Uncorked: Yang Lu

Yang Lu is corporate wine director of the Shangri-La Group in Hong Kong and loves Mosel Riesling and staying in bed above all things.

What Vintage are you?
1981, not a great one, but a wonderful vintage by Krug and there are some delicious Riojas.

What bottle sparked your love of wine?
None really, I didn’t even know what Chardonnay was when I decided to enroll in a viticulture and winemaking program back in 05… I got in because I was a borderline alcoholic, a confused physics-major college kid, wandering between being drunk and half-drunk every day, and life was going nowhere.

So I figured to make a living out of drinking, but I also predicted that wine would have a big future in China.  Luckily for me, it turns out to be the best decision I made in my life, and wine is getting bigger in China, faster and wilder than I expected.

Ambition or talent?
I take the lyrics of Fort Minor’s Remember the Name for this question: 10% luck; 20% skill; 15% concentrated power of will; 5% pleasure; 50% pain; and 100% reason to remember the name.

What would you be as a wine?
White: Riesling, Mosel, with the right amount of residual sugar.
Red: cool climate Syrah, with the right amount of whole bunch.

Where are you happiest?
It’s gotta go back to my days of studying wines at Niagara College.  Those late sunny afternoons in summer, sipping charming Rieslings and Pinots, playing bocce with friends and firing up BBQ at vineyards…that’s genuine happiness and unforgettable memories.

What’s your greatest vice?
Clinomania…for those who don’t know, it means an excessive desire to stay in bed.

Best advice you ever got?
Too many really… it’s just I have a hard time following most of them.

Your cellar’s underwater, which bottle would you dive in and save?
I have a very small cellar, probably I will try to save the DRC Montrachet 2005. The problem is that I don’t know how to swim!

What’s the best & worst thing about the wine business?
The best thing is the best wines, the worst thing is the worst wines

Personal satisfaction (Parker points)
75 out of 100, I always believe everything has room to be better, there is no best, only better.

Desert island vine?
Madeira, because it can keep longer…