Wine in Thailand
 

How's the wine in Thailand? Good? Bad? Not much produced in Thailand? Expensive? Inexpensive? Thanks.....

Thailand does not have a domestic wine industry. Imported wine is expensive as customs duties are high. Also, sometimes it has not been correctly stored so can be off in smaller places. Best off ordering recent vintages of well known hence high turnover wines. Beer is always an option...

hmmmm..., i thought i saw some thai wine for sale in bkk. maybe hanuman will know.

Thailand 'does' have a wine industry and Thai wine is available, as to quality I couldn't say, I have had a glass a couple of times a few years back but I am no wine expert so couldn't say about quality.

If you go to the thread 'How many bottles' from a few days back wine prices were discussed.
Just a few prices: 2 litres ( I guess close to half a gallon )Italian wine B 365 ( about USD 9 ), a bottle of good Hardy's Australian about B 650 ( USD 16 )

There are some Thai produced wines(red and white type and many cottage industry type rice wine) available but I don't drink them. Quality is mediocre at best and the price is not that competitive in comparison to the imported wines of better taste. I believe the producers in Thailand import most of their grapes. The best local wine is Chateau De Loei(chenin blanc - white wine) and there are about 6 to 12 more producers around the country.

As James has said the best value wines in Thailand are Australian and Chilean. Thailand has just signed a free trade agreement with Australia at the beginning of the year so you can expect the price of Australian wines to drop further.

We have a very arcane import regulation for liquor so if one importer has a license to import Mondavi no body else can import Mondavi wines. I believe this is also another reason why the prices of wine in Thailand are quite high.

Where are you coming from? We drink a lot of wine and hate having to pay$A15 plus for a red wine in Thailand(Hardys)which costs about $A5 in Australia and is pretty awful.What we do is simply carry in about 6 bottles of our favourite red which lasts us for about 10 days.The whites are Ok but then I am not really a white wine drinker.

Thanks for the information. Looks like beer is a better option. We'll be flying in from Colorado, so transporting a few bottles of wine would be heavy. Australian/Chilian wines are great; so we'll go for them while we are there. Also, looks like from other postings that Thai beer is inexpensive and tasty. Thanks again for info.

the beer is excellent and very reasonable as is bottled water...

Thanks for your reply, rhkkmk. Do you have a favorite beer?

Clilean wines are cheaper than Australia, around B 350-450 (US$ 9-11.50) a bottle.

Beer:
Heineken
Singha ( normal and Gold )
Chang
Leo etc

I would try a Chang, then a Singha, then a Heineken and decide. A lot of people swear never to have a hangover after Singha but personaly I find it lkeaves a loussy 'taste', I go for Heineken or if not available Chang, but it is very rare (sadly ) that I have a drink anyway

Just a note, if you are into mixers or liquors 'they' are cheap, bottles similar to Malibu are about B 180-280 ( US$4.50 to 7 ) a bottle. Gin is about the same price. Jamaican Rum ( cheap quality ) is also around that price.

we like singha and usually order it...many restaurants have a large bottle---equal to about 3-4 glasses so we often order that for dinner...just the right amount...they chill it very cold as well....remember never use any ice in thailand....

hi kywood1955-if you are staying on Club floors at any of BKK's top hotels you can indulge in some fine wine e.g. Shangri-La & Marriott, who both serve great aussie wines included in their club floor rate. We usually have a few wines, some lovely nibblies then grab a taxi and hit the magic restaurants! If you prefer wine you'll save a bunch by using the club lounges. Have fun!

bia singha in thailand tastes difrent from the one in the states..

it's pretty rancid tasting in thailand hell the thais barely drink it...

I personally liked Singha beer during my visit to Thailand.

How about gin & tonic? Where is it served in Bangkok? How much does it cost? Anyone?

You can get a Gin and Tonic pretty much any bar or restaurant except local eateries where it would just be beer. Cost depends widely, anything from B 40 to 4 times that, depends on the type of place, should average around the B 70-110. A bottle of OK Gin is about B 280 (US$ 7) Tonic water in cans from shops is B 13 ( 30 cents US ).

Thank you, James.

How much would it cost if the establishment served me (i.e. as opposed to me buying it separately)?

B 60 to B 160 depending where you drink, do it in a hotel bar and they will probably charge B 120 or more and then add 17%

Many thanks, James.

My in depth knowledge on this subject might make you think that I have empty bottles covering the floor, but the truth is I used to own a restaurant here! Honest....! ( Whoops...spilt it again!)