Parker to kick off world tour in Beijing

With The Wine Advocate now under Asian ownership, Robert Parker will kick off his “Grand World Tour” in Beijing on 26 February.

After Beijing, Parker will head to Shanghai on 1 March followed by a stint in Hong Kong from 4-6 March.

Designed to “excite, inform and entertain”, the wines chosen for the different masterclasses Parker will host have been specifically tailored to each city.

Each of the masterclasses runs with a different theme, from “The great 2000 & 2009 vintages of the Médoc” and “The great Cabernet Sauvignons of the world” to “Iconic French wines and their New World counterparts.”

In addition to the masterclasses, Parker will also be hosting gala dinners where, according to the critic, he will be serving “truly profound wines.”

Speaking in a video on The Wine Advocate website, Parker said: “I’m shipping over a number of very limited production French wines as well as Italian wines and California cult wines.”

The sell-out dinner Parker is hosting on 26 February at The Courtyard restaurant in Beijing will feature the likes of Château Petrus and Château Lafleur.

A black tie “hedonists” dinner on 27 February at the Four Seasons Beijing meanwhile, includes Ausone 2005, Cheval Blanc 2000 and Yquem 1996, and costs US$1,100 a ticket.

At the Shangri-La hotel in Hong Kong, Parker will be pulling out the stops at a gala dinner on 6 March, where the wines on pour will include Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg 1996, Château Latour 1996 and Château Leoville-Las-Cases 1986. Tickets for the dinner are priced at US$1,248 a pop.

After HK, the tour will head to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and select cities in the US before winding up in London.