My Hong Kong Wine Experience

Why am I writing this blog?  Maybe I am way too bored, or just more about sharing my wine experiences with my friends outside Sydney.

Let's start from the most recent experience, it may sound strange, but yes, it actually happened in Hong Kong.  Due to my recent love in the old world wines, this is my best opportunity to try them in Hong Kong.  Hong Kong is well known for being an active port for wine auctions.  This is not surprising since Honkies like to bid for everything, including the most expensive truffles in the world.  Although my budget didn't go anywhere near the auction bottles, but still, the variety is huge in Hong Kong, swamp with old world Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chianti ... ... - this is my world!  Oh, and the recent government implementation on abolishing wine tax in Hong Kong makes it even better.  Hong Kong here I come.

I have done my research before I arrived in Hong Kong.  One of my friends told me that there is a winery in Hong Kong, I was so surprised by the news, since when did Hong Kong have maritime or continental climates?  Anyway, I went into its website to check it out (http://www.the8estatewinery.com/).  This looks real, and they even have custom wines if you buy a BARREL, interesting.  Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to the wine tasting events, but they welcome visitors during the week, I definitely have to go.

On a nice sunny hot and humid day, My husband and I followed the address and took a bus from Admiralty to Aberdeen, then a cab to Ap Lei Chau.  We arrived in the middle of an industrial harbour at Ap Lei Chau.  The address is third floor of an industrial building, is this right?  We walked through a loading dock and found the lifts, went up to the third floor and found room 306.  A man was packing wines into cardboard boxes, this must be it.  Within 5 minutes, Lysanne, the director of the eight estate came out and gave us a tour of the winery.  They import frozen grapes from Washington, USA, and thaw them to make their wines here.  They have and range of whites and reds, they use Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay for their whites and Shiraz and Merlot for their reds.  And most recently they have imported some varietals from Italy, including Sangiovese and Nebbiolo for their next vintage. 
 

We went there on a weekday and they only do tastings on the weekends, but fortunately they have one of their late harvest Shiraz (Passion) opened and we managed to try a little.  It was a murky dark cherry colour, sweet and not peppery.  Since I have not tried sweet Shiraz in the past, I can't really comment on it, but I guess I prefer our Victorian sparkling Shiraz for its sweetness, yes, it's Aussie!  Nevertheless, since I was in the first winery in Hong Kong, I can't leave without buying a few "Product of Hong Kong" wines.  I picked the Fume Blanc (so American), an oaked Sauvignon Blanc which I am not familiar with, most Australian and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc are not oaked and it has crisp, herbaceous flavour, it will be interesting to try this one.  And I've also picked the Heritage, which is made of a Bordeaux blend, um... can't wait to try them.  Of cause I will post my comments here after I've tried them.  Satisfied!  It's kind of cool to have two "Product of Hong Kong" wines to add to my collection.

The next wine adventure in Hong Kong was the "HK Wine and Dine Festival".  It was one of the celebrations of the Hong Kong Food and Wine Year.  And luckily this happens during my visit in Hong Kong.  I was so excited as I always enjoyed the Sydney Good Food Month in October, an event for real foodies and wine lover.  This was the first wine tasting event I had in Hong Kong, it just feels so strange.  

It was a Friday night, the event starts at 6pm for trades people only and open to the public at 8:45pm.  I went with my husband and my sister, and we followed the instructions from the brochure and arrived at the shuttle bus stop at 8:15, there was already a long queue.  I was so excited and impatience, but while we were waiting at the queue I received a call from a friend who was already at the venue, she told us to catch a cab instead of waiting for the shuttle.  Such a good idea, why can't I thought of it.  As the cab was approaching the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade, I got so excited seeing a large crowd walking towards the entrance.  I was so glad that we took a cab instead of waiting for the shuttle bus.  When I arrived, people were everywhere, that's right, I'm in Hong Kong!  

We met up with my friend at the entrance, since she was at one of the trades, she gave us 3 wine passes, YEAH, tasting wines for free!!  (If we were to pay, for $150 you’ll get 12 tasting tickets, a Riedel tasting glass and some food coupons, not bad.)  With the tickets, I went straight to the old world wines area.  The first stop was of cause Bordeaux, there were so many Bordeaux wines, at least 20 booths in a small hub.  

 

What do I want? What do I want?  Medoc? St. Emilion? Pomerol?  My faint memory of the left bank, right bank... Oh I don't know, just drink.  Let's try a St. Emilion first then move on to the rest.  So we tried wine after wine, just enjoying the atmosphere and the company, so lovely.  Having some French black pig sausages in between, yum.  The complexity of the old world wines is just amazing, the depth, the favour, I generally enjoy them all.  A general impression was that they will be more enjoyable if they were breathe longer, nevertheless, this may not be possible in a tasting event like this.  The most impressed Bordeaux of the evening was the Chateau Beychevelle Grand Vin 2004 Saint-Julien.  It was served by Concord wines.  They decanted the wine in a decanter, the full flavour was there, the first wine of that evening I could taste the deep tannins and earthy flavour.  The last booth we went to was the Sweet White Bordeaux, you can’t leave Bordeaux without the Sauternes.

We then moved on to the other areas, another wine that is rare in Australia is the “REAL” Ice wine from Canada.  I was so happy to see all these Ice wine on the stand, but they were not chilled!  Due to too many people at the festival, they couldn’t chill their Ice wines in time, I tried a glass, partly chilled.  It was ok, but it would be much better if it’s actually chilled to 8°C.  A little disappointed. 

As we were walking along the new world stands, we met a Honkie winemaker who just came back from New Zealand and opened his shop in Causeway Bay.  He learnt his winemaking skills at Hawke’s Bay.  I was so jealous, this is my dream job!  The evening was fun and enjoyable, with good wines, food and company.  This is such a nice event for the busy, stressed HK people to enjoy an outdoor drinking experience.  A general feeling was that HK people tend to enjoy sweeter wines, such as German Riesling and Gewurztraminer.  Do they like Shiraz? 

The next drinking occasion was at Knutsford Terrace in Tsim Sha Tsui.  It is a hot spot for western food and pubs.  I was walking along the restaurants and pubs with my husband, we were checking out the wine menu and see which one serves more wines by the glass.  A waiter from Il Meglio Ristorante di Venezia told us they have a few wines that come in half bottle.  That’s even better, the last thing you want is a glass of stale wine from a bottle that has been opened for a long period of time.  So we ordered the Nipozzano’s Chianti Classico – Chianti Rufina Riserva, a DOCG wine.  It has a nice ruby red colour, darker then most Sangiovese, later I found out that it was blended with a small amount of Malvasia Nera, Colorino, Merlot and Cabernert Sauvignon.  It has very nice aroma, soft on the palate, a very nice after dinner wine to be drunk on its own.

This summarizes my Hong Kong drinking experience, a few surprises and an overall enjoyable experience!