I'm heading to Thailand (phuket) in a couple of weeks, and have become aware of the huge makups and duties that they apply on wine.
Some examples at restaurants are:
Penfold Bin 407 Cabernet-Sauvignon 2005 - 7,900 THB ($345 AUD)
Sandalford Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 - 2,800 THB ($122 AUD)
And I seem to remember seeing Koonunga Hill for around $100 on one restaurant's website.
I get to take one bottle in luggage, but that won't be enough.
Has anyone been to phuket and been able to recommend a place to get good wine at prices that aren't extortionate?
Wine in Thailand
I've only been to Phuket once, 3 years ago now, but wine availability in Thailand has improved over the past few years, if not the prices so much, despite the free trade agreement with Australia.
Restaurant wine prices will always be high, but many will allow byo, although corkage charges can be quite high. There is (as in Australia) often a wine or two on restaurant lists with less markup than usual, we have drunk reasonable NV Champagne a couple of times cheaper than $25 (AUD in Aus) reds on the same list.
On Koh Samui (smaller than Phuket), there were two new dedicated wine/spirit shops, new since the year before with a good range of wines and some quite reasonable prices (for Thailand). Also many of the supermarkets will have a liquor section, Tesco Lotus will have and smaller supermarkets will have a wine section too and there will be some Aus wines amongst them. The AUD is in the dumps now, but last year we saw quite a few Aus wines at about twice Aus street price, less in some cases.
We always travel light on the way over and leave room for 2-3 bottles in each case (packed in polystyrene containers) and sometimes add a couple of bottles duty-free as carry-on, we've not been hassled by customs in 5-6 trips there. If you like real Thai food, you should find Aus Shiraz goes really well with most of the food, much better than cabernet-based wines.
A quick google finds:
http://www.phuket.com/mmwine/index.htm
http://www.phuket.net/phuket-living/wine.htm
http://phuketindex.com/eatfun/wine/
http://www.phuket.net/going-out/restaur ... ection.htm
http://envision-phuket.com/retail.php
Restaurant wine prices will always be high, but many will allow byo, although corkage charges can be quite high. There is (as in Australia) often a wine or two on restaurant lists with less markup than usual, we have drunk reasonable NV Champagne a couple of times cheaper than $25 (AUD in Aus) reds on the same list.
On Koh Samui (smaller than Phuket), there were two new dedicated wine/spirit shops, new since the year before with a good range of wines and some quite reasonable prices (for Thailand). Also many of the supermarkets will have a liquor section, Tesco Lotus will have and smaller supermarkets will have a wine section too and there will be some Aus wines amongst them. The AUD is in the dumps now, but last year we saw quite a few Aus wines at about twice Aus street price, less in some cases.
We always travel light on the way over and leave room for 2-3 bottles in each case (packed in polystyrene containers) and sometimes add a couple of bottles duty-free as carry-on, we've not been hassled by customs in 5-6 trips there. If you like real Thai food, you should find Aus Shiraz goes really well with most of the food, much better than cabernet-based wines.
A quick google finds:
http://www.phuket.com/mmwine/index.htm
http://www.phuket.net/phuket-living/wine.htm
http://phuketindex.com/eatfun/wine/
http://www.phuket.net/going-out/restaur ... ection.htm
http://envision-phuket.com/retail.php
Cheers
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
-
JamieBahrain
- Posts: 3754
- Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:40 am
- Location: Fragrant Harbour.
Thanks RB and Jamie,
I'll definately try to take more next time I go.
I ended up taking a Seppelt Drumborg (thinking that it would do well in a warm climate[which it did]), and an 06 Wynns BL.
Needless to say, both wines were finished after my third night.
Whilst accustomed to drinking wine, predominately red, there were a wealth of other cheap options available. Singha Beer, for approx $2.20 for a longneck at the supermarkets ($5-6 at bars). Still half the price. For the alcho, $1.30 for a longneck of chang at 6.7% alc - quickly realised the danger of that.
But for all the cheap alcohol options, I missed australian wine, and ended up buying a Taylors entry level cabernet for $40 equiv. Ah, australian wine, despite this example being so poor.
An intersting buy was a half bottle of 'St Clair reserve' "south africa", for $7 for a half bottle. It seemed like all the convenience stores were selling it. What was claimed to be south african grapes, were blended in thailand by their 'master blenders'. Not sure where it was vinified (one would hope south africa), but wherever it was they manage to get around the import duties. I say this because the wine tasted like benzene, and no one in their right mind would finish a bottle (I assume that's why the half bottle).
I was tempted to buy wine at a restaurant, especially at Mom Tri's. I have heard of a custom (albiet making sense in australia), that the wine spend should equal the food spend. But I couldn't bring myself to match a single bottle of Bin 128 to a meal of lobster and duck plus other courses. $200 for food (expected), and $200 for a bottle of Bin 182 - I think not...
Glad to be back in Australia, and am enjoying an 07 Stonier Pinot Noir atm, god I missed pinot!.
I'll definately try to take more next time I go.
I ended up taking a Seppelt Drumborg (thinking that it would do well in a warm climate[which it did]), and an 06 Wynns BL.
Needless to say, both wines were finished after my third night.
Whilst accustomed to drinking wine, predominately red, there were a wealth of other cheap options available. Singha Beer, for approx $2.20 for a longneck at the supermarkets ($5-6 at bars). Still half the price. For the alcho, $1.30 for a longneck of chang at 6.7% alc - quickly realised the danger of that.
But for all the cheap alcohol options, I missed australian wine, and ended up buying a Taylors entry level cabernet for $40 equiv. Ah, australian wine, despite this example being so poor.
An intersting buy was a half bottle of 'St Clair reserve' "south africa", for $7 for a half bottle. It seemed like all the convenience stores were selling it. What was claimed to be south african grapes, were blended in thailand by their 'master blenders'. Not sure where it was vinified (one would hope south africa), but wherever it was they manage to get around the import duties. I say this because the wine tasted like benzene, and no one in their right mind would finish a bottle (I assume that's why the half bottle).
I was tempted to buy wine at a restaurant, especially at Mom Tri's. I have heard of a custom (albiet making sense in australia), that the wine spend should equal the food spend. But I couldn't bring myself to match a single bottle of Bin 128 to a meal of lobster and duck plus other courses. $200 for food (expected), and $200 for a bottle of Bin 182 - I think not...
Glad to be back in Australia, and am enjoying an 07 Stonier Pinot Noir atm, god I missed pinot!.
aj_syrah wrote:For the alcho, $1.30 for a longneck of chang at 6.7% alc - quickly realised the danger of that.
Ah, Chang. Delicious, wonderful Chang. I drank a lot of that when I was in Thailand last year - it was the staple beer of my Koh Tao dive resort. Managed to avoid doing any damage to myself, too!
I found Thailand and Malaysia are fairly devoid of decent Australian wine, and reasonably priced decent Australian wine is even more rare. There was plenty in Singapore and I found it reasonably well priced and of decent quality...
Steve wrote:aj_syrah wrote:For the alcho, $1.30 for a longneck of chang at 6.7% alc - quickly realised the danger of that.
Ah, Chang. Delicious, wonderful Chang. I drank a lot of that when I was in Thailand last year - it was the staple beer of my Koh Tao dive resort. Managed to avoid doing any damage to myself, too!
I found Thailand and Malaysia are fairly devoid of decent Australian wine, and reasonably priced decent Australian wine is even more rare. There was plenty in Singapore and I found it reasonably well priced and of decent quality...
Beer Chang is also supposedly a bit lax on alcohol level control and some batches are reputed to be 7.5% or even more. Apparently once a high-test batch is identified there is a bit of a rush to buy it.
Re Aus wine, it depends on what you consider decent and a reasonable price. This was the selection in a local a/c supermarket on Koh Samui a couple of years ago when the exchange rate was about 33Bt to the AUD. Last year there were more available at two new wine shops at similar markups on Aus retail, but the low AUD will be a bit of a dampner this year.
Cheers
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
Brian
Life's too short to drink white wine and red wine is better for you too! :-)
We took 10lt of wine in casks on our Phuket trip last year, and we had no problems. We also had a couple of decent bottles of wine and a couple of bottles of champagne, all for a wedding. Didn't even raise an eyebrow through the x-ray machines. I think with all the other things they're on the lookout for, wine is a long way down their list.
Cheers,
Dave
Cheers,
Dave
Great picture RB,
Certainly a lot more appetising than the shelves I viewed. At 33 Baht to the dollar, the Majella certainly looks good at around $50. At current exchange rates, alas, it would almost be $80.
I'm thinking of going to Bali mid-year, does anyone know what wine prices are like there, as well as the range? Hope I won't have to smuggle more than the duty-free allowance in - not sure how many bottles one can fit into the boogie-board bag.
Certainly a lot more appetising than the shelves I viewed. At 33 Baht to the dollar, the Majella certainly looks good at around $50. At current exchange rates, alas, it would almost be $80.
I'm thinking of going to Bali mid-year, does anyone know what wine prices are like there, as well as the range? Hope I won't have to smuggle more than the duty-free allowance in - not sure how many bottles one can fit into the boogie-board bag.
Steve wrote:
Ah, Chang. Delicious, wonderful Chang. I drank a lot of that when I was in Thailand last year - it was the staple beer of my Koh Tao dive resort. Managed to avoid doing any damage to myself, too!
Only just avoided the damage! - had to swear myself off Chang, and opt for the better tasting, though more expensive and lower alchohol Singha...
That being said, I did encounter on Koh Phi Phi a device known as a "bucket", which may also have been available on Koh Tao and Samui. $8 at night venues for a small bucket filled with a 200ml bottle of local whiskey, ice, and coke. Divide that into standard drinks, and you are left with $1.20 for what would be a standard whiskey & cola in australia. Now that's dangerous in a serving almost 7 times the size!!