Grapes

Since you asked, it means “Anything But Chardonnay.” You’ll know what I mean if you’ve become bored comatose with those dull bottom-end Chardonnays and now avoid them like the plague. But you know it shouldn’t really be like this. Chardonnay is one of the world’s great white grapes. It’s the most important component in Champagne and the major white grape of Burgundy where it produces wines of amazing depth and complexity. It’s also the soul of the superb bone-dry wines of Chablis.

It is a depressing fact that Thailand is one of the most expensive countries for wine in South-East Asia. Imported wines attract a huge import duty of 60%, which cranks up the prices well above those in Europe and the USA.

There is something terribly romantic about rosé wine. For me, rosé conjures up images of high summer and a leisurely al fresco lunch in a luxuriant garden somewhere in the South of France: a blue check tablecloth, a bowl of olives, Mediterranean salads, plates of cheese, hunks of crusty French bread and cold bottles of rosé glistening with condensation in the sunlight. But perhaps I am a bit old-fashioned.