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Emerging trends have the local wine situation looking
less like a bobbing cork and more and more like a craft ready
to set sail. David Swartzentruber provides a report.
At the start of 2004 press services reported that the worldwide
wine industry had grown as large as the global cosmetics industry.
That achievement is outstanding for a beverage that dates
back perhaps as far as 100,000 years and that can enhance
one’s beauty only in the spiritual sense. However, in
Thailand wine consumption accounts for only one percent of
the total figure of alcoholic beverage consumption. Regardless,
though, the wine trade in Thailand remains lively, spirited
and competitive with quite a few interesting trends developing.
Those trends to keep an eye on during 2005 are: the effect
of free trade agreements (FTAs) with wine-producing countries,
the emergence of new wine distributors with high-quality products
and the likelihood of an increase in the wine excise tax following
the national election.
The Australian FTA has been widely publicised and in the
waning months of 2004, new Australian wineries were entering
Thailand’s market at the rate of about two a week. They’re
lining up to get a foothold in the Thai marketplace as import
duties on Australian wines will decrease to zero over the
next 10 years.
Beginning in 2005, Australian wines will increasingly be taking
up shelf space and wine list spots at the expense of European
brands. It’s a worldwide process and has the French wine
industry in a state of shock. This writer’s only comment
to the French wine industry is a line from a famous American
baseball movie, The Natural: “You should have seen it
comin’.”
However, before wine lovers in Thailand begin jumping up
and down over the prospects of a tide of affordable Aussie
wines hitting the market, the fact is the high cost of wine
in Thailand traces back not to the import duties but to the
excise tax. Next to India, Thailand has the second highest
excise tax on wine in Asia. On any list of the world’s
most expensive cities, Tokyo always ranks near the top, yet
wine costs more in Bangkok than in Tokyo. Thailand’s
Siam Winery sells its Monsoon Valley wines in Paris at a price
lower than what is asked for in Bangkok.
On the subject of Thai wineries, there are five of them: Chateau
de Loei, Siam Winery, Khao Yai, Chateau des Brumes, GranMonte
and Shala One. All of these wineries are making good quality
table wines and Chateau de Loei has even produced an outstanding
natural sweet wine from the chenin blanc grape. Khao Yai is
also expected to produce an outstanding 2003 chenin blanc.
There must be at least 200 companies licensed to import and
distribute wine in Thailand. If you go to outlying shopping
centres in greater Bangkok, you may find one of these firms
that essentially sell their wines only in this particular
centre. The husband may have a full-time day job while the
wife covers the wine shelves, which are typically not in a
store space but on the centre’s floor. The display shelves
are pulled out and put away each and every day. Now that’s
dedication.
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The big players in the industry are such firms as Ambrose
Wines, Bangkok Liquor, Berli Jucker, Italthai and Vanichwathana.
These companies import a wide range of wines from many countries.
In the middle range are importers such as California Wine
Company, Cititex, Comte de Sibour, Independent Wine &
Spirits, Nicolas Wines, Italasia, and V&K Imports. These
companies are aggressively marketing their respective brands.
Italasia has Italian wines of the highest order, while Wine
Care (formerly Wine Gallery) specialises in good quality wines
from all over the world.
Then there are two firms, Bucks and Bullion and Splendid
Surplus, that at some point during the year sneaked their
products onto shelves and provided some incredible values.
Bucks and Bullion sold an incredibly fine 1993 Delaul Mare
Romanian pinot noir, which was an incredible buy at Foodland
for 480 baht.
Of late, a few quality-oriented import houses have entered
the scene. Five of them come to mind: Bangkok Beer and Beverages,
Cellarium, Eastern Beverages, FoodcomThailand and take-fin.
These new distributors are adding excitement to the market
by bringing in new wines as well as by creating some new marketing
perspectives. Take-fin’s Wine as Art approach is a good
example of this direction.
One place to find really good wine in Bangkok at the consumer
level is at special wine-related events and at wine clubs.
Bangkok hotels do an exceptional job at promoting winemaker
dinners that offer exceptional wine and food. Most of the
major Thailand hotels host such dinners at some time during
the year. Information on the events are available from the
hotel or in the daily newspapers.
A few wine clubs have established themselves in the market.
The longest-running is the Royal Cliff in Pattaya, while in
Bangkok the two-year-old Dusit Thani Wine Club and the Plaza
Athenee’s Le Club are making waves. Winemaker dinners
usually run from 1,250 baht up to 2,000 baht. They’re
well worth it as one can get to sample some interesting wines
and even upon occasion some great wines.
At the restaurant level, it’s fairly easy for any of
Bangkok’s 3,000 restaurants to cobble together a wine
list using the consignment method. Under consignment, a restaurant
does not actually pay the wine supplier for the wine until
the customer buys the wine. This reduces the restaurant’s
overhead and allows a decent wine list to be assembled.
But for most wine lovers, variety is the spice of life and
we often are in search of a range of tastes. One of the innovations
in this area is the Wine Buffet developed by the new To Die
For restaurant at the H-1 complex, adjacent to the canal bridge
on Soi Thonglor. Every evening between 7 and 10 pm, customers
can drink all they want of the approximately six wines offered
by the glass for a flat charge of 890 baht. One hopes this
approach will be successful, allowing To Die For to expand
the number of wines available by the glass.
In terms of wine grazing, I do have a favourite and that’s
the Opera Riserva 1983 Winetheque on Sukhumvit Soi 39. This
wine bar is presided over by the knowledgeable and congenial
Roberto Ferrin from northern Italy.
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