Fruit juice blended into "wine" ... oops!

[Jingthing]

I don't buy wine very often in Thailand because it's such a poor value here but recently I bought some bottles. First time I accidentally bought a bottle of wine blended with fruit juice. I didn't realize until I tasted and thought ... wow, this "wine" tastes like fruit juice and sure enough, it was quite clear on the label that's what it was. I should have been warned by the low price of the "wine" but like I said I rarely buy wine and what really annoyed me was that these fruit juice wines are mixed in randomly with actual real wines in the retail display. So I wasn't EXPECTING fruit juice in a wine display. Understandable mistake on my part ... but in my view SLEAZY of the retailer not to clearly separate and label juice from wines.

So lesson learned. Supposedly.

Now I'm on the watch for this.

READ THE LABEL!

Not so fast.

Later shopping again for another bottle, and reading the label (so I thought), got it home ... uh oh, tastes like fruit juice AGAIN.

This time the "information" is so well hidden and in such SMALL PRINT that it fooled me even though I was looking for this trap at the store.

A trick they use is that people expect descriptions of wine to sometimes include mentions of fruit FLAVOR ("hint of blackberry along with sweat of porcupine") so with clever use of language they can slip in the "information" as if it's a NORMAL real wine description.

So maybe y'all knew about this already, but perhaps others can be warned here if you didn't.

[TheCruncher]

I would think after 34 pages some members would be aware of it already.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/639167-montclair-wine/

[Jingthing]

I would think after 34 pages some members would be aware of it already.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/639167-montclair-wine/

I suppose but I never saw that thread before.

I don't think there is anything wrong with selling such products but I do think it is very wrong not to state what they're doing in BIG PRINT on the label and also the retailers should be separating these fruit juice products from actual wine.

[Don Mega]

Who seriously would buy a bottle of any alcohol that lists "sweat of porcupine" as a content.

How do collect the sweat from a porcupine let alone bottle it ?

[Jingthing]

Who seriously would buy a bottle of any alcohol that lists "sweat of porcupine" as a content.

How do collect the sweat from a porcupine let alone bottle it ?

Did you not get it?

That was an example of typical actual wines where they try to describe what it tastes like ... not what's in it.

What's in it is supposed to be FERMENTED GRAPES.

For example:

hints of plums and beef jerky with a touch of jockstrap fungus.

That kind of thing.

[Don Mega]

Who seriously would buy a bottle of any alcohol that lists "sweat of porcupine" as a content.

How do collect the sweat from a porcupine let alone bottle it ?

Did you not get it?

That was an example of typical actual wines where they try to describe what it tastes like ... not what's in it.

What's in it is supposed to be FERMENTED GRAPES.

For example:

hints of plums and beef jerky with a touch of jockstrap fungus.

That kind of thing.

Ohh ok. you is waffling poopoo about the porkypine urine.

so what else you waffling poopoo about ?

I suspect most from your keyboard.

[RichCor]

Nice article in the Phuket News - Special Report: Thailand’s wine industry at crossroads

Special Report: Thailand’s wine industry at crossroads

Phuket Gazette | Patrick Campbell investigates | March 21, 2015

There are two important clues to understanding the provenance of wines.

One is the term “fruit wine” and the other is the orange or blue customs seal, an indicator of origin. The term fruit wine is now found on more and more bottles and boxes. It means that native fruit juice ... is blended with imported grape juice. The result is a quaffable and less tannin-heavy wine, a drink more amenable to a local palate that craves sugary beverages. An added bonus is that it not only skips some of those burdensome taxes, but is cheaper to produce.

The orange customs seal confirms final processing in Thailand from [foreign] grapes and possibly other red fruits and berries. it is unclear whether [...] fruits and berries are part of a single fermentation process.

A blue label signifies a wine that is vinified elsewhere and imported into the Kingdom.

Even if there has been some progress with ingredient labeling, it is still inconsistent. The use of orange and blue customs seals can also be confusing. For example, Belleville is identified as an Australian wine and carries a blue customs seal. But this wine owes its blue tag not to antipodean grape juice, but to the fact that it is rustled up in Vietnam. Imported, yes, but only from across the border. The grapes may be Australian, but the finished product is not.

[NeverSure]

Who seriously would buy a bottle of any alcohol that lists "sweat of porcupine" as a content.

How do collect the sweat from a porcupine let alone bottle it ?

Did you not get it?

That was an example of typical actual wines where they try to describe what it tastes like ... not what's in it.

What's in it is supposed to be FERMENTED GRAPES.

For example:

hints of plums and beef jerky with a touch of jockstrap fungus.

That kind of thing.

Ohh ok. you is waffling poopoo about the porkypine urine.

so what else you waffling poopoo about ?

I suspect most from your keyboard.

You might try staying off the wine for a while before you post. Just sayin'.

[Don Mega]

Who seriously would buy a bottle of any alcohol that lists "sweat of porcupine" as a content.

How do collect the sweat from a porcupine let alone bottle it ?

Did you not get it?

That was an example of typical actual wines where they try to describe what it tastes like ... not what's in it.

What's in it is supposed to be FERMENTED GRAPES.

For example:

hints of plums and beef jerky with a touch of jockstrap fungus.

That kind of thing.

Ohh ok. you is waffling poopoo about the porkypine urine.

so what else you waffling poopoo about ?

I suspect most from your keyboard.

You might try staying off the wine for a while before you post. Just sayin'.

wine is for poofters.

I don't drink wine.

[SoiBiker]

You've been here how long?

[schondie]

I sympathise as I wanted to buy a couple of bottles of wine for Christmas but all I could find in Phatthalung Tesco and Makro was fruit based wines. I couldn't be bothered going back to Hat Yai for it. Tesco used to have a good selection of real wines until they had a clear out (99 to 399 baht every bottle of wine in the shop).

I became a little wary from the lower than usual prices so read the labels, blended fruit wines regardless of country of origin - Australia, France, South Africa and Chile etc.

[Jingthing]

How long has this been going on?

[Langsuan Man]

How long has this been going on?

Excise Tax Act, B.E.2527(1984) > Payers of taxes on merchandise or products

source: http://excise-english.excise.go.th/PEOPLE/KNOWLEDGE/TAX_KNOW/2527ACT/27TAXPAYER/index.htm

For more detailed information, at least for Australian Wines see this web site, which basically says that the WTO has admonished Thailand several times for not honoring trade agreements in the past (gee what a surprise ! ) they skirt the rules by calling it an Excise Tax and not an Import Tax

http://www.austrade.gov.au/Australian/Export/Export-markets/Countries/Thailand/Industries/Wine

Which should serve as a warning to all of those TV members that think the ASEAN free trade agreement is going to make any difference here

[xylophone]

As has already been said, this subject and many associated with it have been detailed and discussed in the Montclair Wine thread, including wine bottled in Vietnam etc.

[vogie]

Who seriously would buy a bottle of any alcohol that lists "sweat of porcupine" as a content.

How do collect the sweat from a porcupine let alone bottle it ?

Did you not get it?

That was an example of typical actual wines where they try to describe what it tastes like ... not what's in it.

What's in it is supposed to be FERMENTED GRAPES.

For example:

hints of plums and beef jerky with a touch of jockstrap fungus.

That kind of thing.

Ohh ok. you is waffling poopoo about the porkypine urine.

so what else you waffling poopoo about ?

I suspect most from your keyboard.

You might try staying off the wine for a while before you post. Just sayin'.

wine is for poofters.

I don't drink wine.

Great post, thanks for the time and effort afforded to it.