We’re glad to announce that there’s another California Wine Tasting happening in the 3d week of January, this time organized by Golden Gate Wine. These guys specialize in US wines so expect to see more US wine tastings and dinners from them, and there’ll also be a lucky draw to make things a little bit more interesting.

Wines available for tasting:

• Cline Viognier California 2007
• Williamette Valley Vineyards Riesling Oregon 2007
• Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay Napa Valley 2007
• Rex Goliath Pinot Noir Central Coast California, Napa Valley
• J.Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles, California 2007
• Foppiano Lot 96 Bin 200 California

How much?

• Grapevine member at HK$98 + 10 % per person
• Non-member at HK$198 + 10 % per person

Details:

• Date: January, 23, 2009
• Time: 6-9pm
• Venue: Tapas Bar, Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel, 64 Mody Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
• RSVP: 2891 8181 or email: jo@goldengatewine.com

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Jordi Chan is the sommelier at Peninsula Hotel. For our wine pick this week, he selects the Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc 2005 by Star Lane.

Star Lane is a vineyard located on the lower slopes of the San Rafael Mountains in Santa Ynez Valley, in sunny California. The terraine features a unique mix of weathered sand, gravel and alluvial cobbles over clay subsoil. With both excellent drainage and good water-holding capacity, these conditions mimic terrain found at the best vineyards in Bordeaux.

Their Sauvignon Blanc is bottled unfiltered after 10 months on fermentation lees (lees being the yeasty residue found in the cask); giving the wine a more rounded & creamy texture on the palate.

Tasting Notes

• White flowers, gooseberries and mandarin orange nose, with a taste of passionfruit and grapefruit. On the palate, refreshing acidity keeps the wine lively and well structured.

Food Pairing

• It is a delicious wine to pair with shellfish dishes, like mussel or clams with white wine sauce.

Wine Stats:

• Name + year: Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc 2005
• Appellation:  Santa Ynez Valley, California
• Type of wine/ varietals: Sauvignon Blanc
• Alcohol content: 13.5%
• Price: HK$650 per bottle

Wine Expert Rating

• 4 Stars

5 star= outstanding, 4 stars =worthy, 3 stars = satisfactory, 2 stars = drinkable, 1 star = avoid

Where to buy?

• Felix, The Peninsula Hong Kong. Tel: 2315 3188

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If you love Pinot Noir, we have a tasting you won’t want to miss. Altruistic Boutique Wines – the Hong Kong wine distributor that focuses on bringing in top quality boutique wines from the States – is organizing a tasting of 7 different wines from Oregon and California at Pierre 11 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Pierre 11′s new chef, Olivier Elzer, will be preparing some canapes to pair with the wine.

Wines you will be tasting:

From Arcadian Winery, Santa Rita Hills, California:

• 2005 Fiddlestix Pinot Noir, Santa Rita Hills
• 2005 Sleepy Hollow Pinor Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands

From Olson Ogden Wines, Sonoma Country, California:

• 2006 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley

From Carabella Vineyard, Willamette Valley, Oregon

• 2006 Chehalem Pinot Noir

From Eyrie Vineyards, Dundee, Oregon

• 2006 Pinot Noir Reserve

From Weestrey Winery, Dundee, Oregon

• 2007 Pinot Noir, Oracle Vineyard
• 2007 Pinot Noir, Abbey Ridge

How much?

HK$390

Details:

• Date: Saturday, November, 28, 2009
• Time: 3-5pm
• Venue: Pierre 11, 25/F Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Central.
• RSVP required, call Karin by Thursday, November 26 at 9308 2228 or karin@altruisticwines.com

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Way down south of Napa and Sonoma is Temecula Wine Country. Riverside County, California’s Supervisor, Jeff Stone, is going on a trip. He wants to go to a 6-day trade commission to Hong Kong in November and he wants to bring his friends: Temecula Wine

A group of Temecula winery owners who all have aspirations and dreams to one day enter the Chinese wine market which grew 20 percent to 2.8 billion last year. The groups itinerary will lead them to an International Wine & Spirits festival with government officials to mingle and attempt to squeeze a foot through the door. In addition to 5 days spent in HK, they will also dabble a bit in the mainland via Shenzhen.

Although Temecula Valley Wine Country producers make much less than their northern California counterparts, this hasn’t stopped a growing interest to export overseas into new and exciting markets. In fact, most were so excited that they paid the $2,588 (HK$20, 000) per person to free themselves. Most were probably encouraged even further by the recent lifting of tariffs on importing wines.

But everything is not all positive with exporting overseas. “The efforts have produced mixed results. Foreign interests have made inquires about Temecula’s Wine Country in the past few years, and some wineries have even negotiated very small deals with importers from Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong. But Bill Wilson, of Wilson Creek Winery, said he lost $15,000 after a distributor who agreed to deliver Wilson Creek wines to China failed to pay up.” Later Wilson mentioned that two years ago on a tour of China non-Temecula wineries, he was unable to give out samples because his supply was quarantined.

Good luck to them but their challenges are massive. For starters, “Very few California wines enjoy much brand recognition and retail shelf space, although many Chinese consumers that have traveled to California have developed preferences for California wines.”

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