The week in pictures: Hong Kong

A night out with the Macau wine trade, tasting Dave Powell’s new wines and celebrating the mid-Autumn festival. It’s all in a week’s work for the db HK team.

Welcoming the approach of autumn and the last gasp of summer, the newly opened Butcher’s Barrel hosted a tasting of premium Provence rosé, Domaines Ott. The Butcher’s Barrel is a Central deli devised by the Butcher’s Club and Links Concept with a mouth-watering array of Australian dry-aged steak, fresh fish and an extensive wine collection – half of which are under HK$100.

Launching its “Super Rhône” additions to the Asia market, Sarmant hosted an incredible lunch at ÉPURE restaurant in Kowloon’s Harbour City. Sarment’s head of wine, Kimberley Drake guided guests through the 2012 Chene Bleu rosé, 2011 Chene Bleu Aliot, 2013 Roc D’Anglade blanc, 2007 Chene Bleu Abelard, 2011 Roc D’Anglade rouge and 2009 Chene Bleu Heloise.

The man behind Torbreck, Dave Powell has released his new Powell & Sons collection to the Hong Kong market through Links Concept. In an intimate tasting with the wine media, Dave introduced his wines which are made in Barossa and Eden Valley in collaboration with his son, Callum. 

One of db HK’s Top 10 Macau sommeliers, Mathieu Gaignon of Macau’s University of Science and Technology (MUST) hosted a Rioja tasting where he introduced examples from the various vintage classifications of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.

Stand-out favourites of the MUST Rioja tasting were the 2008 Vina Amezola Bodegas Amezola de la Mora, 2002 R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Reserva and 2004 Bodegas Sierra Cantabria Gran Reserva. 

To kick off the long mid-Autumn festival weekend, team db HK met the charismatic export director Godefroy Baijot from Besserat de Bellefon Champagne at the Champagne Bar of the Grand Hyatt. Established in 1843 to pair “beautifully with food,” Besserat de Bellefon has no malolactic fermentation and uses lighter pressure to create a delicate and aromatic Champagne. Gerard Ligier-Belair Professor of Physics, University of Reims even investigated the “bubble equation” and revealed in his book, Uncorked that “the bubbles in the Cuvée des Moines are 30% finer than those in a traditional Champagne.”  

Next up was Wan Chai’s Italian cocktail hotspot, Pirata for its new “World Cities” collection. The Lychee & Coconut created by Pirata’s mixologist, Matthew Dallow was a particular highlight, with a heady mix of Finlandia vodka, kwai feh, coconut milk and lychee juice.

Despite the BBC’s reports that the mid-Autumn supermoon lunar eclipse was set to be “7% bigger” than usual and blood-red in appearance, its entrance in Hong Kong looked decidedly normal – if still very picturesque – as viewed from the Tsing Yi waterfront.