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.

1. Youth (of wine and drinkers)

Young wines express themselves primarily through fruity notes; as you will agree if you are a fan of Beaujolais Nouveau which can be summarized each year by its banana, raspberry and cherry flavors. As appealing as this can be to younger drinkers, the disadvantage is that these wines only show a partial and as yet unachieved aspect of their full potential. Take note: wine is NOT a fruit juice!

2. Adolescence (of wine and drinkers)

Slightly older wines add an extra layer, with floral flavors or plant fragrances adding to the fruity tones. For example, expect to taste violet, lime tree, honeysuckle or box tree. What you will take from this stage is that, all of a sudden, several doors open and close to a multi-dimension reality of the divine possibilities of wine…leaving you, the drinker, more freedom to decide which door you’d like to re-enter in the future and re-focus those heightened senses on.

3. Maturity (of wine and drinkers)

Mature wine is where it really all happens. As the name implies, these wines have reached their optimum potential during aging and exhibit a pleasing combination of aromas, flavors and bouquet. The wine can finally be at ease to reveal both its mineral and earthy touch: silex, oil, truffle, forest leaves. Now, you know that the journey is complete and, like Alice herself, you have been fully projected into the Wonderland of Wine. Enjoy it.

On a philosophical note and in conclusion, the funny thing about all of these stages is that the journey just described (which should also be the one followed for any wine tasting) is actually the reverse process to the one that produced the wine in the first place. Here, it all started in the soil or terroir…then grew the vine stock or the plant…then blossomed the flowers which finally became the fruit or grape. So, you could say that by enjoying mature wines we have actually come full circle – just like the circle of life!

This article is written by Rene Wong, Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century, shop 2 , 30-32 Wyndham Street, Lang Kwai Fong, Tel:6681 1825.

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.

If Hong Kong continues its ambition of becoming the wine hub of Asia, it must first acknowledge that women’s interest in wine is the same as men’s, and create a friendlier and more equal environment in which to deliver quality service. Among the hundreds of new wine shops that have mushroomed recently in Hong Kong, are there any that cater to women? A haven where a woman might take as much pleasure in picking out the right bottle of wine with helpful and knowledgeable staff as, say, they would with clothes, bags and jewelry?

For that, apart from the standard Hong Kong supermarket wine model where hundreds of bottles from all over the world are displayed on shelves or sometimes even on the floor, different styles and genres of wine shops may be needed – shops which are more distinctive, more elegant, more unique or, dare I say, simply more feminine.

• Rene Wong is a Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century, 30-32 Wyndham Street, Lang Kwai Fong, Tel:6681 1825.

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.

So, when you buy an old vintage wine from a wine merchant list, make sure the bottles are in pristine condition and that, during the journey from the UK, US or Europe to Hong Kong, the wine is kept in optimal condition. As there is no guarantee that the wine you bought is in the same condition as it was originally, the risk of you actually buying a bottle of wine that is flawed or has been exposed to unfavorable conditions is something that must be considered.

One other thing to watch out for to ensure the bottle has been moved at a minimum is to read the counter-label carefully – they usually show the number of stops they have made to arrive at the final destination. You may be surprised at how many different ports that bottle of Bordeaux stopped at before arriving in Hong Kong. Again, the rule of thumb here is that the fewer times it has been moved, the lower the risk of something going wrong or negatively affecting the wine.

This article is written by Rene Wong, Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century, shop 2 , 30-32 Wyndham Street, Lang Kwai Fong, Tel:6681 1825.

With New Year’s Eve just around the corner, picking a good bottle of wine is always a good idea, provided you know what to pick.

Celebration usually marks an event that is dear to us and to our host. Choosing a bottle of vintage wine from the year that is most important to you or the recipient – ie the year that marked the beginning of something special, a new venture, an anniversary etc – is the perfect gift. Bacchus & Century, a new boutique wine shop that’s just opened its doors recently, has 101 consecutive years of French vintage wines from 1900 up to 2000.

These vintage wines will be a time machine to take you and your host back to a certain year to relive those fond memories once again. The ‘Shop’s Guardian’ Eric, my partner with an extensive knowledge of French vintage wine, will guide you in your selection.

Below are some suggestions of occasions that are ideal to mark with a bottle of vintage wine, but the possibilities really are infinite.

For a person:

• birth year
• graduation
• wedding
• year their first child was born

For a company:

• inception
• IPO
• anniversaries
• milestones

And for those of you who are worried that your money might be wasted on an expensive bottle of wine, while the gift recipient may know nothing about wine at all, I can guarantee that the impact is worth the investment. If somebody were to offer me a French vintage wine of my birth year, so many questions would immediately rush to my mind. How does he know my birth year? Where on earth did he get this bottle? I would also probably think that he/she must have paid a lot of money for it, and what else happened on that year? Can I drink it now or should I keep it? But, most importantly, it means that you took the trouble to find out about them. It’s giving them a piece of personal history, one that’s rare and once consumed, not to be found again.

• Rene Wong is a Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century, 30-32 Wyndham Street, LangKwai Fong, Tel:66811825, where they are ready to help you usher in the new year.
  

As a French expatriate in Hong Kong for 5 years now, I have observed the beginning of the wine business from back in 2004 when interest for wine was still in embryonic stages, and wine tax was astronomical compared to today. Since then, thankfully this tax has been abolished and wine is now a popular subject of discussion and, of course, consumption. However, some things have not changed and I would like to highlight some common pitfalls I have come across for your benefit.

In my early days in Hong Kong, I was amazed by the plethora of choices available for second wines or second labels in the market. For neophytes, these wines are made from lower quality grape that famous Bordeaux Chateau cannot take the risk to use for their flagship first label or Grand vin.

Knowing this economical reality, in theory it should be obvious to everyone that there is a world of difference between the quality of the first and the second wines, but here in Hong Kong many are still unaware of the quality difference and buy blindly based on the prestige of the house’s name.

I cannot count the number of times I have heard dodgy wine sales representatives claiming that a “Carruades de Lafite 2002” is a much better buy than the “Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2002,” just because it is from the same Chateau. This is a false claim. Let me explain -  just because the bottle carries the label “Lafite” does not mean that the value of the wine is the same. One thing to note is that second wines often do not have the word “Château” in their name, but they frequently sport some other part of their winery’s name to add name recognition.

They are, however, entitled to use the same appellation as the Grand Vin as they originate from the same place. The Carruades de Lafite 2002 actually costs only a third of the first wine and can be drunk straight away. Whereas, according to Robert Parker, you would have to wait another 10 years for the first wine to reach its peak.

So, the lesson to learn here is that, rather than learning how to pronounce the name on the label it is more important to learn what the label means, unless of course you don’t mind paying an unnecessary high price for a lower quality bottle of wine.

• Rene Wong is a Wine Advisor at Bacchus & Century, 30-32 Wyndham Street, LangKwai Fong, Tel:66811825, where they do not sell second wines.

This Christmas, if you’re looking for special gift to someone important in your life, consider a bottle of Bordeaux vintage wine in the year he or she was born.  Each bottle is a piece of history and just gets rarer with each passing day, as it is impossible to go back in time to recreate the same bottle of wine.

Weather you love French vintage wines and would like to discover a wine that suites your taste or find that special bottle to mark an important occasion, or you don’t know the first thing about vintage wine, we have the  solution for you. Bacchus & Century is Hong Kong’s first luxury wine boutique with a collection of over 3,000 bottles of wine in their cellar.  Eric Liu, the shop’s “guardian,” is an expert in French vintage wine specifically from 1900 to 2000 (yes a whole century, hence the name).  A consultation with Bacchus & Century will ensure you find the perfect bottle of wine, whether it’s an iconic bottle from the most prestigious ‘maisons,’ or a vintage bottle that suits the occasion and recipient’s taste.

To mark the occasion of their opening, Bacchus & Century would like to invite you to visit their store and take them up their complimentary bottle of 1975 French vintage Bordeaux (*Conditions apply) for any purchase of 2 bottles of wine.

Bacchus & Century

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

* Conditions

• Offer is valid and limited to 1 person per offer
• You need to register your name with Winebuzz.hk at 8198 0611, or call Eric at 6681 1825 or  Send us an email
• Offer is valid till stock last
• If there are any disputes, B&C will have final decision on how it will be settled at their discretion.