Blog entries

Domaine Ponsot: Burgundian Excellence

Alasdair Nicol — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0100

Domaine Ponsot was established in 1872 by William Ponsot and nowadays is one of Burgundy's most revered and iconoclastic Domaines in Burgundy.

Laurent Ponsot, the current proprietor of the winery was in Hong Kong for a special lunch pairing his wines with Chinese cuisine in The China Club.

The rise in popularity of Burgundian ...

Piper Heidsieck Masterclass with Debra Meiburg MW

Alasdair Nicol — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:25:00 +0100

Piper Heidsieck is one of the Champagne regions most iconic Champagne houses and was founded in 1785 by Florens-Louis Heidsieck in the village of Reims.

To this day the Champagne house still makes Cham...

Red Wine and Breast Cancer

Sarah Mayo — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:54:43 +0100

With tongue in cheek my father has for many years referred to his daily red wine as "heart medicine."

Because I am a red wine drinker I've always chosen to believe that red wine possesses positive health benefits - that the anti-oxidents and polyphenols in the skins are secretly doing good chemical works in my b...

From Argentina, with love

Ansel Ashby — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:33:32 +0100

I have a tendency to go on varietal kicks. I’ll have a bottle of something and fall in love with it. And I’ll want to drink nothing but that variety for a while. I admit, I’m c...

Can't Judge A Wine By Its Label. Or Can You?

Alasdair Nicol — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:20:18 +0100

The old adage says, “Never judge a book by its cover” and nothing could be truer when it comes to wine.

The mistake novice wine drinkers make when first buying wine from their local supermarket is by looking at the front label on the bottle and making their purchase choice based on this. One can almost hear them think. “This looks nice!”

A pretty, colourful and eye-catching label has nothing to do with the product inside the bottle. Marketers are hired to m...

Hong Kong NYE & Henri Giraud: Amazing!

Ansel Ashby — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:14:54 +0100

At 4:45 AM my girlfriend called to make sure I wouldn't miss my flight to Hong Kong. I have a history of trouble with flights, especially in and out of Hong Kong. I hastily threw on closes and packed two bottles of champagne into a backpack. Sufficiently armed, I headed to Hong kong for New Year's Eve.&n...

McWine Pairing: Does Wine Pair with Junk Food?

Alasdair Nicol — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:37:55 +0100

Like all wine lovers I thought the movie “Sideways” was one of the greatest movies of 2005 and regarding that movie, who can forget a disconsolate Miles sitting down at a fast food chain to drown his sorrows ...

A Little Taste of Italy

Ansel Ashby — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0100

I’ll be the first to admit that my knowledge of Italian wines is limited. So I leaped at the chance to go to a master’s class on some Italian wines. And Taberna Wine Bar makes for an excellent setting. The tasting was co-taught by Sonia Canfora, Castellare di Castellina’s marketing director, and Ying Hsien Tan...

Riedel Masterclass - A Beginner's View

Zhi Xuan Ho — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0100

With only one “official” wine tasting session under my belt, I was terrified to attend the Riedel “master class” that would surely be full of wine savvy people. After my previous experience at the Hilton Wine Apprentice evening, I wasn’t looking forward to sharing my “lack of” opinions to a room full of disapproving eyes.

The WRX Wine Journey- (almost) nobody came!

Tony Duggan — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:26:22 +0100

(Singapore) December is passing in a holiday blurr. The year-end has featured so many wine dinners, wine tastings and wine sales that it’s difficult to remember them all.

As similar as they all can be, I have an experiential “hangover” from a one wine event that went virtually unnoticed in the social calendar about three weeks ago. It wasn’t unnoticed bec...

Hong Kong - Domaine Josmeyer; Back To Terroir

Alasdair Nicol — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:00:00 +0100

Domaine Josmeyer was founded in 1854 by Aloyse Meyer, a noted restaurateur and gourmet and is currently run by the 4th generation Meyer, Jean, assisted by his daughters Isabelle and Celine alongside viticulturist and...

Wines Behind the Mind

Bangkok Charles — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:53:59 +0100

Some weeks back while Bangkok’s flood fears and woes were receding, I attended a trade tasting at Water Library where Jim Clendenen, the mind behind the wine of Au Bon Climat, was presenting a selection of his 2007 wines along with a single 2006.

Jim's tasting table had a good group of Bangkok’s wine lovers sipping wine and listening to his stories. The f...

Let the Setting Make the Wine

Ansel Ashby — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:29:48 +0100

(Singapore) I have drunk some unconscionably bad wines in my time. I was a college student in the United States for four years – it goes with the territory.

Just because the wine was bad, doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy drinking it immensely...

Wine Education in Singapore

Chek Wong — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:41:25 +0100

(Singapore) "It’s like the desert winds flowing through Egyptian ruins on a mid-summer’s night with a beautiful princess waiting open armed for me. My mind fills with poetry tasting the wine from barrel." With tasting notes such as these (and from a reputable critic, no less), it's no wonder that the wine drinking fraternity has a...

Christmas, Charity and California Wine

Alasdair Nicol — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:44:57 +0100

(Hong Kong) The Wine Institute of California recently held its annual tasting of premuim Cailfornia wines at Riva restaurant in the Park Lane hotel in Hong Kong.

As usual this was a charity event and this years beneficiary was the People's Food Bank of St. James' settlement, ensuring that the elderly and the poor have a decent meal a...

Hong Kong: Dom Perignon 2003 Vintage Unveiled

Alasdair Nicol — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:45:31 +0100

The latest vintage release of Champagne Dom Perignon, the 2003 vintage, took place simultaneously in Hong Kong, New York, Paris, London and Tokyo last night. Singapore got left out of the global c...

Pol Roger Champagne Latest Vintage Tasting

Alasdair Nicol — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:24:56 +0100

(Hong Kong) Pol Roger is one of the best known and highly respected Champagne houses in Epernay and has been making and selling quality Champagnes since 1849.

Now into its fifth generation of family ownership, current proprietor Hubert de Billy came to Hong Kong recently to promote his latest releases of vintage champagne and to talk with Champagnes lovers about Pol Roger Champagne.

Aficionado’s, invited by Altaya Wines, gathered in The Pawn, Wan Chai, for a lunch prepared by ...

The Georgia with wine...on my mind

Sarah Mayo — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:15:39 +0100

When I told people I was going to Georgia - the reaction to my news was somewhat uniform. "Georgia?" the person would ask, followed by "Georgia, in the United States?"

"No," I'd say, "the other Georgia." Like clockwork there would be a thoughtful, five count pause before the person would ask, "what are you goin...

Bob Campbell MW Hosts Masterclass in Hong Kong

Alasdair Nicol — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:43:58 +0100

Master of Wine, Bob Campbell was in Hong Kong recently to give a masterclass on the different aspects and facets of New Zealand’s wines and wine regions.

Bob Campbell, himself a New Zealander...

Le Beaujolais Nouveau va arriver! - Beaujolais Nouveau is coming!!

Sarah Mayo — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:44:38 +0100

Pucker up and get your palate ready for the fruity and vibrant Beaujolais Nouveau!

This little red "party-tart-of-a-wine" will be released according to tradition (and law) on the third Thursday of November (this week on the 17th) in Singapore at two big Beaujolais parties – the annual Beaujolais bash chez Pic...