Wine Gallery, also known as Best Cellar, is well known among wine enthusiasts in Bangkok as indisputably the top distributor for classified Bordeaux wines in Thailand. Yet what’s probably more of a secret is that they also stock the country’s best selection of wines from California.
To be sure, despite the fact that Thailand continues to enjoy a healthy relationship with the US under agreements such as the Treaty of Amity, there is really very little competition here when it comes to finding reds from America’s most celebrated wine-producing region. Just walk outside for five minutes today and you begin to understand why. How could the big, high-alcohol and jammy wines for which California has become notorious possibly be compatible with these sweltering Thai summers, among other things?
Wine Gallery has the best selection of top wines from California in Thailand
The answer is that the wine landscape in California is rapidly evolving. Truth be told, you might better use a term such as “renaissance” to describe what is in effect a new revitalization of the old. It was pioneers such as the late Robert Mondavi (whose wines are available, incidentally, in Thailand), after all, who from the 1960s stole the limelight from fortified, Port-style wines in California with the introduction of dry, Bordeaux-influenced reds – most notably cabernet sauvignons.
And the winemaking, just as it once did before, really is changing. As consumers’ palates mature, and new export markets (such as Thailand) play a larger role in demand, wine producers are responding. Growers are beginning to pick earlier, to cease indulging in over-extraction and to use significantly less intrusive new wood.
Thus, the days of mouth-burning, flabby, bitter wines are – for the most part – fading into the distance. But apart from the now inherent drinkability of Californian wines here, what does that mean for the consumer in Thailand? Perhaps most of all, it heralds the good news that wines in California are expressing their diversity more by the day. Whereas before it was a huge challenge to differentiate say between specific appellations within the North Coast viticulture area, let alone specific vineyard sites, today this is an integral part of drinking and enjoying wines from the Golden State.
Take the five top Californian wines we’ve selected from Wine Gallery as prime examples. Napanook, for instance, the second wine of cult winery Dominus, comes from a historical, self-hydrating single vineyard of the same name in the cooler-climate appellation of Yountville in Napa Valley; the wine is wonderfully aromatic and almost earthy, while combining this with a dense and complex palate thanks to world-class winemaking. (It also sells for a lot less than the first wine.) Or check out Peter Michael’s Les Pavots and L’Esprit des Pavots – both wonderfully balanced Bordeaux blends from the high-altitude Les Pavots vineyard in the Knights Valley appellation of Sonoma County.
Here are the picks. Click on the wine names to check out notes and scores.
Dominus Estate Napa Valley Napanook 2010
Dunn Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Howell Mountain 2005
Peter Michael Winery Knights Valley L’Esprit Des Pavots 2010
Peter Michael Winery Knights Valley Les Pavots 2008
– Jack Suckling, Executive Editor
The prices from Wine Gallery are as follows from top to bottom below: 2008 Peter Michael Les Pavots, ฿9000; 2010 Dominus Napanook, ฿6900; 2005 Dunn Vineyards, ฿6500; 2010 Peter Michael L’Esprit de Pavots, ฿6900; Araujo Estate Altagracia, ฿12000. Orders can be made by contacting [email protected]. Alternatively, Wine Gallery has store branches in Emporium, Siam Paragon, Emquartier and Terminal 21.
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