills, I have heard before of French and other European experts being employed by the Thai growers. I'm sure these people are some of the best in the industry, so don't wish to knock them in any way. I'm sure their task must be a tremendous challenge. Notwithstanding this, the quality of wine production in Thailand clearly has a lot of catching up to do.

And frankly they need to tempt buyers with better prices, rather than arrogance, dare it say it?

[anon7867763]

Actually Siam Winery did not produce the Mont Clair in Thailand.

It's coming directly from South-Africa - Breede River Valley- in containers and it's bottled in Samut Sakorn.

I'm not sure if Siam Winery is the grower based in Hua Hin? We visited Hua Hin in 2009 and the representative told me that the manufacturing process is in Samut Sakorn, so reading your post rang a few bells.

I have tried some of their produce but I could only drink the white - the red was undrinkable to me, as at the time, I had been used to French wine. The comparison was just staggering. In France, the quality is brilliant and the price extremely affordable. In my experience at least, it has been the opposite of that in Thailand.

Nevertheless, at Hua Hin I was interested in trying a sample, to see if things have improved, but on asking for a taste, I was told that we had to pay!!! I really wanted to laugh, given that the previous time I'd bought anything, I found it undrinkable. I'm beginning to feel very mean writing this, but I must say, the prices and the variable quality have been getting on my nerves a bit. By way of comparison, if I think back to the 1980s when some of the newer wine-growing countries were coming on the scene, notably East European etc., one of the advantages was simply that the prices were great, even if the wine still left some improvements to make.

I've been eating Thai food for 9 years and only once I had a stomach problem.It might seem unhygenic (or however you spell it) because it's a run down food store but I think that Thai food is normally very fresh and clean.Different food for different stomachs in this case !

In Thailand however, it seems to be that the quality still isn't good enough and the price is high. The double-whammy in other words.

With some of the other posters' comments above though, referring to lack of wine-producing skills, I have heard before of French and other European experts being employed by the Thai growers. I'm sure these people are some of the best in the industry, so don't wish to knock them in any way. I'm sure their task must be a tremendous challenge. Notwithstanding this, the quality of wine production in Thailand clearly has a lot of catching up to do.

And frankly they need to tempt buyers with better prices, rather than arrogance, dare it say it?