Just opened a Mont Clair Bin 5 Reserve 2011 and Have i with some salami and cheese.

I agree with the poststarter Bigfan its very fruity. And I enyoy it a lot By far the best wine I tasted in Thailand.

299b in TescoLotus it is a bargain I would reccomend it if you not in to very dry wines (Then we see about the headache tommorrow)

I Bought more expensive wines before and as many posters say they have been heatdamaged.

But this one i could recomend as an light everyday wine.

Thumbs up

Just opened a Mont Clair Bin 5 Reserve 2011 and Have i with some salami and cheese.

I agree with the poststarter Bigfan its very fruity. And I enyoy it a lot By far the best wine I tasted in Thailand.

299b in TescoLotus it is a bargain I would reccomend it if you not in to very dry wines (Then we see about the headache tommorrow)

I Bought more expensive wines before and as many posters say they have been heatdamaged.

But this one i could recomend as an light everyday wine.

Thumbs up

My thoughts exactly. Most replies from early (the post was started 8 months ago) hadn't tasted the Reserve Bins and had only tried the original bottle plonk.

For what it is, it is well priced. I am now living in China and trying to find an everyday drinking wine and can't find much for under RMB 100 (THB 500). I found one last week for about THB 370 and thought I would give it a try. Terrible. I can still remember the taste of cork taint and vinegar.

Just opened a Mont Clair Bin 5 Reserve 2011 and Have i with some salami and cheese.

I agree with the poststarter Bigfan its very fruity. And I enyoy it a lot By far the best wine I tasted in Thailand.

299b in TescoLotus it is a bargain I would reccomend it if you not in to very dry wines (Then we see about the headache tommorrow)

I Bought more expensive wines before and as many posters say they have been heatdamaged.

But this one i could recomend as an light everyday wine.

Thumbs up

Can't remember trying that particular wine in the bottle and I wonder if it is actually bottled in Thailand or South Africa?

There is another thread running on Mont Clair wine and one poster suggested that the grape juice was imported from South Africa and then vinified in Thailand, thereby getting round some import duty/taxes, which sounds very plausible.

The bulk importing of various juices and wines has been going on for decades, so the above could be a likely scenario.

On that subject, I am currently in NZ and came across a wine in the supermarket and on the label it said, "Crafted in the Barossa Valley, Australia 2010", and had a small picture of a sailing ship underneath it. It was actually a good wine and had that typical Barossa taste to it, however I wondered why the label said it was actually "crafted" in the Barossa Valley, so I looked at the small print on the back of the bottle and it was actually bottled in a winegrowing area north of Auckland, Huapai (home to many vineyards/wineries).

So my conclusion would be that it was shipped over from the Barossa Valley in bulk and bottled in NZ, and priced accordingly in order to be able to compete with other offers on the supermarket shelves, where every supermarket seems to be discounting their wine.

Can't remember trying that particular wine in the bottle and I wonder if it is actually bottled in Thailand or South Africa?

There is another thread running on Mont Clair wine and one poster suggested that the grape juice was imported from South Africa and then vinified in Thailand, thereby getting round some import duty/taxes, which sounds very plausible.

The bulk importing of various juices and wines has been going on for decades, so the above could be a likely scenario.

On that subject, I am currently in NZ and came across a wine in the supermarket and on the label it said, "Crafted in the Barossa Valley, Australia 2010", and had a small picture of a sailing ship underneath it. It was actually a good wine and had that typical Barossa taste to it, however I wondered why the label said it was actually "crafted" in the Barossa Valley, so I looked at the small print on the back of the bottle and it was actually bottled in a winegrowing area north of Auckland, Huapai (home to many vineyards/wineries).

So my conclusion would be that it was shipped over from the Barossa Valley in bulk and bottled in NZ, and priced accordingly in order to be able to compete with other offers on the supermarket shelves, where every supermarket seems to be discounting their wine.

True story that about Montclair...

As you said similar things happen all over the wine world.

Some Australian wineries ship it in giant goon bags (Australian slang for a wine bladder that you get in those wine boxes) to the UK and USA where it's cheaper to bottle it there and ship it around from there... One such company had to flush multi-million dollars worth of it down the toilet last year

Also, I just got this bit of wonderful news about wine: http://bit.ly/1jkWzgo

Although I have doubts that this applies to Montclair et al

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Quote GS: "Also, I just got this bit of wonderful news about wine: http://bit.ly/1jkWzgo ".

Thanks for that link/info GS.......very reassuring.

By the way do you subscribe to The Wine Spectator?? And if you do, is it good value?

Quote GS: "Also, I just got this bit of wonderful news about wine: http://bit.ly/1jkWzgo ".

Thanks for that link/info GS.......very reassuring.

By the way do you subscribe to The Wine Spectator?? And if you do, is it good value?

I used to, but found it to Americacentric so let it lapse after 6 months...

I find Decanter, GT Wine an Halliday all equally as good as WS. My opinion of Halliday less than flattering, but his team is well rounded...

Also Winestate isn't too bad but no iPad compatible subscription so I pick it up when I go home..

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Worked for a silly-rich guy in France for a while.

Had lunch with him and his delightfully flirtatious exec-assistant three or four times a month.

One afternoon after we'd selected a couple of bottles from his cave under the old building that housed our offices he confided that all this falderal about wine and soil and grapes and sun and rainfall evidencing itself on a taster's palette was just that: falderal.

When I taste a wine, a memorable wine, what I remember is the occasion, the people and the ambience.

Ben . . . . C'est tout, quoi !

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

Worked for a silly-rich guy in France for a while.

Had lunch with him and his delightfully flirtatious exec-assistant three or four times a month.

One afternoon after we'd selected a couple of bottles from his cave under the old building that housed our offices he confided that all this falderal about wine and soil and grapes and sun and rainfall evidencing itself on a taster's palette was just that: falderal.

When I taste a wine, a memorable wine, what I remember is the occasion, the people and the ambience.

Ben . . . . C'est tout, quoi !

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

The same can be said of any product/service that has a degree of ambiguity - art, cars, women.........

Falderal to one man, is pure ambrosia to another!

Having a hard time finding the red in casks (for the restaurant) at the moment seems to be a bit of a shortage?

Having a hard time finding the red in casks (for the restaurant) at the moment seems to be a bit of a shortage?

Due to taxation, better to use the 1.5ltr bottles

This whole thread may be obslete as you can hardly find Montclair, only a few 750 ml. bottles still around. Boxes gone, 2 liter bottles gone.

So why would that render the thread obsolete?

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So why would that render the thread obsolete?

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I think most can agree that this thread is a lot more than Montclair Wine

So why would that render the thread obsolete?

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I think most can agree that this thread is a lot more than Montclair Wine

Perhaps in the interests of pedanticism we could have the thread re-named, you know keeping within the rules.......

Agree, if that's possible, there's a wealth of info in this thread that goes well over Montclair and the Silver Pillow Brigade. It would be a shame if we lost it.

I remember posting that I would try receiving a bottle of wine in the mail.

I organised a bottle to be sent over and it arrived, undmaaged, and unopened. The box was clealy marked with a printed bottle on the packaging.

It would seem if you get a bottle sent over now and then, but not everyday, it gets through customs.

I'm looking at buying a case, over the internet, and having it sent to my frineds place, who will then post me a single bottle from the case every fortnight.

I remember posting that I would try receiving a bottle of wine in the mail.

I organised a bottle to be sent over and it arrived, undmaaged, and unopened. The box was clealy marked with a printed bottle on the packaging.

It would seem if you get a bottle sent over now and then, but not everyday, it gets through customs.

I'm looking at buying a case, over the internet, and having it sent to my frineds place, who will then post me a single bottle from the case every fortnight.

I hope you'll be buying a case for your friend as well, the cost to mail a bottle every 2 weeks isn't going to be cheap - unless he/she lives in a neighbouring country where postage is cheaper?

I remember posting that I would try receiving a bottle of wine in the mail.

I organised a bottle to be sent over and it arrived, undmaaged, and unopened. The box was clealy marked with a printed bottle on the packaging.

It would seem if you get a bottle sent over now and then, but not everyday, it gets through customs.

I'm looking at buying a case, over the internet, and having it sent to my frineds place, who will then post me a single bottle from the case every fortnight.

I hope you'll be buying a case for your friend as well, the cost to mail a bottle every 2 weeks isn't going to be cheap - unless he/she lives in a neighbouring country where postage is cheaper?

I pay for the postage. I transfer money into their account via internet banking.

Buying in bulk (dozen - case) and postage to Thailand, stll cheaper than buying rubbish wine here, but yes, they will be offered a bottle or two for their trouble.

I also have friends visit and they bring me in a bottle and I pay them in baht for it, however, many of them are now going to Pattaya for their holiday, so, my cellar is a little bare.

Quote Donnie Brasco: "he confided that all this falderal about wine and soil and grapes and sun and rainfall evidencing itself on a taster's palette was just that: falderal".

Can't say that I agree with that, and not sure of rainfall evidencing itself and the tasters palate! However there are some very talented people out there who can pick out the country of origin of, say a Pinot Noir, then whether it is from the Cotes de Beaune or Cotes de Nuits and sometimes from the very vineyard from which it originated.

You only have to look at the talent evidenced by the Champagne producers when they have to blend the "wines" from the grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier (if all three are used) from different vineyards so that the taste of that champagne is what people expect, ie the brand. And to ensure that this is correct, they often have to blend wines from the previous vintage or 2 to ensure that the champagne tastes the same year upon year.

Or take the Scotch whiskey enthusiasts (not me I'm afraid) who can tell you whether the drink is a blend or a single malt, and very often can tell you the particular producer, even if it is from a small island off the west coast, for example.

So there are folk out there who have made a study of this and although they won't get it right every time, they will get it right for much of the time, and as for the champagne producers, well they have to get it right every year!

I pay for the postage. I transfer money into their account via internet banking.

Buying in bulk (dozen - case) and postage to Thailand, stll cheaper than buying rubbish wine here, but yes, they will be offered a bottle or two for their trouble.

I also have friends visit and they bring me in a bottle and I pay them in baht for it, however, many of them are now going to Pattaya for their holiday, so, my cellar is a little bare.

Even at your own expense, that's going to rack up pretty quickly. But I hear what you're saying about the quality of wine currently available here vs affordability.

Was at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, 2005 Penfold's Grange 93,000 baht! I nearly fell off my chair...

I pay for the postage. I transfer money into their account via internet banking.

Buying in bulk (dozen - case) and postage to Thailand, stll cheaper than buying rubbish wine here, but yes, they will be offered a bottle or two for their trouble.

I also have friends visit and they bring me in a bottle and I pay them in baht for it, however, many of them are now going to Pattaya for their holiday, so, my cellar is a little bare.

Even at your own expense, that's going to rack up pretty quickly. But I hear what you're saying about the quality of wine currently available here vs affordability.

Was at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, 2005 Penfold's Grange 93,000 baht! I nearly fell off my chair...

If its expensive it must be good! Is the mentality that will sell this over rated drop

I pay for the postage. I transfer money into their account via internet banking.

Buying in bulk (dozen - case) and postage to Thailand, stll cheaper than buying rubbish wine here, but yes, they will be offered a bottle or two for their trouble.

I also have friends visit and they bring me in a bottle and I pay them in baht for it, however, many of them are now going to Pattaya for their holiday, so, my cellar is a little bare.

Even at your own expense, that's going to rack up pretty quickly. But I hear what you're saying about the quality of wine currently available here vs affordability.

Was at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, 2005 Penfold's Grange 93,000 baht! I nearly fell off my chair...

I'll do it for a while, just to build up some stock in my cellar. I'll get a mixture of varieties and qualities sent over. It will not be a perpetual agreement.

Then, I can have a choice of my own selected quality wines, to accompany my meal. Even with postage, it's still cheaper, and I get the wine I want.

Once I have some stock, the postage can become less frequent.

I pay for the postage. I transfer money into their account via internet banking.

Buying in bulk (dozen - case) and postage to Thailand, stll cheaper than buying rubbish wine here, but yes, they will be offered a bottle or two for their trouble.

I also have friends visit and they bring me in a bottle and I pay them in baht for it, however, many of them are now going to Pattaya for their holiday, so, my cellar is a little bare.

Even at your own expense, that's going to rack up pretty quickly. But I hear what you're saying about the quality of wine currently available here vs affordability.

Was at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago, 2005 Penfold's Grange 93,000 baht! I nearly fell off my chair...

If its expensive it must be good! Is the mentality that will sell this over rated drop

It's the same mentality that the TAT use to sell Phuket. :)

I see the latest Penfold's reviews have been released by the wordsmiths... Word on the street back home is, that if you don't play by Penfold's rules (not to release reviews until a certain date) you're black banned and the "Penfold's Nazi" says "No Grange for you!"

Interesting to note its composition: 98% Shiraz (of which 80% is Barossa which kind of makes it a "mongrel" rather than a "purebred" ) and 2% Cab Sauv. Price tag? $785...

I have a sneaking suspicion that Penfold's is going to cop a fair bit of blowback. Earlier this week they were supposed to be doing their Asia Pacific importer/distributer tour. Turns out it was done in one hit, via a webinar! A number of wine snobs are furious, disappointed but not surprised by this.

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I see the latest Penfold's reviews have been released by the wordsmiths... Word on the street back home is, that if you don't play by Penfold's rules (not to release reviews until a certain date) you're black banned and the "Penfold's Nazi" says "No Grange for you!"

Interesting to note its composition: 98% Shiraz (of which 80% is Barossa which kind of makes it a "mongrel" rather than a "purebred" ) and 2% Cab Sauv. Price tag? $785...

I have a sneaking suspicion that Penfold's is going to cop a fair bit of blowback. Earlier this week they were supposed to be doing their Asia Pacific importer/distributer tour. Turns out it was done in one hit, via a webinar! A number of wine snobs are furious, disappointed but not surprised by this.

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They are bat sh!t crazy at this price......

Do you have a link you can pm me?

Flicked you an email, PM function wigging out..

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I see the latest Penfold's reviews have been released by the wordsmiths... Word on the street back home is, that if you don't play by Penfold's rules (not to release reviews until a certain date) you're black banned and the "Penfold's Nazi" says "No Grange for you!"

Interesting to note its composition: 98% Shiraz (of which 80% is Barossa which kind of makes it a "mongrel" rather than a "purebred" ) and 2% Cab Sauv. Price tag? $785...

I have a sneaking suspicion that Penfold's is going to cop a fair bit of blowback. Earlier this week they were supposed to be doing their Asia Pacific importer/distributer tour. Turns out it was done in one hit, via a webinar! A number of wine snobs are furious, disappointed but not surprised by this.

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Hi GS...........are you railing against the Penfolds "rules" and potential blackmail, or the wine itself?

As I posted before and hopefully recall correctly, Grange has always allowed a small % of Cab Sauv to be added to it, as well as sourcing grapes from a few selected areas, so has this changed with the new release?

As for the price.........not worth it when you consider the quality of a few other wines from smaller wineries (of which you know more about than me) and I certainly wouldn't buy it.

xylophone, am having a dig against 'the rules' - these embargoes especially for wine are total BS, Domaine Huet have started to do similar things but it's only if you're seen to be 'disrespecting the brand' that they blackban you.

As for the DNA of the wine itself, it's always had a CS component as it was originally Schubert's vision to emanate the great French houses which is why it was known earlier as Grange Hermitage.

But as for the Shiraz component (regionality) I've not previously paid close attention to it and it just seemed to stand out at me given the prestige they put into it.

As you mention there's a lot better out there for a fraction of the price. I do note that whilst Grange is their flagship trump card - it's not their most expensive drop.

That accolade goes to their 2010 Bin 170 Kalimina Shiraz which is going for $A1,800 a bottle..

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Here's one for all you Montclair cask drinkers...

http://themiraclemachine.net/

Get behind that little start up.. You'd most likely be able to avoid these draconian excise tax laws here as well..

Chicken dinner!

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How about this for a description of a particular wine........

Quote: "Think rather of a gathering of warming mulled-wine spices: clementine’s, cinnamon quill, nutmeg, bay leaf and star anise woven together with hints of maple. Fine layers of texture and depth. I think of a worn fabric loom, subtle flax and linen combined with the worn hinges and the loom’s history. The smell of the ancient craft.

Heady aromatics bring to mind the first warm days of spring: a collection of sweet floral aromas. Peppery buds of nasturtium flower; the slight citrus of the caper berry. One, but never two juniper berries. Air dried mandarin colliding with the dry fungi from a marketplace in Central Hong Kong. The blistered, sea sprayed timbers of a coastal boardwalk. Goblets of this wine will cut through a feast of wild boar; it has just enough texture to cut through the juicy fat. Continue the feast with saddle of rabbit and grilled Tommy Ruff".

Phew!!