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Henry Tang mulls planting vineyards in Hong Kong
Henry Tang, Hong Kong’s former chief secretary and a key figure in eliminating wine tax in the city, is apparently considering planting vineyards in West Kowloon with “Instagram worthy” views over the harbour.
Henry Tang (left) at our Asian Personality Awards hosted by the drinks business and Vinexpo in 2018
Tang revealed the plan when interviewed by South China Morning Post arguing that wine is part of arts and culture, and the local climate can be suitable for planting grapes despite the capricious subtropical weather, and the city’s high labour and land cost.
A key policy figure in eradicating tariffs on wine in Hong Kong in 2008, Tang now serves as chairman of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority.
The proposed vineyard is expected to be located in West Kowloon Cultural District’s M+, a visual cultural museum near the waterfront, and the varieties suggested by Tang are Chardonnay and Merlot.
“I will provide more details in due course. I hope Hong Kong can have a vineyard with a harbour view, and this will be a very good Instagram moment,” Tang told SCMP.
The politician who is also an avid wine collector and drinker said he has already contacted vineyard owners in France for advice.
It’s unknown at this stage the scale of the proposed project. Hong Kong became a wine trading hub in Asia after the local government led by Tang eradicated all tariffs on wine in 2008. Consumption of wine remains high and the city’s drinkers are known for drinking expensive bottles of Bordeaux and Burgundy. But whether the city can transform itself from a wine consumer to a wine producer still remains to be seen.
However, making wines in countries with tropical climate is not unheard of, with successful examples in Thailand, India and Indonesia. But it comes with its own perils, with the merciless monsoon season, lack of sunlight hours due to the close proximity to the Equator and the unique ‘two seasons, one crop’ training system, meaning that grapes undergo two vegetation periods – one in the wet season (usually from April to October), and another in the dry season (November to March) – but only the dry season vegetation leads to a crop.
Making wines in Hong Kong is not a complete novelty either. A few years back, Urban Projects by The Flying Winemaker imported grapes from Australia, the US and France to produce wines at an urban winery.
Tang is known for his wine taste and collection. The former candidate for Hong Kong’s top office job auctioned off part of his rare wine collections through Christie’s for more than HK$ 48 million in 2013.
A scandal in 2012 after he was found to have illegally constructed a wine cellar at the basement of his luxury house was largely blamed for costing him the job as Hong Kong’s chief executive.
Consumption is higher than it was before the tariff was dropped but is hardly high compared to countries with a long wine-drinking history. Per capita spending on wine is US$62 a year, as opposed to nearly US$500 in Australia and US$210 in France. Even impoverished Croatians spend nearly as much on wine as Hongkongers.
The idea of HK as a wine hub is highly debatable. Some HK importers/distributors have to store their wine in bond in Guangzhou due to exorbitant storage costs here.
Perhaps the land would be better suited to being a sculpture park.