‘Pink seminar’ tests HK trade’s selling skills

Just before Typhoon Linfa temporarily shut Hong Kong down for a few hours on 9 July, about 20 trade professionals gathered for Rod Smith MW’s talk “Think Pink: La Vie en Rosé”, organised by SPIT – a membership-only community dedicated to the professional training and development of Hong Kong’s wine trade professionals.

Set up in 2014, during its first year SPIT organised 12 workshops plus a full day seminar, with a number of industry-respected experts and speakers among the guest speakers. “Think Pink” kicked off the second year of workshops.

The selection of rosé was sourced from France (Provence and Tavel) and Australia (Barossa). Smith enhanced the tasting with images of picturesque Provence and Mont Sainte-Victoire. A very similar number voted for the Turkey Flat Barossa Rosé as for the Whispering Angel, Domaines Ott Château de Selle Coeur de Grain or Château Coussin.

The wines were appreciated for different qualities, including strident pink colour as a sign of romance, the light residual sugar in some rosé for its pairing ability with mildly spicy Asian cuisine and savoury character as ideal for pairing with the multi-faceted flavours of Cantonese cuisine. Smith also highlighted a few interesting rosé producing regions not featured in the line-up such as Corsica, Bandol, Rioja/Spain, Sardinia and Mateus, with its more recent introduction of dry style Expressions range, to differentiate from the traditional off-dry bestseller.

Debra Meiburg MW, moderator and founding chairperson of SPIT, encouraged the group of trade professionals and sommeliers to put more rosé wines on their wine lists – not just one!

The customers need to be educated about the diversity of rosé and it would be a shame to limit its availability in the on-trade and supermarkets. Rosé can be enjoyed throughout the year.

To reinforce the message that rosé does not need to be forced into a summer seasonal offering, the second half of the workshop saw the group breaking up into a brainstorming session on how to sell more rosé in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a predominantly red wine market (according to a report by USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, about 95% of total wine imports into HK were red in 2013 with white wine accounting for 5% in the same year), despite visible signs of increasing white and sparkling consumption.

The group came up with this party line: an affordable everyday tipple that can be enjoyed with or without food. Or swap the Champagne with rosé to kick off a party? Restaurant owners were tipped to play their part in contributing to the community by sharing a percentage of rosé wine sales to breast cancer charitable concerns. And how about a “World Dress Pink Day”?