The Perils Of Buying Vintage Wines in Hong Kong
Rene Wong, Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century, talks about the perils of buying vintage wines in his Monday commentary for Winebuzz.hk.
Ever asked yourself why there is so much choice in recent vintages (like 2006, 2007 or 2008) as opposed to older vintages (like before 2000), when most of the recent vintages are not yet mature and older vintages are probably more at their peak?
Well, the naked truth is that wine merchants have a strong interest in moving their new releases in order to make way for next year’s stock. The more wine they sell this year, the bigger the discount wine producers offer for the following year’s wine. The second reason has to with conservation risk; because wine runs a greater risk of being exposed to non-optimal conditions (ie humidity, temperature, human manipulation) over time, the simple fact is the older they get the higher the risk.
So, when you buy an old vintage wine from a wine merchant list, make sure the bottles are in pristine condition and that, during the journey from the UK, US or Europe to Hong Kong, the wine is kept in optimal condition. As there is no guarantee that the wine you bought is in the same condition as it was originally, the risk of you actually buying a bottle of wine that is flawed or has been exposed to unfavorable conditions is something that must be considered.
One other thing to watch out for to ensure the bottle has been moved at a minimum is to read the counter-label carefully – they usually show the number of stops they have made to arrive at the final destination. You may be surprised at how many different ports that bottle of Bordeaux stopped at before arriving in Hong Kong. Again, the rule of thumb here is that the fewer times it has been moved, the lower the risk of something going wrong or negatively affecting the wine.
This article is written by Rene Wong, Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century, shop 2 , 30-32 Wyndham Street, Lang Kwai Fong, Tel:6681 1825.
Loading ...