Last week, The Flying Winemaker wine store had a delicious launch party to introduce Hong Kong’s latest new concept wine store to us connoisseurs. The Flying Winemaker takes over the 2 level shop right (formerly Italian fashion brand Slowear) at the corner of Wyndham Street and D’Aguilar Street, and right across from Wooloomooloo at the tip of Lan Kwai Fong. This ultra hip hang-out is designed as a meeting place for wine-lovers to discover, learn and enjoy wine in a relaxed space in plastic cups, not restrictive wine glasses.

Started by Hong Kong born Eddie McDougall, who grew up in Australia and returned to HK three years ago to become the city’s first winemaker for the 8th Estate Winery. He started The Flying Winemaker store to make wines more accessible to people without the stuffy, elitism and pretentiousness that sometimes – okay well, mostly – associated with wine.

This even comes across in the design of the place – the space is well designed and has a sleek modern bistro feel with details like dark wood, steel panels, custom-made ceramic tile tables chalkboard. And also in the details and nuances like - the plastic cups to serve the vino, the friendly chatty staff, and the fact that you can crack open a bottle of wine sold at retail price (not the inflated price at the restaurant and bars) and share it with friends at the store in Lan Kwai Fong.

The establishment is both a wine store that stocks wines selected based on merit with the aim of bringing in interesting wines from all over the world, hence the name – “Flying Winemaker” – and sold in the store located on the lower floor. The upper floor is dedicated to Eddie’s WineSkool where workshops and wine classes are held. With open glass walls all round and beakers/tubes and glasses on shelves (used for their wine blending classes), it looks like a hip, chilled out place to drink wine rather than a classroom.

Where ?

• G/F-U/F, 31 Wyndham St., Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: 2522 2187

Hong Kong has its very own winery, so why not its very own wine laboratory?! Must Custom Winery is a new shop that has opened in Central that allows you to mix your perfect wine on the premises and enjoy it anywhere.

We recently sat down with owner Canadian Ed Stengel to talk about his new shop on Queen’s Road Central about why making your own personal label wine is the realization of the perfect wine dream.

Winebuzz.hk: Thanks for talking with us today – the first question is why should I make my own wine?

Because it’s fun! It is a great leisure for wine lovers, and you cannot find a place like us anywhere else in Hong Kong.We will guide you through the whole process in winemaking. Making your own wine is like a DIY wine, showing your sincerity in a gift when you want to deliver a message with surprise. After the initial making process, you will have to come back and bottle your wine a few weeks later. Therefore a winemaking-dating makes it a promised dating for the second time. A bottle of wine with the names of wedding couples written on it is also an ideal wedding gift for guests. You can even make the wine for your own wedding banquet dinner.

Having your own brand of wine is no longer a dream - First time ever, imagine that for only a few thousand dollars, now you can have your own custom wine blend made here, with a unique label that has your company or your name on it, for gifts to give to clients during traditional festivals. A restaurant or bar which offers a house blend of wine to pair with signature dish. With its own label also delivers a unique image to the customers. Name a special blend of wine exclusively under your own blend, or even with your own name or the one you love.

With the numerous wine shops in Hong Kong it seems I have many pre-bottled choices to choose from?

No doubt buying off the shelf is an option if you want to drink right away. However, commerical wine contains 3 times the sulphite and preservatives than ours. Continuous intake of sulphite can cause severe damage to our body such as cancer. Presrvatives are deadly for our kidneys as well. Also, custom winemaking offers a lot more options for your wine such as controlling the sweetness, oak intensity, adding fruit flavours, pepper flavours, or flower flavour – anything you can imagine. You can design your unique labels, pick the shrink tops you like, and have fun bottling your own wine.

Why do I need to do a custom blend?

A custom blend is a blend of wine mentioned as above, is a custom-made wine only for you. Your taste satisfaction is guaranteed. Many people may have experienced a situation – buying a bottle of wine off the shelf somewhere and try to drink it, but it can taste awful because of many possible reasons. A wrong wine goes with the wrong food, or a wine that is not of your own taste. Here you always taste the wine before you buy. We offer free food pairing advice, and we make sure your serving temperature is correct so you enjoy your wine always at a 100% satisfaction.

What types of grapes do you have for the custom bottling?

We carry a great variety of different grapes – Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Pinotage… even some rare types of wine – Barolo, Rioja, Amarone, Brunnello, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, Zinfandel, and a lot more. For white wine we have – Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris/Grigio, Viognier, Liebraumilch, Piesporter, etc. We also have special/fortifiedwine such as icewine, port, sherry. Everything can be custom made and our customer can join the process of winemaking.

How much does it cost?

For only a few thousand Hong Kong dollars you get 28 bottles of wine tailor-made for you.

Where does the wine come from or how does the bottling work?

Our must (grape juice and grape skin) comes directly from the best vineyard all around the world. We offer our unique bottling facilities for customers to bottle their own wine.

What is your address and store hours?

We open Mon to Sat 10am-7pm at 603, Peter Building, 58-60 Queens Road Central. Our website is still under construction but we have a group on Facebook. Or you can call us on (852) 2333-WINE(9463).

Cepage, Hong Kong’s French restaurant with a Micheline-star reputation, has opened their very own wine retail store on the restaurant’s ground floor in Wanchai. Vinum Fine Wines is part of the Les Amis Group which owns the Cepage restaurant group and Vinum Fine Wines retail store.

Based out of Singapore, the group has been expanding their retail wine stores throughout Asia – first in Kuala Lumpur, followed by a store at the Four Seasons Shoppes in Macau and now in Wanchai, Hong Kong.

The 800 square feet store stocks over 400 premium labels with around 2,000 bottles at any one time in their store. Vinum Fine Wines specialize in French wines and have an especially good collection of wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone Valley and Champagne and Sauterne. The store also offers New World wines from top producers in Australia, California, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Where?

• 23 Wing Fung Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong. Tel: 2861 3130

To read more, go to Luxury Insider

Looking for something more Italian for your wine this holiday? You might find what you’re looking for at First Wine, a wine company importing Italian fine wines from boutique wineries and bringing them to Hong Kong. Winebuzz.hk recently sat down with Mr. Agata Meuti, manager of First Wine, to talk about Italian wine and what to expect from their shop.

What are 3 things to find when buying Italian wine at First Wine in Hong Kong?

1. Typical Italian grapes such as Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Prosecco, Vermentino, Malvasia are produced in very old wineries (some of them have been around for more than 100 years, and one is more than 1000 years old!!!) These wineries are run by families, with a very close attention to quality.
2. The wines have been imported for the first time in Asia.
3. Quality with exceptional prices – we have wines ranging from HK$100 to HK$400 a bottle.

What are some of the more popular regions for Italian wines that you carry or don’t carry?

We have wines from Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli, Emilia Romagna, Umbria, Abbruzzo. None from Southern Italy yet….but soon! 65 personally selected labels! Tenute Guicciardini Strozzi, Il Palazzone, Aziendda Agricola Talenti, Le Vigne di Alice, San Gervasio, La Caudrina.

In terms of pairings with Chinese food – what are some of your recommendations?
My recommendation is to pair sparkling wine with Chinese food, to find an equilibrium between the complex Chinese cuisine with the traditional Italian wines.

I have a special recommendation about one particular wine which is very nice with Peking Duck: this is the Ageno. An “Orange Wine” wine produced from Malvasia grape, it has an intense aroma and flowery perfume but at the same time has an unexpected dryness to its taste. This wine is very popular in Japan already and is something different and unusual.

Thanks Agata for introducing us to your shop. Have a look at the details below so you can begin your Italian wine excursion:

First Wine Hong Kong

• 19/fl. Shanghai Industrial Investment Bldg.
• 48 – 62 Hennessy Road
• Wanchai, Hong Kong
• Tel: 2761 2779
• www.firstwine.com.hk

View Larger Map

Bacchus & Century opens its doors this weekend, to what may be the first luxury wine boutique of its kind in the world.

The brainchild of two Hong Kong Chinese French partners, Eric Liu (photo below) and Rene Wong whose passion for French wine have led them to accumulate more than 10,000 bottles of French vintage wine over the years. Bacchus & Century is the accomplishment of twenty years of intense research, perseverance on specifically French vintage wines. On the opening day, they have in one place, 101 consecutive years of French vintage wines from 1900 AD to 2000, all 3,000 bottles stored in their Lang Kwai Fong boutique’s cellar.

Their decision to open Bacchus & Century is to make available their treasures, (100 years of vintage French wines, hence the name Bacchus & Century) to the discerning wine lover in Hong Kong.  What Bacchus & Century offers is a completely bespoke service unlike what you’ll find in Hong Kong or anywhere else in the world.

The wine boutique is dressed like a boudoir of collectible items except the only item collected is of the drinkable rare kind. A consultation with Eric, the “shop’s guardian” will ensure that you discover the perfect bottle to match your taste, occasion, budget (price starts at HK$1000) and determine the bottle that is right and meaningful for you.

They only carry the rarest, finest wine, champagne and spirits – so you’ll definitely find bottles of the most prestigious ‘maisons’; Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Latour, Haut Brion, Margaux, Cheval Blanc, Ausone, Petrus and Domaine de la Romanee Conti.  If you are looking for a table wine for a barbecue, this is not the place to go.

Want to impress your boss who’s a wine connoisseur or find the vintage the year your dad was born? Make an appointment with Eric, he knows his stuff and you’ll discover something rare and special, not so easily found anywhere else… not a bad proposition we think.

Bacchus & Century

• Shop 3, G/F, 32 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong.
• Tel:6681 1825

Snowflakes are often alike, but wines, never. Each bottle blends differently to provide a unique taste and no-one knows this like 94 Wines.

This website helps you discover the best bottles for your particular palette so that every sip is simply perfect. Each number displayed by 94 Wines represents high-quality flavors, so you know you’re getting a unique bottle every time.

A WineID test will help you find the perfect blend and just the right taste, its six questions determining which wines suit you best. Whether you’re shopping for yourself or someone else, 94 Wines will personalize that special wine just for you, and you get to add your own message to each bottle that you purchase, or choose standard wording when creativity fails (as if, we know!) 94Wines even allows you to choose your own packaging preferences, picking the box size and other options.

It takes about five work days to receive your 94Wines purchase, depending on distance and other shipping factors. You can choose to buy a single wine from the online store (bottles range from €5,99 to €9,99 – HK$70-115 -  among top sellers), or many different selections at once. The store’s online tips make it easy for you to find a unique wine for your taste buds, opening up a whole new world of wine that is no longer hard to navigate through.

Have a look for yourself, visit 94wines.com here.

This December, Bacchus & Century has promised to make available at least one bottle of each vintage from 1900 to 2000 in its new shop opening for the festive season.

For casual drinking or table wines, Hong Kongers have plenty of shops to choose from but when it comes to celebrating a special event, paying respect to a person or investing into the next Lafite Rothschild, there is a gap in Hong Kong that Bacchus & Century intends to bridge by individualizing their service. Whether it’s a vintage or iconic wine you’re looking for, or the prestige champagne corner, Bacchus & Century promises to differ itself from existing wine retailers, importers and distributors by specializing into core-offerings :

• The 20th century of only French vintage wine (no spirits) without any missing year is not an easy task to complete. It requires time, passion and perseverance especially when one thinks about the 1st or 2nd World War years or specific years like 46 , 51 , 54  where wine productions were extremely limited.

• The price will be also a unique point, as most of the bottles from Bordeaux, Burgundy and other areas in France will be available at an affordable starting price of HK$1,000 which will translate into a wide range of vintages and bottle selection…

• Iconic French wines: Those mythical bottles will have their own section in the shop for the discerning buyers undeterred by the substantially higher prices. For them, the vintage choice is not enough. They also want access to the “crème de la crème”, the finest and rarest ever.

• Focus on prestige cuvee. As a general rule, the brand does not offer non-vintage wine, so even excellent cuvees like Krug Grande Cuvee will not be sold. Vintage Clos du Mesnil or Clos d’Ambonnay will be the preferred replacement candidates as far as Krug is concerned.

Visit this new type of wine shop at Shop 3 , G/F , 32 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong for a new dedication to French wine in Hong Kong!

A nice bottle of bubbly is the ultimate way to begin Whenever there’s a celebration, we bring out the bubbly and share it with our guests. Champagne has become a favourite  choice when it comes to celebrating. However, it does take some finesse to uncork and pour champagne. Winemaker for Veuve Clicquot, Mr. Francois Hautekeur was here in Hong Kong yesterday. We caught up with him as he, along with celebrity model Ms. Amanda Strang, demonstrated for us the proper way to serve champagne.

First, chill the champagne:  Get an ice bucket and fill  half of the bucket with water and the other half with ice cubes. Let the bottle sit for 20 minutes. The perfect temperature to enjoy champagne is at  7°C.

To uncork: Opposite to what we see on TV, there should not be a “pop” as we uncork the bottle, “we want to do it as elegantly as possible,” explained Mr. Hautekeur – who consider the popping of champagne to be “vulgur”.  You should have your thumb placed on top of the cork while your other hand has its palm stabilizing the bottle at its base. Slightly tilt the bottle until you can feel that there’s enough pressure on the cork for you to gently tear it off at the tip. This way your champagne won’t foam up out of the bottle and all over your floor (or injure your guests).

To pour: Hold the bottle by its base. Pour without making contact with the side of the glasses. Pour only two fingers’ worth and wait for it to settle. When it stops foaming, fill the glass to about two-thirds of the way.

To enjoy: Appreciate the color of the champagne, the smell and taste. Pay particular attention to the smell as it is an important part of enjoying your champagne, it directly related to the taste of of of the champagne.

You’re all set now to show off your champagne pouring skills at your next celebration.

With so many recent advancements in RFID (radio-frequency identification) technology, digital signage is cropping up in Japan. One of the coolest uses? Digital signage in food and wine markets. With digital POS (digital Point of Sale) technology, pairing the perfect wine with your home-cooked gourmet is as easy as scanning a bar-code.

If adopted on a wide scale, this technology could be groundbreaking and lots of fun! Smartphone apps with like VinoforDinner for the iPhone may be able to incorporate bar-code scanning in order to produce on-the-go info, downloadable coupons, dinner-pairings and a history of your wine-shopping over time. This type of digital signage works with apps on mobile phones using RFID technology and will only get more advanced over time.

It’s true, supermarkets can’t be lazy in incorporating digital signage tech – there would be a lot of maintenance work on their end – but imagine the possibilities! We think any store to incorporate this kind of digital signage would draw enough customers to sustain the technology and educate those who are just starting out in wine.

(via Japan Trends)

We sat down with Vinfolio Hong Kong Managing Director Anthony Mak last week to talk about Vinfolio’s Hong Kong plans. After the recent announcement of the company’s series A US$4.5 million investment and their expansion into the Hong Kong market, we thought Hong Kong wine enthusiasts would like to know there will be a new major player entering the market in the next couple of months.

Mr. Mak is in heavy preparations for the Hong Kong launch of Vinfolio.hk – the website will be in English and Chinese. The company has held off on launching their online wine shop until now because of the recent economic downturn. Vinfolio Hong Kong will also launch a new Hong Kong wine storage operation and online wine auction component early next year.

Their auction service launched in July in the US, and has many Hong Kong users, and is different to the eBay model where its seller-to-buyer with no intermediary. Vinfolio’s auction service has them in the middle brokering the deal for wines ranging from small quantities of wine in the US$50/bottle price and higher.

UPDATE 10/06:

Vinfolio CEO Steve Bachmann just posted new information on their Hong Kong plans on the Vinfolio site:

In short, Vinfolio Hong Kong will essentially become a local wine store to Hong Kong/Macau residents. No overseas shipping need be arranged and no minimum purchase quantity will apply. We will list all available items in a new “Vinfolio Hong Kong” listing on Winesearcher, WinePrices.com, and Global Wine Stocks.

Of course, our U.S. online wine store will continue to be available to Hong Kong customers if they prefer and the Vinfolio Marketplace will continue to be there exclusively. Just keep in mind that those prices are in U.S. dollars for pick-up/delivery in San Francisco so onward shipping costs to Hong Kong are extra (whereas this is already included in HK site pricing). U.S. purchases come with six months free storage in one of our climate-controlled facilities. Initially, we will not ship to other countries from Hong Kong so customers in other Asian countries will need to continue to order from the U.S. site or make their own arrangements from Hong Kong

You can read the rest here.