The week in pictures: Hong Kong

Pinot Noir came under close scrutiny at our latest Asian Masters series as a group of top sommeliers, wine merchants, educators and writers congregated to examine and find the best expressions of the red grape in our Asian Pinot Noir Masters on 1 November at The Flying Winemaker’s office in Central. Pictured above are some of the judges at the competition. From left to right are Reeze Choi, runner-up of ASI sommelier competition; Corrine Mui, COO of AWSEC; Derek Li, group sommelier at JIA Group; Szabolcs Menesi, Head Sommelier at Island Shangri-La; Linden Wilkie, Director of The Fine Wine Experience, Lina Andersson (observing); Natalie Wang, Managing Editor of dbHK; Sophie Raichura, Sales Manager of dbHK (observing) and Lawrence Osborne, Bangkok-based British novelist and former wine writer. Judges not pictured above included Sarah Wong, Wine Columnist at South China Morning Post and Henry Chang, Beverage Manager at China Club.

Different from other grape varieties, the delicate red grape Pinot Noir tends to be a rather polarising variety from all our varietal judging competitions. When done right, ardent wine lovers wax poetic about this fragrant grape but a slip in the cellar or in the vineyards can make the judges scrunch their nose in dismay. The results are thus a mixed bag. Stay tuned for our next issue to find out all the medal-winning wines. 

Sarah Wong, Wine Columnist at South China Morning Post, and Szabolcs Menesi, Head Sommelier at Island Shangri-La, at the judging session.

ASC Fine Wines officially launched the full spirits portfolio of Beam Suntory in Hong Kong and Macau in October at their World Wine Tour event. The merchant has been appointed as the sole importer for Beam Suntory’s spirits portfolio, including its Japanese whisky, Scotch whisky and Sauza Tequila, for the two markets. Chita pictured above is Suntory’s first single grain whisky.

Omasi Uchibori, the former master distiller at Japan’s now closed cult whisky distillery Karuizawa, was in Hong Kong to host a rare Karuizawa tasting at Bonham’s office featuring four gems from his personal collection, namely a Karuizawa Rouge Cask 1995, Karuizawa 1976 35 Year Old, Karuizawa 1972 and Karuizawa Single Cask 1989. The maestro is seen here is signing bottles for collectors after the guided tasting. On 16 November, Bonham’s is set to host its biggest ever sale in Hong Kong, which will offer the largest selection of Japanese whisky with over 70 bottles from Karuizawa, in addition to a further 50 bottles of single cask Yamazaki and a selection from the highly sought after Hanyu Card series.

Jim White (right), Technical Director of Cloudy Bay, was in Hong Kong to launch the latest 2018 vintage of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, which was described as “a vibrant and mouthwatering wine with notes of citrus, kaffir lime, passionfruit and white stone fruit.”

Sardinian winery Argiolas hosted a series of well curated food and wine pairing dinners in Taiwan at Hotel Royal Beitou and Hotel Royal Chiao Hsi. The menu designed by guest chef Alessandro Taras, who flew directly from Italy to Taiwan for the events, offered local guests a chance to taste authentic Sardinian flavours matched hand in hand with Argiolas’ wines from refreshing Vermentino to the more potent red blend, Turriga.