Montclair Wine

[xylophone]

3 hours ago, Rig Pig said:

Reasonable Wine in Phuket. A challenge at best. I recently found a "real" wine in a two litre jug at the Village Mart. Australian Castle Creek Bin 569, two litres 600 baht, not a great wine by any measure but well chilled it will serve as a table wine. I normally buy three bottles at Tops for 600 per bottle. If you buy three of the Castle Creek jugs you get eight bottles for 225 baht each. A reasonable price!

Sorry to disappoint you, but I believe that is also a "fruit wine" RP………..at least some of their range is. 

 

Blended with fruit juice in Oz and exported here. But will check it out as if it is a "real wine" then it could be a good accompaniment to pasta and chilli dishes for me.

[madmitch]

4 hours ago, Rig Pig said:

Reasonable Wine in Phuket. A challenge at best. I recently found a "real" wine in a two litre jug at the Village Mart. Australian Castle Creek Bin 569, two litres 600 baht, not a great wine by any measure but well chilled it will serve as a table wine. I normally buy three bottles at Tops for 600 per bottle. If you buy three of the Castle Creek jugs you get eight bottles for 225 baht each. A reasonable price!

Where's the Village Mart? I have Googled but found nothing.

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, xylophone said:

Sorry to disappoint you, but I believe that is also a "fruit wine" RP………..at least some of their range is. 

 

Blended with fruit juice in Oz and exported here. But will check it out as if it is a "real wine" then it could be a good accompaniment to pasta and chilli dishes for me.

PS. It would be ok with the very hot Laab Moo I have just eaten, rather than my Aussie Shiraz!!!!!

[billythehat]

9 hours ago, xylophone said:

Sorry to disappoint you, but I believe that is also a "fruit wine" RP………..at least some of their range is. 

 

Blended with fruit juice in Oz and exported here. But will check it out as if it is a "real wine" then it could be a good accompaniment to pasta and chilli dishes for me.

...or you could try it with a few glasses of the following wines 

 which has a bouquet like an Aborigine's armpit....????

[LivinginKata]

13 hours ago, madmitch said:

Where's the Village Mart? I have Googled but found nothing.

 

I assumed was Villa Market ...

[xylophone]

4 hours ago, billythehat said:

...or you could try it with a few glasses of the following wines 

 which has a bouquet like an Aborigine's armpit....????

Ah yes, a bit of MP humour and p1ss take (sorry about the pun) however so far from the truth nowadays, with Australia making many top class wines, and can still be good at table wine levels...…..

 

So quite why they have had to damage the "Aussie brand" which has come a long way in world wine standards and quality, by producing the "fruit wine" crap that we get here, is beyond me.

 

Yes I know they are making it to a price point for this market, but it is taking it back to the "Aussie Chateau Chunder" days...….such short term and narrow thinking IMO.

[xylophone]

On ‎11‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 2:22 PM, Rig Pig said:

Reasonable Wine in Phuket. A challenge at best. I recently found a "real" wine in a two litre jug at the Village Mart. Australian Castle Creek Bin 569, two litres 600 baht, not a great wine by any measure but well chilled it will serve as a table wine. I normally buy three bottles at Tops for 600 per bottle. If you buy three of the Castle Creek jugs you get eight bottles for 225 baht each. A reasonable price!

I was out on a wine buying spree today and looked at this one and it is a "fruit wine" but as you say, well-chilled it could serve as a table wine.

[billythehat]

13 hours ago, xylophone said:

Ah yes, a bit of MP humour and p1ss take (sorry about the pun) however so far from the truth nowadays, with Australia making many top class wines, and can still be good at table wine levels...…..

 

So quite why they have had to damage the "Aussie brand" which has come a long way in world wine standards and quality, by producing the "fruit wine" crap that we get here, is beyond me.

 

Yes I know they are making it to a price point for this market, but it is taking it back to the "Aussie Chateau Chunder" days...….such short term and narrow thinking IMO.

Sir, I’d agree the sentiment regarding Chateau Aussie Chunder and I think I’d give the Perth Pink a big swerve too. Being an ale drinker (not the bits in the bottom of the glass real ale as I refuse to grow the requisite tangled beard and sing folk songs), I have the occasional dabble into the world of fine wines, and a fine wine is what I want. I was in a Bangkok hotel and some lad was celebrating something or other and asked the manager for the wine list. Cutting to the chase, a semi-chilled white (French) was bought out and I was offered a glass to join in his celebrations. I took a sip and hoped to Buddha he hadn’t paid too much as it was quite awful, only to find later he’d been stripped the equivalent of 80 quid for something I wouldn’t put on me chips. The bottle has disappeared before I had a chance to scan the label and warn the world that such a wine ever existed. For my palate, those fruity wines usually have so much sugar added to compensate for the acidity that this spoils the enjoyment. Many moons ago, I was in Mai Sai having some lunch before sloping over to Burma via the access bridge. On the booze menu was something unpronounceable that roughly equated to Rice Wine; only ever having sampled Japanese Saki (of which I found rather good) I ordered some. Not bad, although too warm I mused, and you really want too much of it as the label stated 80% proof. I’ve never seen it elsewhere Lalaland so maybe just a Chinese influence thing. I don’t have clear preference for white, rose or red wine as each wine province can excel at one or the other, southern German wines as an example, especially around the Lake Constance area.

[xylophone]

13 hours ago, billythehat said:

I was in a Bangkok hotel and some lad was celebrating something or other and asked the manager for the wine list. Cutting to the chase, a semi-chilled white (French) was bought out and I was offered a glass to join in his celebrations. I took a sip and hoped to Buddha he hadn’t paid too much as it was quite awful, only to find later he’d been stripped the equivalent of 80 quid for something I wouldn’t put on me chips

Hmmm....not particularly a lover of French whites and IMO they are at their best with food whereas the New World wines can be drunk all day long (if one has a mind to!). 

 

And not being a fish eater perhaps I have missed out on a few culinary delights with the pairing of French whites.

 

13 hours ago, billythehat said:

On the booze menu was something unpronounceable that roughly equated to Rice Wine; only ever having sampled Japanese Saki (of which I found rather good) I ordered some. Not bad, although too warm I mused, and you really want too much of it as the label stated 80% proof.

Saki doesn't do it for me, but reading your experience with the 80% proof stuff took me back to my days in the Sahara where brewing home made beer had become an art and the White Lightening that was distilled in copper stills hidden behind showers in guys rooms, was almost literally mind blowing!

 

Didn't stop many a drunken night in the desert in a Muslim country!

 

13 hours ago, billythehat said:

I don’t have clear preference for white, rose or red wine as each wine province can excel at one or the other, southern German wines as an example, especially around the Lake Constance area.

Red wine is my main drink and has been for years, although as a lad, beer was the thing.

 

Having said that I have enjoyed some delightful German white wines in my time.

 

As has been mentioned many times on this thread and others, there really is no need to tax the hell out of wine imports as there is no real wine industry here to protect, and the everyday Thai doesn't drink it, so us farangs bear the brunt of what I consider is stupidity or short-sightedness and for those on a budget, have to put up with Montclair and its ilk.

[billythehat]

5 hours ago, xylophone said:

Hmmm....not particularly a lover of French whites and IMO they are at their best with food whereas the New World wines can be drunk all day long (if one has a mind to!). 

 

And not being a fish eater perhaps I have missed out on a few culinary delights with the pairing of French whites.

 

Saki doesn't do it for me, but reading your experience with the 80% proof stuff took me back to my days in the Sahara where brewing home made beer had become an art and the White Lightening that was distilled in copper stills hidden behind showers in guys rooms, was almost literally mind blowing!

 

Didn't stop many a drunken night in the desert in a Muslim country!

 

Red wine is my main drink and has been for years, although as a lad, beer was the thing.

 

Having said that I have enjoyed some delightful German white wines in my time.

 

As has been mentioned many times on this thread and others, there really is no need to tax the hell out of wine imports as there is no real wine industry here to protect, and the everyday Thai doesn't drink it, so us farangs bear the brunt of what I consider is stupidity or short-sightedness and for those on a budget, have to put up with Montclair and its ilk.

Some good points there, chuckles.

 

Some notes here regarding the tax levy on the devil farang booze imports:

https://www.wine-cheese.net/single-post/2017/07/13/Wines-in-Thailand-Why-they-are-so-expensive

 

…and here’s one in the eye for our frog munching friends over the channel…sacre bleu!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/20/english-sparkling-wine-beats-champagne-in-paris-blind-tasting/