Pierre Legrandois of Links Concept Talks About Importing Family-Owned Wines to Asia

One of Hong Kong’s leading distributors talks about their business.

We turned our HOFEX 2011 booth into a Winebuzz TV studio and invited the movers and shakers in the Hong Kong wine scene to talk about how they see the current status of wine culture in Hong Kong and what the future looks like.

Pierre Legrandois is the director of sales at Links Concept in Hong Kong, China and Macau and overseas the importing of such brands like Louis Roederer, Dow’s Port, Paul Blanck, Conhca Y Toro and many more. Pierre talks to us about his company philosophy in how they work with the winemakers and how they see the explosive growth in the Hong Kong market:

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Choosing Wine at a Restaurant with Pierre Legrandois

Tips on choosing wine and making an impression at a business lunch.

painting by Mark Keller

Pierre Legrandois, Chief Sommelier at the Mandarin Oriental give us some pointers on how to  navigate the wine list at restaurants. When you are taking your clients out for a business dinner and its up to you to order the wine, Pierre suggests the following:

1. Choose a wine according to the food of your guests. It shows you are paying attention, thoughtful and want to ensure an enjoyable experience.
2. When in doubt, 0pt for classic wines like Burgundy white like Montrachet &Meursault or a red Bordeaux.
3. Know the French Vintages: 1982, 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003
4. Ask for a recommendation without mentioning your budget out right.

A good way to handle this is to mention to the sommelier that you like a certain kind of wine. For example, do you have Chateaux “this vintage” for “X price,” if you can you please recommend something similar?  Another way is to mention you would like a wine similar to “X” and point to the price on the wine list to your sommelier.  Its a gesture most sommelier understands.

Ordering Wine at Lunch – Pierre Legrandois

Lunch time wine.

Pierre Legrandois, Chief Sommalier at the Mandarin Oriental give us some pointers on how to enjoy wine during lunch. Many people don’t order wine during lunch for fear of the after effects when they still have to be at the office.  Pierre has some tips on how you can enjoy wine during lunch.

The trick is to order lower alcohol content wine from countries like Germany and Eastern Europe where most of the lower alcohol content variety of wine are made. Not all wine have the same alcohol content so choose the variety with less alcohol content if you don’t want to be impaired at your meeting after.   For whites, go for Sauvignon Blanc and Reisling and for red, choose Pinor Noir or Niebbiolo. For example a Reisling normally contain 7-11% alcohol while alcohol level in Chardonay is usually 12-14%.

So now you know, go ahead enjoy some wine during your business lunch, it might make it a little more amicable, just a little.

Wine Appreciation – Pierre Legrandois

Wine tasting tips from Pierre Legrandois.

Chief Sommelier at the Mandarin Oriental, Pierre Legrandois gives us some tips about appreciating wine at the recent workshop organized by Hong Kong Land’s Boutique Boulevard: So Chic, So Central program.

Pierre’s wine tasting tips;

1. Look at the wine, especially around the edges. Tilt the glass  to see the way the colour changes from the center to the edges. Look for the colour of the wine and clarity. White wines become darker as they age and time causes red wines to lose their colour turning more brownish with small amount of dark red sediment at the bottom of the glass.

2. Swirl the wine in your glass. This allow oxygen into the wine and opens up its aromas.

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