When it comes to new world Shiraz few have the reputation that Australia’s Barossa Valley does but recently its southern neighbour has been grabbing the attention and deservedly so.

McLaren Vale lies to the South East of South Australia’s capital city, Adelaide, and it is a much cooler climate than the Barossa with sea breezes on most afternoons. Whilst there has never been any doubt about the high standard of wines coming from the region it is now getting a lot of attention because of the awards and accolades it is receiving for their exceptional Shiraz.

I asked RockBare Winemakers’, Marty O’Flaherty, about this surge in popularity:

Marty believes it is the diversity of the McLaren Vale that makes it possible to produce wines with more finesse and elegance than it is out of the Barossa. “Such styles tend to be more favored in recent times by wine show judges and writers” noted Marty.

Marty is responsible for making wine from both regions and his 2009 RockBare McLaren Vale Shiraz was recently awarded 5 Stars and “Top of Class” by Winestate magazine. So which region does Marty prefer when making Shiraz?

“I find McLaren Vale to be much more diverse yet I love the consistency of Barossa” Marty offered as he went on to explain the differing characters. “Barossa Shiraz tends to reveal plum like fruit and earthy Barossa floor characters, whilst McLaren Vale has more blackberry/ mulberry fruit character, black olive/ tapenade savouriness and distinctive licorice tannin.”

From my own experience I have been very excited about the Shiraz that I have tried from the region of late with some showing obvious aging potential of 20+ years.

So is McLaren Vale the next Barossa I pondered?

“I don’t think McLaren Vale will ever supersede Barossa in regards to Barossa Shiraz but certainly it is capable of making wines just as good.”

If Marty’s wines are anything to go by, I completely agree.

2009 RockBare McLaren Vale Shiraz HK$150 from Global Wine Cellar.

Dean Aslin is an Australian living in Hong Kong and is the Marketing Manager for Global Wine Cellar. Dean is passionate about wine, Asia, food, travel and social media. Follow him on Twitter at @GWC_Dean

What’s the wine or grape that first springs to mind when someone mentions France, Spain, Argentina or New Zealand? Bordeaux, Tempranillo, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc? These are considered the “flagship wines” of those specific countries – their ambassadors as such. But do they really bring value to their motherland’s wine industry, or do they shine so bright that they stultify it?

You can argue it either way.

Start with Italy. It has over 350 indigenous grapes, but the one variety that is its claim to fame is Sangiovese, used in so many great wines from Chianti and Brunello di Montalcino to the Super Tuscans. Sangiovese brought the world’s drinkers to Italy and introduced them to its many siblings – Nebbiolo, Aglianico, Pinot Grigio and more. Today, consumers everywhere appreciate the diversity of Italian wines, but they still pay respect to Sangiovese.

Like Italy, Portugal has over 300 native grapes, but it does not promote any particular variety in the international arena. The fact that one grape often has different names depending on where it is grown (north, centre or south) doesn’t help. As a result perhaps, Portuguese wine has little recognition outside Portugal even today (except Port and Mateus Rosé.) A few years ago, ViniPortugal decided to start marketing Touriga Nacional as the national grape, hoping it would achieve similar status to Sangiovese and bring the world to its many other wines. We are still waiting to see the results.

Most will agree that Tempranillo is Spain’s flagship grape. But what about Grenache (Garnacha)? It is an important variety in Rioja where Tempranillo gained its fame, and produces the expressive and concentrated wines of Priorat and the south. In fact, Grenache has more characters than Tempranillo as a varietal, yet it always seems a few steps behind.

Sauvignon Blanc, specifically from Marlborough, put New Zealand on the world wine map. Now every wine region outside New Zealand wants to produce a similar style of Sauvignon Blanc. However, this flagship grape has been so successful that all other great New Zealand wines are living under its shadow. The average consumer (and I am referring to the average, not those in the wine circle) is not even aware of Otago Pinot Noir, let alone the wines of other regions.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this – get in touch!

By Tersina Shieh, marketer turned winemaker.

To read more, visit Tersina’s blog at Tersinawinejournal

Debra Meiburg, arguably Hong Kong’s most famous Master of Wine; with wine classes, TV shows, YouTube channels, wine competition judging – she can now add “book author” to her amazing list of acheivements!

We posted about Debra Meiburg’s Guide to the Hong Kong Wine Trade here before, and we attended the launch event at the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair last month where the book was finally available for ordering.

We are currently reviewing our copy and will bring you a full review soon – but her presentation at the HKIWSF peaked every attendee’s interest so much that there was an overwhelming stampede to get a copy (or 2) of the book.

So we asked Ms. Meiburg, if we could post the slides here so that we can show off more about the contents of the book – and she agreed. So below you will see some of the top line information that is presented in her book – myths about the Hong Kong wine industry:

You can buy the print version online here; a must have for anyone in or wanting to get into the Hong Kong wine industry.

We’re trying to convince her to publish one for iPad and Kindle in 2012!

Since more and more people start their adventures in wine, wine equipment becomes more essential in everyone’s apartment.

For candlelight dinners, wine tasting events, birthday parties, or even a causal gathering of friends; a decent and appropriate glass can definitely make that night more unforgettable. Can you imagine a beautiful girl drinking champagne with a huge red wine glass or a stylish man having red wine in a champagne flute? That’s really horrible.

Then what is a decent & appropriate glass?

My answer is: a glass can match your wine.

There are many different shapes of the wine glass, and they also make your wines taste differently and on your nose different too. In the market, we can always find many kinds of glasses for Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne etc. However are there any rules that can help us choose the right glass?

When you are having a young Bordeaux wine; a huge Bordeaux glass should be selected. Since it has a straight body glass allowing the wine to pour into the back part of your tongue aiming to reduce the harsh tannin feeling and big body of Bordeaux glass enhances the power of wine. But for older Bordeaux, we can use a smaller glass to reduce the aeration and make the mild elegant nose easier to sense.

A Burgundy glass is a magic rod to make pinot noir and oaked Chardonnay more delicious. With a good width of glass body, it makes the aroma and taste of the wine more fruity. It also directs the wine pouring to the 2 sides of the tongue letting us appreciate the wonderful acidity of the wines.

Slim shaped Champagne flutes shows off the beautiful bubbles of sparkling wine, and at the same time keeping the wine cold effectively. However aged champagne, with its intensity of aroma and taste will be upgraded by a bigger body champagne glass with a wider mouth.

There is a dilemma for choosing appearance or taste; for me, taste is always top priority. Keep this in mind when pairing your next wine with glassware.

Jordi Chan is currently working as Wine Gallery Manager at ASC Fine Wines and was Sommelier of The Peninsula’s legendary restaurant “Gaddis” and Head Sommelier at The Mira Hong Kong . He has won awards including the Grand Prize of Hong Kong Best Sommelier Competition 2010 and “Best Performance in Blind Tasting” in Hong Kong Best Sommelier Competition 2009. He also serves as contributing journalist for magazines in Hong Kong, Macau and PRC. Find him on Facebook here.

As an Oenologist for Conseil Interprofesionnel des Vins d’Alsace (CIVA), Mr. Thierry Fritch has been lecturing in Asia about Alsace wine (France) since 1997.

Based in Alsace himself for most of the year, Mr. Fritch spends two months of the year in Asia and another 3-4 months travelling the world talking about the beauty and elegance of his local wine.

We had a chance to sit down with the connoisseur when he was attending the big Alsace promotional push at a grand dinner at Tsui Hang Village and at the Alsace Wine Fair in Causeway Bay.

Besides handling the promotion in Asia from Japan to China to Singapore and Hong Kong, Mr. Fritsch spends most of his time training with the Alsace wine producers about how to talk about their wines. In turn, he teaches what he learns and, most importantly, brings back information from Asia to Alsace.

One of the funny stories he shared when he first stepped into Hong Kong in 1997. He was holding a seminar on Alsace wine at the old Furama hotel in Central, explaining about the grape varietals, when someone stood up and unapologetically announced to the room that they had no interest in hearing about the wine-making process and to just wanted to know the most expensive and famous wine so they would buy it immediately…with the entire room nodding in agreement.

That gentleman came up afterwards and explained it was a joke, but Mr. Fritsch learned a lot from that seminar fourteen years ago – namely, Hong Kong wine drinkers only wanted red wine and labels as white wine represented lychee wine.

In the almost decade and a half since, Hong Kong wine drinkers have changed so much – he notes that Hong Kong people have learned very quickly and are thirsty about information from Alsace.

Some other points we discussed:

The wine consumers are quite young in Asia, while in France they are much older.

CIVA builds the maturity and the image of Alsace in new markets: their first aim being to find potential, then to start the communication process with wine dinners – when the market is ready then the wine makers will come over to promote directly.

In Mr. Fritsch’s mind, Alsace ranks as number 6 in terms of visibility in the world market:

• Bordeaux
• Champagne
• Burgundy
• Loire Valley
• Rhone
• Alsace
• Provence

75% of Alsace wine sales are in France, with the first 4 markets outside of France are Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.

When people think white wine or “Grand Blanc” they think Alsace where 90% of the wine produced is white and only 10% red.

Trends he see’s happening in the next year in Hong Kong include education levels continuing to grow until the Hong Kong market has nearly completely matured.

Three points about Alsace wine to remember: 1. freshness and elegance 2. the majority of whites go well with spicy foods and 3. best news yet, they’re great value for money!

Finally, Mr. Fritsch reminds you that while it’s hot outside would you really prefer a deep red with lots of tannin, or a nice white Riesling?

Visit the CIVA site here for more on Alsace wine.

Recently, I had an excellent experience with Matsutake mushrooms from Japan (松茸) with some vintage Champagne and a Burgundy red.

A wonderful dinner was hosted at Amuse Bouche, which is located in Wan Chai. The most impressive dish served that night was the Roasted Seasonal Matsutake Mushroom. Matsutake mushroom is a very rare and seasonal ingredient, which is extremely popular in Japan. With it’s heavy unique aroma and very smooth texture, the taste is reminiscent of cooked scallop. Definitely, a magical dish, and paired with the right wines only ignites the taste buds even further.

However, the best was yet to come: the wines served on that night were amazing and took enjoyment of food pairing to a whole new level. The wines were Mumm Cordon Rouge Vintage 1969 Champagne Brut and Hospic de Beaune, J. Calvet, Beaune 1929.

The aged Champagne performed with a high intensity nose of floral, honey, ripe quince, smoke and mushroom – which combined to create a very complex and rich aroma. On the palate, the taste of ripe apple, earth and minerals came with a nice mushroom aftertaste too. When Matsutake collides with the Mumm 1969, a mushroom taste explosion will happen in your mouth.

The 1929 Bourgogne was also wonderful – the ruby color and aroma were lively with fresh red fruit, strawberry, cherry and dried rose. A surprising lively acidity with a very smooth palate, pleasant mouth feel and very rounded taste of red fruit . The length of truffle and mineral was also nice. When it pairs with the dish, the mushroom creates a better body for the delicate wine, similarly, the wine gives more depth and length to the dish as well. A prefect matching!

Many wine drinkers are very eager to drink rare old vintage wine, although the quality is sometimes very unreliable when compared to young wine. But then again if you’re lucky to open a nice bottle of old wine; the surprising enjoyment is incomparable too.

So think about mushrooms, specifically the Matsutake, for pairing when you are opening a vintage bottle of wine at your next gathering.

Jordi Chan is currently working as Wine Gallery Manager at ASC Fine Wines and was Sommelier of The Peninsula’s legendary restaurant “Gaddis” and Head Sommelier at The Mira Hong Kong . He has won awards including the Grand Prize of Hong Kong Best Sommelier Competition 2010 and “Best Performance in Blind Tasting” in Hong Kong Best Sommelier Competition 2009. He also serves as contributing journalist for magazines in Hong Kong, Macau and PRC. Find him on Facebook here.

During the summer, enjoying a glass of white wine with fresh oysters on the beach with a cool sea breeze coming in off the ocean is a dream only some Hong Kongers will get to enjoy as they sit moping in their air-conditioned offices!

Chablis is on most wine connoisseurs minds when talking about pairing with oysters, but it’s not unusual to choose a crisp Chardonnay in every oyster gathering. However, Jordi recommends Muscadet from the Loire Valley and Entre-deux-Mers from Bordeaux which are two great alternative offerings that will give you a new experience in your oyster and wine pairing adventure.

Muscadet wine from the western Loire Valley is the only grape variety permitted in the AOC Muscadet Melon de Bourgogne which was widely grown in Burgundy a long time ago, but is now prohibited there. Muscadet is light bodied and always dry with moderated alcohol levels that can easily pair with food without overwhelming the flavour. The light, crisp acidity can enhance oyster richness & creaminess with a fresh aftertaste.

Sur lie on the wine label: The wine spends full winters in contact with the lees and aims to enhance body and complexity of the wine.

Entre-deux-mers (in English: between two seas which represents the location inbetween 2 famous rivers: the Garonne and Dordogne) is a dry white wine made in a very famous wine region that every fan of Winebuzz.hk knows: Bordeaux. However, Entre-deux-mers is much less well known than Bordeaux red wine and is mainly produced as Sauvignon Blanc, and can be blended with Semillon and Muscadelle. Entre-deux-mers is a high mineral, medium bodied wine with good citrus fruit notes that pairs well with the oysters’ mineral character and makes their freshness stand out even more.

Both wines are perfectly matched for oysters and both represent great value. So, when you’re hosting an oyster dinner later on this summer, all your friends will be very pleasantly surprised by your pairing completely different white wines than what most people are used to. And, trust me, your friends will ask you for their names before the night is over!

Happy Pairing!!

Jordi Chan is currently working as Wine Gallery Manager at ASC Fine Wines and was Sommelier of The Peninsula’s legendary restaurant “Gaddis” and Head Sommelier at The Mira Hong Kong . He has won awards including the Grand Prize of Hong Kong Best Sommelier Competition 2010 and “Best Performance in Blind Tasting” in Hong Kong Best Sommelier Competition 2009. He also serves as contributing journalist for magazines in Hong Kong, Macau and PRC. Find him on Facebook here.

En Primeur or “wine futures“, is a method of purchasing wines early while a vintage is still in barrel, offers the customer the opportunity to purchase a particular wine before it is physically available.

Payment is made at an early stage, a year or 18 months prior to the official release of a vintage. A possible advantage of buying wines en primeur is that the wines may be considerably cheaper during the en primeur period than they will be once bottled and released on the market.

The Grand Cru team from Jebsen Fine Wines were at the primeur week in Bordeaux to secure the 2010 vintage, which is an excellent vintage that has won praises for the concentration and power of the fruit it will be in 2015.

A lot of this can be attributed to cool nights in August and in September which causes a higher level of acidity which gives the  wine a touch of freshness. Compared to the past vintage, the tannins are more apparent and dryer so a lot of key components are in higher level than last year.

What the critics are saying about 2010 en primeur

Robert Parker: “2010 exceeds 2009 in record setting alcohols, but, paradoxically, it is the fresh acids, lower pHs and massive tannins that have dictated more precision in the mouth despite the record alcohol levels these wines attained. While massive and highly extracted, the 2010s are also fresh and incredibly pure. Moreover, they will enjoy astonishing longevity.”

Jancis Robinson MW: “I find it hard to imagine that I will ever again encounter such successful consecutive vintages in Bordeaux as 2009 and the infant 2010, I have just been tasting…It will almost certainly demand a much longer time in bottle before the wine has softened enough to be broachable…”

James Suckling “I found the 2010s extremely easy to taste…I even found them more attractive to taste than the 2009s last year at this time.” A resume in two words: Fabulous Vintage.

For enquiries on buying en primeur, please contact:

• Fine Wine Manager:  Marco Vazquez at tel. 2926 2269 / marcovazquez@jebsen.com
• Assistant Fine Wine Manager: Vanessa Chui at tel. 3180 3424 / vanessachui@jebsen.com
• Fine Wine Consultant: Victor Rabot at tel. 2926 2312 / victorrabot@jebsen.com

We featured Mark Bright, an American wine educator, sommelier and winemaker, when he was leading a wine dinner earlier this month.

We sat down with the Boston born, Vegas trained winemaker and educator at the Altruistic Boutique Wine offices in Hong Kong to get some of his thoughts on boutique wines, the explosion in the Hong Kong wine scene, getting Hong Kong to learn more about American wine as well as the subtleties between Sonoma and Napa.

“You study wine long enough, you start making your own wine,” were the first words that Mark Bright spoke to us when we asked how he got into making his own wines.

It seems Mark’s career path was always going to see him move in a very unique position within the wine industry – one that crosses expert and winemaker and, with his new label Penny Wines, he’s able to put together his vision for a select few to try.

When you hear ’boutique wine’ you imagine a few hundred cases, but in Penny Wines’ case that means under a hundred cases. This small production run allows him to pay more attention to his wine and also experiment with varying wine-making techniques.

His two new wines are his 44-case 2009 Pinot Noir Sonoma Coast with a distinct baseball theme label design and the 68-case 2009 Pinot Noir Los Carneros with a handwritten look bottle design. Both available from Altruistic Boutique Wines.

One of the main points he wanted to get across is that he is not trying to build a 1,000 case empire – he wants to keep making unique and special wines that adhere to his own personal philosophy.

We asked him what are the 3 most important things about US wine that a HK wine lover should know:

1. Consistency

US wines are very consistent because of the regions the grapes are grown in – little is needed to manipulate the power of the grape in the barrel when defining its taste. So a Napa cab is a Napa cab, always distinct and always consistent unlike other wine-producing regions.

2. There is no blanket wine region in the US

Napa and Sonoma, even though so close, have very different types of wines and wine makers and then there is the rest of the US states that make wine. American winemakers are getting “ballsy” by mixing different grapes and using new techniques. Alcohol is being pulled back and going bigger in the oak.

3. American wines goes with food

Higher alcohol content of US wines make people think its more for drinking but it does go well with food pairing.

Some other interesting points from our talk with Mark Bright:

Mark has visited Hong Kong a few times already and he cited that he liked what Lily & Bloom and Kee Club had on their wine lists.

He strongly believes that anyone out there promoting wine is a positive thing – so next to his frequent visits to Hong Kong, he will be doing some education videos that will be translated into Chinese available online and in wine stores.

He will be part of next year’s US Boutique Wine Fair (that we enjoyed last year – but is skipping this year) and will do it again next year. Altruistic Boutique Wines will be bringing out 10 educators to push out the knowledge base about American fine wines along with winemakers as education level for US wine needs to rise to keep the local market up to speed.

While inspecting wines Mark finds that when one barrel that will eventually get blended into 50 other barrels you will lose that delicious taste of that one barrel – so the idea is to rescue that barrel and make a limited run from it. He will be selecting the best barrels that he loves out in wine country to create a very small run of wine which he will hand bottle and hand label and create only 20 cases made for a select group. This new line of wines will be launched in the US on June 1st and then come to Hong Kong later as part of the new Altruistic Boutique Wines Wine Club making it more exciting and exclusive than other wine clubs in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong wine scene and trends move so fast – you can’t tell what will be hot – and he hopes he’ll be here in Hong Kong when American wine becomes the next big thing!

Mark seems very optimistic and excited to see what happens in Hong Kong’s wine future – his mission though is to train wine lovers here – even if its 5 people a day every day – it will add to the growth of wine in the region and make Hong Kong more than just a wine commerce region but a highly educated one as well.

Self-effacing and charming, English wine writer Hugh Johnson is the undisputed greatest wine writer in existence.

For over four decades he has brought accessible and witty wine critiques to the masses, selling more books than any other wine writer in history including the best-selling Pocket Wine Book and the phenomenal World Atlas of Wine – both essential references for wine lovers. Laithwaites Wine brought Hugh Johnson to Hong Kong and we took the opportunity to have a chat with him on his short jaunt in the city….

What’s a wine critic main role?

It’s very simple – to make people interested in the subject. The worst crime is to be boring. We all like wine and we want people to like it too. A true wine lover never wants to drink only the same wine because that’s what they like. How boring is that? What I love about wine is how it changes with place, time, grapes and people. It’s always alive. The challenge is to make wine sound real. I’ve been doing it for 50 years now and I’ve had some practice!

So how do you make wine sound “real”?

To me, it’s not what wine is like that matters so much as what it does. You know all the flavor descriptors in wine reviews these days? Well they don’t say anything to me. They list all the fruits: strawberries, raspberries, grapefruit, lemon, blah blah blah…that’s it? So what if it does taste like all these fruits? I don’t want to drink a fruit salad! <laughs>

I think for wine writing the verb is more important than the adjective. Give the reader a feeling something happened in their minds, give them an experience, and not just an image of some kind. What I really am is a travel writer. These wines I write about come from everywhere, from nice people and they make you happy.

That was the original idea behind the World Atlas of Wine – every wine lover knows the names of places: Bordeaux, Medoc, Paulliac. But that’s just a list of names. I thought, people remember things much better once they see these places on a map. Once you plot them out you understand why the flavors are different, because these things come from geography. Readers can make that connection with a map: they see it’s not bullshitting, and it gives an element of reality in people’s imaginations. They say, “Ah, I see why it tastes like that.” That’s probably why we sold something like 4 million copies of the World Atlas.

You are quite vocally opposed to giving wine numerical scores. Why?

I think wine scores have had their place in history. At least I hope wine scores’ place now is history! It’s a shortcut and if you really love wine you don’t want a shortcut. You want to explain it. Scores don’t explain it; they can never reflect a wine accurately. I’ve said to people, “I love wine. Wines are my friends. I also love my friends. How would you like scoring your friends?!”

Comments about wine consumption in Asia?

It’s no good trying to persuade Chinese people that Chinese food has its exact equivalence in Europe in terms of wine-pairing because it doesn’t. If there are matches between European wines and Chinese food, they are just by happy chance. It doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We need people to think that the flavors of wines are something they want and need, and that comes naturally. You can’t force people to do that.

Hugh Johnson’s books are available at most major bookstores in the city. An iPhone app version of the Pocket Wine Book is available, but pending release in Asia. The Pocket Wine Book is indispensable to a wine lover’s adventures and for students of wine by giving brisk and concise information on 6,000 wineries, vintage charts, and food pairings in a compact format one can slip in their purse. Be sure to buy only the latest edition to stay up-to-date.