Wine Appreciation – The Discovery

Welcome to the Wonderland of Wine.

For neophytes just starting out on their initiation journey into the world of wine, it’s exciting to discover that, like life, there are many different stages to explore from youth to adolescence to maturity.

Seasoned wine lovers of course will know from experience that real wine appreciation takes patience, an education of mind and, of course, the senses. The one downside to this growth can be that the more you to learn to appreciate wine, the more appealing older and more mature wines become…and the younger wines considerably less so. However, the journey itself is a path to discovery, so learn to savour every moment.

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Wanted: An Asian Robert Parker!

Why we need Asian-based wine standards to grow the market in Asia.

It’s hard to define when wine history really started.

Did it all begin with the Greeks and their wine god Dionysos, or the Romans with Bacchus? Or, did it start in Anno Domini when the Bible depicted wine as the symbol of Christ’s blood?

What seems to be commonly accepted is that it’s a Western creation; nurtured under Western hands and described in Western jargon. If you observe the recent proliferation of courses from French pronunciation of grape varieties to wine and food matching to Western dishes, there seems to be a belief that Asian consumers have to endure painful training and teachings of all the technicalities like their Western counterparts, before they can fully enjoy the drink!

The Robert Parker Phenonemon

Let’s take a look at how Robert Parker became one of the most influential fine wine critics and authorities in the world…an American citizen, Robert Parker hails from Texas and decided to start publishing his detailed tasting notes and ranking system of wines on a 1-100 scale in a newsletter aptly named, The Wine Advocate.

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The Torrid Affair Between Women and Wine in Hong Kong

The wine world is no longer a boys-only club, especially in Asia.

As you might know but will be loathe to admit, the wine world the world over is dominated by men and, unfortunately, Asia is no exception.

From experience, wine buyers are mostly of the male variety and I find it outrageous when the service women receive is automatically far inferior to that of men.  There are many occasions where I have witnessed a salesperson passing off the shop’s latest promotion in an attempt to hurry a female customer or rudely eluding her questions, just to spend more time with male customers.

Furthermore, there is almost no chance of being taken seriously if a woman is to complain about a wine in a top restaurant. Even for Jeannie Cho Lee, Master of Wine, it was not a pleasant experience when she was dismissed by the sommelier of a Michelin-starred establishment as a ‘typical ignorant Asian woman’ and her request to have a bottle of corked wine be replaced, ignored. Instead of checking to see if the bottle of wine was corked, he declared that it was just the wine’s style, without even smelling the wine for cork taint.

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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.

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