Tuscan meets Cantonese with Castelllo Romitorio

Wine expert Damon Yuen’s Cantonese Odyssey.

Finding the right wine for everyday Cantonese meals like dim sum can prove difficult because it has to take on an array of foods like seafood, meats, vegetables, sauces, herbs, spices and starches…often all at the same time!

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Sauternes and Seafood: A Match Made in Heaven for the Asian Palate

Damon Yuen shares his discovery of Clos Dady’s Sauternes.

Described by some as the Nectar of the Gods, Sauternes is a sweet Bordeaux wine made from special grapes affected by the botrytis cinerea (a kind of fungus) arising from the fog of the Ciron River running across the appellation of Sauternes. Its traditional pairings are Foie Gras and Roquefort Cheese, but for many of us with a Chinese palate who prefer something sweet and find it difficult to digest Western cheeses, could there be an alternative marriage for us?

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Elegant Dining: Pair Dessert with Ice Wine

Introducing the nectar of the gods for dessert.

Ice wine isn’t your typical dessert wine. This high-end vintage is made from grapes which became frozen on the vine, creating a more concentrated and much sweeter-tasting wine. It’s believed the tradition of creating wine from frozen grapes dates back to Roman times, a culture which certainly knew something about decadent dining.

Canada and Germany are perhaps the best-known producers of high-end ice wines, with Canada – and in particular Ontario – being the largest ice wine manufacturers internationally. The fruitier, refreshing nature of ice wine makes it a perfect complement for sweet dishes, especially great for pairing with dessert.

Ice wine vintages are usually produced by Riesling grapes in Germany and Vidal and Cabernet Franc grapes in Canada. Many ice wines are pale yellow to amber in color, though some red varieties are produced. The high acidity and slightly lower alcohol content of ice wine keeps the sweet taste from becoming overpowering.

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Sichuan Food Pairing with Wines from France’s Chinon House of Couly-Dutheil

The Challenge of Sichuan Huajio comes to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Choosing the appropriate wine can be a challenge for any host. The task for those who would like to serve traditional Sichuan dishes, however, is made doubly difficult. That’s because the cuisine’s deliciously unique complexity makes it notoriously difficult to pair. As a result, many hosts default to sweet, white wines or fruity light reds – most of which offer a weak complement, at best, to the spicy cuisine.

But serving a great wine with Sichuan food is not impossible. You just need a basic understanding of the flavor profiles. Chinon Wines’ upcoming winemaker dinner entitled The Challenge of Sichuan Hua Jiao (Sichuan Peppercorn), aims to help you do just that – addressing this mightily aromatic and full-flavored cuisine with dry, very tannic reds from their own Great Chinon House of Couly-Dutheil.

Attend the dinner, which is HK$480 per person and is led by Chinon’s own Cristophe Surget, at 7:00pm on Tuesday 22 September at the Mask of Si Chun (KCR East, Tsim Sha Tsui Station, Kowloon).

For more information and to view the menu, please see event details, here. Seats are available on a first come first served basis (only 30 available). You can call 2395-1293 or email here for more details.

The full menu is below:

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