Must-Have Wines of the Lunar Year - Year of the White Rabbit 2011
The Year of the Dragon begins at 6.24pm, February 4th 2012: To which the Wandering Palate draws a line in the cellar/tasting-notebook and presents a retrospective account of the standout wines of the drinking year – the 2011 lunar drinking year – Year of the White Rabbit. Read More >
Most Auspicious Wine for Chinese New Year 2012
Year of the Black Water Dragon year
Pegasus Bay Prima Donna Pinot Noir 2009 – Waipara, South Island, New Zealand
What auspicious vinous attributes should we be looking for in the year of Black Water Dragon?
I always approach the Wandering Palate ‘Wine Book of the Year’ with trepidation, partly because wine books can be rather droll for the average reader or even wine consumer, notwithstanding research style works are indeed useful. Read More >
Our ‘Wandering Sommelier’ Shalom Chin encounters some Wine Feng Shui in Burgundy, indeed it would appear that Burgundian’s take Chi as a life-force very serioulsy…
Australian Red Wine of the Year
Arlewood La Bratta 2007 – Margaret River, Western Australia
When was the last time you had an Australian merlot that pushed your button?
I came across one that not only aroused my merlot curiosity; it triggered just about every pleasure and sensory neuron in my wandering olfactories and aesthetic and had me reaching for my tasting note book.
USA – Red Wine of the Year
Amongst the plethora of wineries on this planet and ever-increasing choice, or perhaps bewilderment for the consumer, there is a select group of iconic brands and individual winemakers that stand head and shoulders above the rest. They are the benchmark for all other producers and greatly respected by fellow winemakers and equally revered by wine enthusiasts.
In the old world and spiritual home of pinot noir, such names as Domaine de le Romanee Conti and Armand Rousseau in Burgundy are holy. In the new world sanctification goes to Calera Wine Co in California, USA and its legendary proprietor, Josh Jensen, a true pioneer of the Californian wine industry and master of the most precarious of all grapes.
Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Village & Crus Du Beaujolais 2009 Tasting With Franck Duboeuf.
Beaujolais Villages 2009 Flower Range 100% Gamay
Fresh, juicy-ripe red cherry and raspberry notes, very floral with discernible opulent-sweetness to the bouquet amongst an intriguing spiciness and metallic, flinty-graphite nuance.
Universally desired, there is a burgeoning thirst for wine knowledge and enjoyment. There is also a growing appreciation for artisan wines and viticulture using sustainable practices, organic and biodynamic principals.
What is Biodynamics? “In essence its traditional agriculture, it’s how it was done before the chemical-age came along, and wine’s been around a lot longer than the chemicals have.” Michael Seresin – Proprietor of Seresin Estate
In case you are not aware, importing, distributing and retailing wine is a tough business and highly competitive – everywhere. In Asia it is hyper-competitive and in Hong Kong, with its recent zeroing-out of import duties, it is insanely competitive!
Here is a market that is arguably out of control and quite possibly the Island might sink under the weight of wine flooding in to it. When the duties were axed, the vinous floodgates opened with every man and their dog importing wine direct from merchants and vineyards all over the world. Needless to say, the established Hong Kong merchants have taken a hit.
Caroline Frey, winemaker at Chateau La Lagune –A leading Biodynamic Vigneron
Universally desired, there is a burgeoning thirst for wine knowledge and enjoyment. There is also a growing appreciation for artisan wines and viticulture using sustainable practices, organic and biodynamic principals.
Global carbon footprint
The global average carbon footprint per capitais presently 20 tons
The general scientific consensus is that global per capita emission levels must drop to just 1 tonne per person by 2050 to limit global warming to 2 degrees C
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