The Price Of Wine

[palander]

Why is wine that expensive in Thailand, is it a combination of import taxes and demand ? At home (not in France), supermarkets offer a huge selection of perfect drinkable wines in the 300 Baht range.

[grantbkk]

There is really not as much demand as there could be. Tax and duty add around 200% to the price of a bottle of wine. Totally ridiculous! The government gouges wine drinkers because they can under the guise of a "sin Tax". It is criminal but TIT.

[Briggsy]

The Thai distilling and brewing companies, Boon Rawd (Singha, Leo) and Thai Beverage (Saeng Som, Chang, Archa) control the lion's share of the Thai alcoholic drinks market. They have a massive and effective lobbying voice. And to a lesser extent Thai Asia Pacific Brewery (Heineken, Cheers).

Don't expect to see any reduction in tax on wine soon. Similarly don't expect to see the ASEAN free-trade agreement put into effect for beer (particularly Beer Lao) in the near future. This was stymied by the big Thai beer companies. You can buy Beer Lao but it is subject to import duty.

Any foreign challenge to this cartel is soon put to bed.

[h90]

There are sometimes offers of 5 Liter bottles of italien wines at 700-900 Baht.

Usually they are without major problems. Not top quality but better drinkable than the 500 Baht supermarket 0.7 bottles. Never had one of the "better mix with Coke" quality.

"Best Supermarket" in Pattaya and sometimes "Makro" has such offers.

[Travel2003]

Maybe it is becasue they want us to start drinking, and enjoying the good local produced stuff.

[Marvo]

The Thai distilling and brewing companies, Boon Rawd (Singha, Leo) and Thai Beverage (Saeng Som, Chang, Archa) control the lion's share of the Thai alcoholic drinks market. They have a massive and effective lobbying voice. And to a lesser extent Thai Asia Pacific Brewery (Heineken, Cheers).

Don't expect to see any reduction in tax on wine soon. Similarly don't expect to see the ASEAN free-trade agreement put into effect for beer (particularly Beer Lao) in the near future. This was stymied by the big Thai beer companies. You can buy Beer Lao but it is subject to import duty.

Any foreign challenge to this cartel is soon put to bed.

Sounds like "sour grapes" to me.

Heard recently that Grapes have started being imported from outside Thailand and fermented here locally to get round some of the hefty import duty on wines.

Edited June 8, 2008 by Marvo

[Jingthing]

Maybe it is becasue they want us to start drinking, and enjoying the good local produced stuff.

I am under the impression that Thai wines are taxed at the same absurd rates as imported wines. The government isn't hip to the health promoting qualities of wine and/or doesn't give a fig about anything but money for the beer/whiskey mafias.

[heartinhands]

One thing I was wondering was about a delectable drink that I find hard to come by in Thailand unless it is in a bar for 120 baht a glass:

Kahluah Mudslide. I really don't enjoy alcohol, its just not my thing, but if I do drink, it has to be something tasty like Kahluah.

Does anybody know of places to actually purchase this? or is it only available as an import?

[jfk]

Maybe it is becasue they want us to start drinking, and enjoying the good local produced stuff.

I am under the impression that Thai wines are taxed at the same absurd rates as imported wines. The government isn't hip to the health promoting qualities of wine and/or doesn't give a fig about anything but money for the beer/whiskey mafias.

try tesco. they have a red and white that is made in bangkok(not fruit wine) only 250 baht.

red is especially nice.

[Jingthing]

Fruit "wine"? You are kidding, right? How about some grape soda?

The fact that such bevvies are cheap doesn't disprove my point, as the cost to produce that would be almost nothing.

Edited June 8, 2008 by Jingthing

[jayhech]

If i remember correctly, a few years ago there's a campaign by the then government that encouraged Thai people to consume Thai products instead of buying imported products. To do so, they raised tax for imported "luxurious goods" and wine was one of them.

[nidhogg]

Why is wine that expensive in Thailand, is it a combination of import taxes and demand ? At home (not in France), supermarkets offer a huge selection of perfect drinkable wines in the 300 Baht range.

And seems to have become much more expensive recently as well. You used to be able to get some fairly decent offers in Villa and the like (buy one, get one, buy two get one) which meant the price per bottle was reasonable. My last trip there did not see even one offer, and individual bottles mostly up above 500 baht per. Even the local Lotus has little below 450 per bottle.

And Thai "wine" -not the fruit stuff, just the stuff they sell as "wine" - undrinkable.

[sayitaintso]

Why is wine that expensive in Thailand, is it a combination of import taxes and demand ? At home (not in France), supermarkets offer a huge selection of perfect drinkable wines in the 300 Baht range.

And seems to have become much more expensive recently as well. You used to be able to get some fairly decent offers in Villa and the like (buy one, get one, buy two get one) which meant the price per bottle was reasonable. My last trip there did not see even one offer, and individual bottles mostly up above 500 baht per. Even the local Lotus has little below 450 per bottle.

And Thai "wine" -not the fruit stuff, just the stuff they sell as "wine" - undrinkable.

i just had a glass of wine with the head of the largest wine importer in thailand, he told me the import duty for wines was 430%

i'll stick to chang.

[NHJ]

hello,

i saw a reportage showing wine produced in thailand with grappes raised in thailand, they show a wine from chonburi.

i search on internet about thai wines and i found this website wich represents the six biggest or only wine makers here in LOS, their website is : http://thaiwine.org/

my question is where to buy such products at local prices in koh samui or suratthani?

thanks.

[JSixpack]

Kahluah.

Does anybody know of places to actually purchase this?

Yeah, everywhere, any shop selling spirits--Foodland, for example. It's overpriced, though. Try some cheaper coffee liqueurs, some of which also have higher alcohol content.

Back to the topic: high wine prices here are just criminal!

[Valjean]

Maybe it is becasue they want us to start drinking, and enjoying the good local produced stuff.

I am under the impression that Thai wines are taxed at the same absurd rates as imported wines. The government isn't hip to the health promoting qualities of wine and/or doesn't give a fig about anything but money for the beer/whiskey mafias.

Yes it's an excise tax not import (or maybe there is both). So Thai wines are expensive as well. There are a very few that are OK - nothing special. The Kao Yai wine area is a nice weekend visit not so far from Bangkok.

[astral]

Try Lao Kaow, that is cheaper........

[NHJ]

<br />Try Lao Kaow, that is cheaper........ <img src="style_emoticons/default/burp.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="burp.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="drunk.gif" /><br />

haha on a side note, they produce all alcool from rice, like sansom, all the whiskies and add color, flavor and water to create the product needed but why don't they produce sake?

[bkkjames]

<br />Try Lao Kaow, that is cheaper........ <img src="style_emoticons/default/burp.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="burp.gif" /> <img src="style_emoticons/default/drunk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="drunk.gif" /><br />

haha on a side note, they produce all alcool from rice, like sansom, all the whiskies and add color, flavor and water to create the product needed but why don't they produce sake?

Give the locals some credit, when was the last time you saw Japanese guys drinking something other than a cola in a bar in Thailand?

[tw25rw]

Tried some Monsoon Valley white wine recently. It was actually quite drinkable and nothing like the syrup I've tried before.

Maybe the Thai brewers should see wine as an opportunity, but it might be a long while before the locals acquire the taste for it.

[ray08]

In Europe and Oz you can buy a good wine for Aud$ 20 - $ 50 and very good one from say $ 50- $ 100 .The 500-600 baht wines here are more like cooking wines and they equate to around $ 20 Aud where you have a decent wine ,

The idea of high duties is to protect the local market ,problem is there is no real local market to protect , i think it is more to make more money from the Wine drinking Ferang , Since no industry is being protected here and wine not popular with the locals so who really cares ,unlike spirits where taxes are low and well embraced by the local community.

Just another silly tax ,no reason they will drop as no votes will be won

[ulath]

In Europe and Oz you can buy a good wine for Aud$ 20 - $ 50 and very good one from say $ 50- $ 100 .The 500-600 baht wines here are more like cooking wines and they equate to around $ 20 Aud where you have a decent wine ,

I'd regard 15 to 25 as the price for a good wine 25 to 50 for a very good wine 50 to 100 should be excellent (not including hill of grace or grange etc).

Iam based in south Australia though.

Edited July 7, 2008 by ulath

[DeathbyDurian]

Heard recently that Grapes have started being imported from outside Thailand and fermented here locally to get round some of the hefty import duty on wines.

Seems to be true. Tesco has a decent quality 10L box of wine that is made in Thailand with imported South African grapes.

950B for 10L of 'quality' wine is the best wine deal I've found so far.

[Meerkat]

Some Thai vineyards are now making some really quite drinkable stuff. The Granmonte Winery in Khao Yai was voted 6th most promising vineyard globally a few years back in one of the trade mags. Not a bad achievement for a fledgling sector here. There are a couple of Shiraz vintages they've done that would surprise you. The whites I've tried (Chenin Blanc) have been less successful IMO.

Value for money they are not though, largely because of the high taxes already mentioned, but also because of small production runs. Many vineyards in the Khao Yai area have teamed up to bottle their own wines via a cooperative bottler to help bring costs down, but that in itself can cause some quality control issues.

Anyway, well worth a visit to the region (2 hours north of BKK). Lot's of tasting to be done for free at all the vineyards, if the owners are around they are happy to chat, and a couple of them have good restaurants too.

Real shame about the taxes - HK has just cut its wine tax to a big fat zero.

[davejonesbkk]

Why is wine that expensive in Thailand, is it a combination of import taxes and demand ? At home (not in France), supermarkets offer a huge selection of perfect drinkable wines in the 300 Baht range.

And seems to have become much more expensive recently as well. You used to be able to get some fairly decent offers in Villa and the like (buy one, get one, buy two get one) which meant the price per bottle was reasonable. My last trip there did not see even one offer, and individual bottles mostly up above 500 baht per. Even the local Lotus has little below 450 per bottle.

And Thai "wine" -not the fruit stuff, just the stuff they sell as "wine" - undrinkable.

i just had a glass of wine with the head of the largest wine importer in thailand, he told me the import duty for wines was 430%

i'll stick to chang.

430%??? You sure that's right? Foodland sell bottles of Jacobs Creek in the 800-1000 baht range....so they are less than 250 baht before they get here? That can't be right surely.....

[PREM-R]

For those of you who are based here in the Northeast of Thailand or are making visa runs to Vientiene it is possible to purchase some very good wine at reasonable prices from the duty free at the Lao side of the friendship bridge. I have often bought bottles of Penfold Bin 2 wine at about 400 baht per bottle, I am told that in Bangkok the same wine retails for around 1800 baht. I have asked the customs at the bridge in Nong Khai about bringing a case of 12 bottles of wine into Thailand and they said " no problem" but I have yet to be brave enough to risk it, prefering to bring just a few bottles, carried by myself and my girlfiend, and have not had any problems to date.

[polecat]

You used to be able to get some fairly decent offers in Villa and the like (buy one, get one, buy two get one) which meant the price per bottle was reasonable. My last trip there did not see even one offer, and individual bottles mostly up above 500 baht per. Even the local Lotus has little below 450 per bottle.

Actually, Villa are thieves and liars. They advertise wines as part of a two-for-one deal, but double the normal price. I would love to see them get punished for this, but fat chance. It's a great pity, because they have a great selection. But how can you trust a company that acts like this? I have questioned staff and management about this shoddy tactic but surprise, surprise have just been met with denials. As someone who buys half a dozen bottles a month at the already high prices one has to pay in Thailand, I have taken my custom elsewhere. I suggest others do the same.

[LivinLOS]

Wine is drunk by farangs.. so tax on wine then equals another farang tax..

Win win..

[Ratsima]

According to the Excise Department web site the excise tax on wine is 50%. (I thought it was now 60%.) The import tariff is 54% (only 40% on Australian wine). Then there's a municipal tax of 10% of the excise tax, the value added tax (VAT) of 7% and the health support project tax of 2%.

The crazy thing is that these are all ad valorem taxes based on the CIF price of the wine. A more enlightened policy might tax alcoholic beverages based on the percentage of alcohol. The current policy encourages the purchase and consumption of beverages high in alcohol content. (More bang for the buck.)

[ulath]

430%??? You sure that's right? Foodland sell bottles of Jacobs Creek in the 800-1000 baht range....so they are less than 250 baht before they get here? That can't be right surely.....

Base range of jacobs creek are around $8US http://www.wineaccess.com/store/canalshami...ducer_id=112226

Id look up the wholesale price here in S.A, but not at work dare say it would be cheaper around $4 to $5 aus depending on amount bought.