Wine Future Hong Kong 2011 blew in fast and furious on Sunday and finished yesterday at the AsiaWorld Expo here in Hong Kong.

Pancho Campo’s amazing wine conference finally came to Hong Kong bringing such wine luminaries as Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson, Francis Ford Coppola, James Suckling, and so many more to town with informational panels, grand tastings and enough wine networking to make Vinexpo jealous.

Herein lies a delightful photo gallery of the sights of this historic wine event in Hong Kong:

So much wine so little time!

This year’s Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair was as fantastic as ever with partner country Italy really bringing a taste of their country to Hong Kong with their giant pavilion that really set the stage for the entire event.

The HKTDC will announce visitor numbers soon and we’ll update the story here but we enjoyed the amazing Gala Dinner put on by Italy and the numerous seminars and tastings put on across the 2-day trade, 1-day public event.

While it’s nice that the organizers of the Wine and Dine Festival, HKIWSF and Wine Future decided to plan their events one after another so people could stay for all of them – it’s still turned into a marathon of wine, food and spirits for almost 2 weeks.

Check out our photo gallery below:

The Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair kicked off yesterday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC); with a record 934 exhibitors from some 37 countries and regions taking. The fair is now Asia’s biggest wine show in exhibitor numbers.

Opening the fair was Professor The Honourable K C Chan, SBS, JP, Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury, The Government of the HKSAR. To help him with a ribbon cutting was Alessandra Schiavo, the Consulate General of Italy, this year’s wine fair Partner Country. After the ribbon cutting the VIP guest from both Hong Kong and Italy made their way up to the VinItaly Pavilion for a mini event kickoff that featured Kindergartners dressed as little chefs.

The Vinitaly pavilion is the largest group pavilion, with more than 200 exhibitors, up 80% over last year. The Vino Sangiovese Forum is one of many Italian spotlights at the fair, and there is a special tasting area at the Vinitaly Pavilion dedicated to Italian wine education. The organiser, Veronafiere, is also offering a forum on Italian wine, seminars, sommelier-led tastings and wine-pairing cooking demonstration. The Public Forum – Appreciation of Italian Wines will also take place on Saturday, with Italian wine specialists sharing their expertise.

For those looking for a bite to eat, the VinItaly Pavilion also features a kitchen area where a number of top Michelin-starred chefs that includes Luca Collami, Pietro Rongoni, Marco Sacco and Sergio Vineis, will cook up a taste sensational storm that will blow you away.

Here are some photos from Day 1:

Festival of Restaurants is the big week of special menus at some of Hong Kong’s most exciting restaurants, happening November 7-13th.

To kick it off, the people behind Festival of Restaurants 2011 and Winebuzz.hk are inviting 5 lucky readers to join us at J-A-R on Tuesday, November 1, to preview their FoR menu and to meet with the chef, the organizers of Festival of Restaurants and the editorial director of Winebuzz.hk!

If interested in this fantastic prize, post a comment below telling us your Top 3 restaurants in Hong Kong and why you like them, and we’ll pick the 5 best entries to join us next Tuesday for a fabulous evening of food, wine and interesting conversation with an eclectic group of people. Entries need to be in by Monday morning and winners will be notified on Tuesday morning.

Click here to find more about Festival of Restaurants and watch this video:

UPDATE: Contest is closed – thanks all for entering and see the winners tonight!

Last week Winebuzz.hk attended the International Wine Challenge Medal Winner Trade Tasting at the Langham Place Hotel in Mong Kok.

After stopping in Singapore, the award-winning wine tour stops in Hong Kong before making their way up to Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo.

The International Wine Challenge brought an exciting cross section of its Medal Winner Wines and Producers to Hong Kong. The tasting is a unique opportunity for the winners to meet with the most senior buyers and executives of Hong Kong’s wine industry.

The IWC is the world’s most prestigious and influential wine competition. Established for 27 years, the IWC has gained global recognition with a PR reach of over 500 million people with its results website attracting visitors from 157 countries in 2010

Winners of the coveted Trophy, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Commended awards are selected from over 10,000 entrants and scored based on faithfulness to variety, region and vintage, ensuring the awards represent the best wines in their class in the world

Here are some photos of the tasting:

Attendees included representatives from these organizations:

• Abbelio Wines
• American Club
• Anrise IMC (Corner Stone Distribution)
• Applied Wine
• Casamia International Ltd
• Cepage
• Chinese Wine Trading Co.
• CitySuper
• Conrad International
• Everwise Wine Group
• Gateway Hotel
• Harbour Grand Hong Kong
• Hotel LKF by Rhombus
• Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Sha Tin
• Hyatt Regency Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui
• Langham Place
• L’Atelier & Le Jardin de Joël Robuchon
• Liquid Assets Limited
• Marriott Hong Kong Sky City Hotel
• Merit Wine Boutique
• Novotel Century
• Pacific Wine International (formerly Bottle Shop)
• Prince Hong Kong
• Red Wine Cellar O/B Joyful Win Holdings
• Rhombus International Hotels Group
• Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers
• The Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club
• The Four Seasons
• The Langham Hotel
• The Miramar Group
• VINO 1855 Wines Company
• Watson’s Wine Cellar
• ABC Wines Hong Kong
• ABS Asia Ltd Wine Agencies
• Adelaide Cellar Door (HK)
• Advantage Asia Pacific Ltd
• Amorosso Fine Wines
• ASC Wines
• Bacchus Fine Wines Asia Ltd.
• BNS (Asia)
• Concord Fine Wines
• Cottage Vineyards
• El Toro Group Limited
• Five Star Wine International
• General Wines & Food Co.
• Global Wines East Asia Company
• Grand Wine Cellar
• Hai Luen Trading Co.
• Jetwin Industries (Ambassador of Wine)
• Kedington Wines (Far East) Co.
• Luxury 82 Limited
• Mana Fine Wines
• Max Scene International Limited
• Metropolitan Wine Cellar Limited
• Northeast Wines & Spirits
• Omtis
• One Red Dot Trading
• Premier Fine Wine
• Saveurs International (Asia)
• Sens Wine Cellar
• Sims Trading
• Sino Vantage Asia
• Soho Wines & Spirits
• Telford International Marketing
• Vine to Wine Cellar Co., Ltd.
• Wine Culture (HK) Ltd
• Wine HK
• Wine Hut
• Winpo Asia Ltd.

The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Dracula – these are the legendary films directed by the equally legendary Francis Ford Coppola and he’s coming to town for Winefuture HK ’11.

This landmark event takes place November 6-8 in Hong Kong at the AsiaWorld Expo which also includes wine industry elites like Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson, James Sucking and Gary Vaynerchuk amongst other giants of the wine industry.

Mr. Coppola plans to speak about the recent announcement that his celebrated Rubicon Estate in Rutherford, Napa Valley, will be known henceforth by its historic original name, Inglenook, and he will discuss his overall goal of restoring the winery into America’s greatest wine estate.

Find out more about getting your tickets for Winefuture HK ’11 here. And stay tuned here for more information and coverage as Winebuzz.hk is the offical online media parter for Winefuture HK ’11.

The SCMP today reports that the wine industry has exploded in a few short years to be worth HK$5.5 billion dollars (subscription required).

We’ve taken the liberty of showing you a few choice quotes:

The piece revolves around former HSBC banker turned wine merchant Gordon Yuen Tien-yau of Perfect Vintage, which deals in mostly fine and rare wines from France.

This quote will probably have him living in infamy in certain French circles:

“I never imagined I could drink a glass of Lafite at breakfast time.”

The rest of the article discusses some interesting data:

Government statistics show the wine business has ballooned since wine duties were scrapped in 2008 as part of efforts to turn Hong Kong into an Asian wine hub. It has proved to be the right move – revenue from the industry is up 30 per cent from 2007.

New wine shops or wine-related companies hired more than 5,000 full-time staff in that two-year period, bringing total employees in the industry to about 40,000 by the end of 2009, according to the latest statistics available from the government.

Government statistics show mainland purchases of wine in Hong Kong surged 80 per cent to HK$558 million in 2009, up from HK$308 million in 2007.

Some Hong Kong investors like to invest in wine, betting it will outperform the stock market. The Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 Index, a benchmark comprising high-end wines, rose by 57 per cent last year, outstripping gold which gained 29 per cent, and the Hang Seng Index with its meagre 5 per cent advance.

Our take is that this is merely the tip of the iceberg. The demand for good quality wine will grow as people become more educated and learn the differences between wines and their regions, and we think that it’s not just the wine bottle selling that is going to grow but ancillary services like education and storage that are also going to boom.

A great time to be a wine lover in Hong Kong…

One of our favorite hotels in Hong Kong is easily The Luxe Manor in Tsim Sha Tsui – a hip artistic boutique hotel with custom designs that make it very easy to chill out and relax after touring the city or after a hard day’s work. It’s also 1 of 2 Hong Kong hotels that are part of the Small Luxury Hotels in the World.

So, to give bilingual tech-savvy visitors more insight into the 153-guest room premises around Knutsford Terrace, they’ve launched an iOS app that plays on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and that shows off the shopping and nightlife area immediately surrounding the hotel.

And forget about having to become the mayor at The Luxe Manor on Foursquare – just show the app at the Dada Bar and you’ll get a free drink!

While you can take a photo of anything in the hotel to upload and be entered into a competition to win a free night at the hotel. How’s that for instant satisfaction?

The new app will cover up-to-the-minute news about not only the hotel and its rooms, suites and facilities, but also handy City & Walks, Culture & Living and Addresses sections. In City & Walks, guests will be able to access easy-to-understand maps showing shopping, wining and dining hot spots in popular hubs such as Tsim Sha Tsui and Central.

The Culture & Living section will show you detailed events such as current and upcoming films, concerts and stage shows. Last but not least, the Addresses section will outline all useful addresses and contact numbers a guest is ever likely to need while staying in Hong Kong.

To know more about The Luxe Manor App for iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, please visit www.theluxemanor.com/app

The VinitiPortugal event at the Grand Hyatt earlier this week was a great event – 49 wine producers came to Hong Kong for a 3-city tour of Asia. Everyone was delighted and surprised at the quality of the wines available for tasting and we have to agree!

We sat down with Miguel Nora the area manager of ViniPortugal to get his take on what is being done to promote Portuguese wines in the highly competitive Hong Kong market.

Viniportugal is based in Portugal but travels the world to promote Portugal

Miguel has been to Hong Kong 4 times in 8 months. Every year they do a grand tasting like this, and this year its the biggest with 49 wine makers brought to Hong Kong – that represents a 30% increase from the last grand tasting.

The Viniportugal tour started here in Hong Kong with the next stop in Shanghai and then Moscow.

The people at each of the tables are either the export managers or the actual wine makers – with about 70% of the wines available already in the Hong Kong market and 30% are looking for distributors. Each of the Portuguese wine makers are in different stages with some coming to Hong Kong 5-6 times a year to investigate the market while others are just starting to get into the market.

There were 2 seminars to support: one on white wines and one on red wines. Both well attended.

Miguel cites cultural difference as a challenge, of course, and the distance – but hel tells us that Portugal only woke up 10-15 years to the export market with only 20-25% of Portuguese produced wines being exported outside of Portugal. Domestic consumption is going down and so they look to the export market as well as showing the world the beauty of Portuguese wine.

Another challenge: Education. A difficult barrier when compared to other European wines – in Europe Portuguese wine is in the Top 6 here it’s a challenge to get to Top 10. One of the reasons is the 300 different grape varieties – some specific to Portugal – that makes it a challenge to people who only know the main grape varieties.

Macau is a good starting place – the Portuguese food and wine influence is strong there and its something they are building on with the Mainland visibility base because of the influx of gamblers from China.

Viniportugal is focused on the media, trade buyers, sommeliers, F&B managers and even wine educators as we caught a few wine teachers in the crowd and even Master of Wine Debra Meiburg was at one of the seminars – and she was impressed by the quality of the wines on display at the tasting.

We were impressed with the showcase that Viniportugal put together at the Grand Hyatt ballroom and we encourage everyone to seek out some of the spectacular Portuguese white wines especially the next time you are out looking to try something new.

Some of the wine producers tables at the show mixed with export managers, local distributors and wine makers.

One of two seminars held giving an introductory overview to white and red wines, the regions and the varietals. Invaluable insight for those wanting to get to know Portuguese wines.

Here is a photo gallery of the Viniportugal event that we reported about here:

Book a class with JC Viens and learn how to taste grape varieties like you were born that way. 

As part of his popular “How to Taste Like a Pro” series, these classes on tasting grape variety are designed to help you learn specific “markers” that enable wine pro to identify the variety in blind tasting.

You will learn a systematic approach to tasting, pinpoint origin of wine, evaluate its quality and recognize the wine making techniques used to craft each wine.

How Much?

• HK$650 per single class

Where?

• The Fine Wine Centre, Shop 306, 3/F The Lee Gardens, 33 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Course Dates

• Sparking wine – Taste Cava, Cremant, Champagne, Prosecco, Asti and other sparklings from New World.  Thursday 26 May, 2011, 7-9pm. SOLD OUT
• Sauvignon Blanc – Taste wines from Sancerre, France, Marlborough, New Zealand, California, USA, Casablanca, Chile, Adelaide Hills, Australia and Graves, France. Thursday, 9 June, 2011, 7-9pm
• Pinot Noir – Taste wines from Cote d’Or and Bourgogne, France, California and Oregon, USA, Yarra Valley, Australia and Central Otago, New Zealand. Thursday, 16 June, 2011, 7-9pm

To book, RSVP at rsvp@winebuzz.hk or call The Fine Wine Centre at 2110 1680

This tasting will be led by JC Viens, who is a Certified Tutor of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) and a holder of the WSET Diploma (Merit).  He is now studying to become Master of Wine.  Avid wine lover and a storyteller, he has traveled extensively throughout various wines regions around the world.

See JC Viens in our video interview with him at HOFEX 2011 here.