Uncorked: Michael Lee

Michael Lee is the restaurant manager and sommelier of Jacques Barnachon’s newly opened Michelin starred restaurant, La Saison in Tsim Sha Tsui. His passion for food and wine started when he was in France for eight years where his family ran a Chinese restaurant. He worked at Spoon by Alain Ducasse at the Continental in Hong Kong before coming to La Saison and looking after its fine wine list, He speaks to db about his most precious bottle of 1962 Cheval Blanc and his fear of global warming affecting his favourite vineyards.

What vintage are you?

1978 – a great year for red Bordeaux!

What bottle sparked your love of wine?

It was no particular bottle but I fell in love with the local food and wine culture when I lived in France and I have been a wine enthusiast ever since.

What would you be as a wine?

I think I would be a young bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. My personality matches its characteristics – a rich mixture of up to 19 types of grapes and spunky and robust with a hint of spiciness!

Where are you happiest?

At work I’m happiest when I’m working with my amazing team at La Saison. At home it’d be when I’m spending time with my family and my two children.

What’s your greatest vice?

Probably my tendency to be overly honest. Sometimes it’s important to think twice before I voice my thoughts, especially since I work in the service industry.

Best advice you ever received?

No pain no gain. The older I get the more I realize the truth behind this message.

Your cellar’s underwater, which bottle would you dive in and save?

It would be my 1961 Château Cheval Blanc 1961. It is arguably one of the best and most expensive wines in Bordeaux, and 1961 is regarded as one of the best years of the last 100 years.

What’s the best and worst thing about the wine business?

The best thing is to see my guests enjoying the wines I recommend to them. The worst is knowing that the quality of the wines I love cannot be preserved as global warming is greatly endangering the unique flavours of the soil of certain vineyards.

What’s on your wine bucket list?

Not any special bottle but just any good French wine. I want to spend the rest of my life tasting different French reds, they rarely disappoint.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?

I would invite my family along with my closest friends.

Personal satisfaction (Parker points – out of 100)

It can never be higher than 99 points, since no one is perfect. I will never stop at improving myself through further education and learning by travelling more around the world. I am currently taking advanced classes with WSET and some of the members of my team are also enrolled in classes of different levels so we help each other along.

Which wine would you like served at your funeral?

A very traditional bottle of Chinese Maotai. You will be surprised at how well Maotai goes with certain Western dishes!