This is a wine list that was posted in the elevator in our hotel in Phrae. Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, if I could think of an excuse I'd give one. You can see, though, that the Thai wine is the most expensive on the list, rather more than even the French wine.
Imported wine is very expensive here, the import duties are high. To protect the Thai wine industry, I presume. Even a non-varietal "Red Table Wine" from Spain will cost you nine dollars anyway (300 Baht or so).
1,200 Baht is almost thirty-six dollars, for a domestic Thai wine. So the Thai pricing theory seems to be: price the stuff way up there with the imports, or even more if the stuff is drinkable, which it often is not. At the prevailing prices, I am certainly not going to be doing any research, and the Thai wines that I have come across have not been experiences that I wish to repeat at any cost. (There might be some good ones out there, there probably are, let's be fair, I am nothing if not fair, and I can kiss-ass with the best of them. I will also point out, though, that when monied Thais have a party, they buy imported wine.)
A far cry from Trader Joe's in L.A., where the Two-Buck-Chuck is drinkable, and very good wines from many countries can be had for less then five dollars per bottle.
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