Asia - Jakarta hotels running out of wine

I was in Jakarta earlier this week and in several restaurants thw wine list was extremely limited with most of the wines being "out of stock." An Indonesian colleague told me that importers of wine were reluctant to collect their inventory from bonded import warehouses due to the fall of the Rupiah. Does anyone have further information on this ???

even at higher end restaurants? ouch.

even at higher end restaurants? ouch.

Even at the Ritz-Carlton !

Even at the Ritz-Carlton !I can confirm that there is a problem with the import. Some are already talking about importing the grapes and make the wine in Indonesia.

Some are already talking about importing the grapes and make the wine in Indonesia.

I hazard a guess that those would be people who don't know much about making wine, or at least making good wine.

This situation is quite surprising. If the issue is the exchange rate, I would expect retailers and super-retailers (restaurants, hotels) to have the pricing power to push up the rupiah-denominated price on imported wine, thus making it a non-event apart from short-term cashflow.

Some are already talking about importing the grapes and make the wine in Indonesia.

I suspect this endeavor would end poorly.:D:D:D:D


Last time I drank Indonesian "wine", it was served from refilled empty beer bottles and cost 2000 Rupia a glass. I don't however think any grapes were involved ;)

I read a piece in the Straits Times from late last week describing hotels and restaurants running short of all sorts of imported alcohol, not just wine. The report attributed the shortage to a clampdown on corruption in the Immigration and Customs Bureau by a new crusading chief of that department. Allegedly, massive amounts of smuggled liquor was coming in and being slapped with faked, forged, or fraudulent tax stamps or in some cases not stamped at all. The article, FWIW, placed the blame on the importers, not the purchasers of their provisions. That seems far-fetched, as many such purchasers at least should have known and might have turned a blind eye to take advantage of lower prices.

If this is the real problem, it could take quite a while to sort out, and we might all be drinking Bintangs for a while.