Wine/Beer

[busy B]

Where are the best places to buy wine/beer? Can you buy it in bulk? I was hoping to fine a reasonable price somewhere and stock up.

Another question? Why is Australian wine so expensive here? I am from the US and we get it way cheaper there (sometimes as little as $6 USD a bottle). I would think since Australia provides many goods to Singapore, the cost to the consumer would be cheaper. I've noticed all alcohol is pretty expensive, so am I correct in thinking there is a large tax on alcohol?

I have heard of people getting reasonable prices in Malaysia, but I don't know the laws regarding how much you can bring back. Thanks in advance 

[borders]

I didn't think you could bring any back from Malaysia - at least you can't when you fly in from there (even if you've only transferred flights there).

[Plonker]

There is a wine retailer next to cold store in Parkway Parade which has a some bargain buys with Merlot (Australian) about S$19 and Chilean S$12. Sauvignon too. I'm not a Merlot drinker but this is quite good and beats the S$35 which appears par for the course elsewhere.
If you buy, please complain about the price otherwise next week it will have doubled.

[Bodega Babe]

Check out The Cellar Door. They have a good selection of antipodean wine, as well as some Chilean wine that is reasonably priced. No doubt this will be deleted...............................

[to PP]

So it should be!  Cellar door is bloody expensive and I object paying $40 for a bottle of $10 plonk from NZ.

[winedrinkerandimporter]

We import our wine directly from Europe. Including shipping costs and taxes, it still works out much cheaper than buying wine of similar quality in Singapore.

There are online services 'share a container', should you have no direct contacts to someone in the shipping industry.

Think about it.

[a little place]

on Joo Chiat where it meets Dunman Rd.Think the owner is English so he has lots of beers but does specials on wines too

[crazykid]

the wine company has some good wine 

[Girthwider]

Check out Cellar Bration.

[BeerDeliver]

Check out Pacific Beverages (Burn Down the House) website for beer.  They will deliver.

[vino veritas]

I also import myself. The tax is cheap at $7 per bottle. The markups in singapore comes from the distributors. Trading and marking up is what makes it possible for so many here to drive fancy cars. For sure you need to mark a $5 wine up to $40 + tax in order to afford a ferrari...

[marriedguy]

Sheng Siong has some wine and beer at reasonable prices, though you will not get the same range as per more 'western' supermarkets.

[cmdsea]

I resent paying more than $20/bottle for my daily drinkers...

My highly unscientific survey

Cheap wine from NTUC: Undrinkable Vinegar

Cheap wine from Cold Storage: A mixed bag, some OK, some awful

Cheap wine from Carrefour: Reliably good.

Not sure if its their French roots but their wine buyer seems to consistently find good options at all price points. Even better now that they have online ordering and will deliver free for >$150 spent.

[Plonker]

Next to Cold Store in Parkway Parade, the Merlot is now S$15.
A fair bottle of Australian wine in UK retails for as little as S$10, similar to USA. Its the greedy Singapore retailers who add the extra to finance their exorbitant over-priced lifestyle.
I have not checked closely but maybe some good cheaper Chilean too.

[Import Taxes]

Are $7-8 per bottle.  Most of the calculation is based on alcohol volume rather than market price of the wine.  In my experience, the wine that costs $20 or so is undrinkable plonk, I wouldn't even use it for cooking.  By the time that distribution costs and mark-ups are factored in, the value of the actual wine is negligible and for good reason.  More expensive wines offer better value here, although they are still multiples of their equivalents on shelves in Oz etc.