Just how expensive is wine in Thailand?
 

Hi Guys
Thanks for all your advice to date.
Just one quick question!
I LOVE to drink wine and by all accounts its expensive in Thailand as its all imported
Just how expensive is it? I know its a bit of an open question - depends on what you are drinking but for a nice middle of the road wine (say equivalent of a Eur 15 / USD 20bottle)

Can you buy wine in Bottle Shops/Off Licence/ Carry out shops ?
Tks!

A recent vintage third growth(or more) French grand cru will cost you around 2,000 baht at a wine cellar. For 15 Euro, or about 750 baht, you can buy some ok Chilean or Australian wine.

At a restaurant you should expect to pay at least double the price from a cellar.

There are quite a few places where you can buy wine, the big supermarket will have the best prices but not a good selection IMO.

Wow - that's like alomost Eur 85 Eur for a decent bottle of wine

Guess I won't be drinking too much wine on honeymoon. Throw Banyan Tree prices on top and thats a definite No!!!

A 2 lite bottle of table wine Italian is about THB 380. A bottle of reasonable Chilean about THB 380-450, pleasant Australian or South African about THB 650-850.

In restaurant the mark-up varies greatly from one place to another but depending on where you are and the restaurant around THB 750-1,200 I would normaly expect to pay, and that if my memory is right is a lot less than I would pay in a restaurant in Europe, same goes for wine by the glass:

A glass of house wine ( depending on restaurants ) perhaps THB 100-180

we find the wine about twice as expensive generally as in usa....there is some thai wine now i believe also...

the other issue is the stability of the wine in the heat...this has been an issue in days past...

we just generally forgo it except for an occaisonal glass in a restaurant, which is also expensive ....

I'm pretty picky about the wine I drink, so I just don't drink wine in Thailand.

I drink mostly beer in Thailand especially with Thai food although I have noticed that some wines by the glass are quite reasonable. Due to the heat issues that Bob mentioned, I would not order an expensive bottle of wine in Thailand.

I also love wine but I am not opposed to downing a few cold ones! :-)

I didn't want to drink bad wine or go without it on my trip in Feb. so I brought along 2 bottles.

I drank them over the first couple of weeks and that left room to pack some of the things I bought at the markets!

I plan on doing the same thing on my trip in Nov.

I am also quite fond of Wine, and still manage to drink it all the time while I am in Bangkok and staying in a serviced aparmtents!

Yes, it is more expensive than elsewehre, but, other things are less, so...

Places u can buy wine in Bangkok include the specialty wine areas in all the big supermarkets, such as Tops, Villa, the Market Place, even TEsco/Lotus shops too. The new Siam Paragon supermarket on lower level has a nice wine shop, and there is a good wine shop in the Emporium mall, next to the supermarket there..

The Villa Supermarkets have a decent selection of wine/ pretty good prices relatively speaking, and many 2 for 1's.

There is also specilaty wine shop in Bangkok with a few loactions called the Wine Connection. There is huge one in Silom/Sala Daeng area and there is a smaller one on Sukhumvit.

To life! Sawaeeka..

We took a look at the wine shop in the Emporium and found the selection to be limited and the price of champagne was 3x-4x what we pay, and the selection of wines was rather narrow and the prices were about 2x - 2.5x what we usually pay. (double those prices for restaurant prices.) I often bring along a special bottle of wine or two, and frequently have purchased champagne at duty free to bring along.

Check out the Wine Connection on silom/Sala Daeng! It is a huge shop/ the biggest of all the places i mentioned, and a diverse collection. I ALWAYS find something there to keep fluid.

Oh, another interesting wine shop comes to Mind..It is actually in the Sofitel Hotel on silom on the top floor..It is actualy a resturant/wine bar/wine market caled V9. It has great views and lovely atmopshere too and some good wines. Again, it is all relative..But i surely find things for my taste/budget in Bangkok..

Actually, compared to what u find in INDIA where i live 8 months a year, i find Bangkok has a superb wine selection, and for me it is fine! Buying wine in India is a nightmare!

So i am happy with what is available compared to Delhi, and though prices are steep, at least it is out there and u will not get trampled in a small drive by "English wine Shop"! That is what liquer stores are called in India. And outside the stores there is often a line of Taxis and ricksaw~wallahs drivers after after their days work. And very few women, except the occasionaly foreginer, like me...

And as i spend less on food and lodging in Bkk as compared to many destiantions too, i can make up for it on wine!

In the US and Europe I always drink wine with dinner (even eating alone at home), and beer makes me bloated and nauseous. But in Asia I drink beer almost exclusively - imported wine is too expensive and local wine is undrinkable. Oddly, brands I can drink happily in Asia, like Kingfisher or Singha, don't agree with me when I drink them in the US.

I too enjoy wine, before, with and even after dinner!. I agree that wine prices are about 2 - 2.5 times more expensive than in the US. However, the Singha beer is very good and cheap, and goes well with Thai food. One other thing we noticed was that Scotch (dh's fav) is very inexpensive, especially if you go for a non big name brand. You will find several spirits at affordable prices.
Sue

One other problem now is that we are not allowed liquids on the plane so I guess a lot of our Duty free wine purchases will not be allowed?
Here is something I need to know from someone who has flown an Air Asia internal flight. I think I read that we can get duty free on the plane or if it's delivered to the plane before takeoff, however, what about if you buy it from US- Narita, then have to change flights Narita - BKK, then the following day BKK- Phuket? Will they let you bring the unopened wine bottles on the onward flights? I'm thinking they will not.
Sue

Why don't you just buy at BKK? There is duty free there after security, the prices are pretty good and as far as I know, the policy has not changed. If the policy has changed, I hope someone will chime in.

Well, i only buy moderate priced wine to begin with, but as i keep saying, i have no trouble buying wine in Bangkok. U can find plenty of wine in the $15~$20 range..

yes, bottles i buy in the States may be a couple dolars more, but it is still withing my range of reason, all things consdiered....so if u are looking for a bottle in the moderate priced range, u can find plenty in some of the stores mentioned..

Recently in Bangkok our restaurant was asking FROM $100 Aus per bottle ( I think that is about $75 US )and upwards. As much as I need my glass( or several) of red, I (like thursdaysd) stick to beer. As others say if you need to buy, stick to shops rather than restaurants. Someone said on anothet post , there is a markup in Thailand of something like 400%.

Psss.... here are some black market prices for wine and champange in Bangkok:

Penfold bin 2 at 800 baht a bottle.
Penfold 407 at 1,200 baht a bottle.
Penfold 707 at 2,200 baht a bottle.
Lynch Bages 1997 at 2,200 baht a bottle.
Dom Perignon 1998 at 3,200 baht a bottle.
Krug Grand Cuvee at 3,400 baht a bottle.

Although the 'top' restaurants probably won't allow or not like it most middle range and under type of restaurants will allow you to bring in your own wine, normaly they charge a few hyundred baht 'service' and it works fine, so once you know your favorite restaurant allows it buy from a local store. I have seen restaurant prices where abottle in the stores costs say B 650 being sold for B 2,250, but at the same time we go to plenty or restauranrs where that B 650 is sold for maybe B 950.

Taking your own expensive whisky or whatever into a restaurant is popular, sometime the 'service' fee otherwise an amount that covers a certain number of mixers plus ice.

Hanuman, those aren't bad prices ... a 1997 Lynch Bages for about US$55... Dom for US$80...are you going to let us in on how to buy black market fine wines?

The best wine bar in Bangkok is V9 at the top of the Sofitel Silom. The wine is provided by Wine Connection, which has several shops around town.

V9 is a piano bar with a beautiful view, a great selection, and at great prices (for Bangkok.) You should be able to find a bottle you like for under $25.

Kathie, I collect fine wines and I normally auction for them in the UK and would keep the wines in the cellars there. So from my own experiences these prices are even better than the USA and Europe but they are from the black market! I don't think it will be wise to tell people here how to contact such dubious black marketers but I just wanted to let my fellow wine lover know that they do exist in Bangkok.

Thank you Hanuman. I will file away that info for when I'm living in Thailand - I hope in about 5 years or so.

Not all wines are imported. There are some Thai wineries that are wining prestigious awards. However, they are also subject to the local 400% excise tax, so they are more expensive in Thailand than they are in France!

The cheap "black market" wines are bought in from Laos, where you can get good French wines for around $10 a bottle.

Michael, yes the cheap ones are smuggled in from Laos and Cambodia. Just a few weeks ago about 2,000 + bottles of Penfolds were confiscated from a fishing boat in the gulf of Thailand. I've often had very bad, not well kept stuff, that were smuggled in the way you've described. The good stuff, 707s, lynch bages, doms etc, are not brought in to the country like that. They come by air!