tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71791684226866090012024-03-14T18:30:15.318+08:00Tersina Wine JournalInterviews with winemakers and producers; thoughts on wine...Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.comBlogger213125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-29360969789458509062020-05-02T18:50:00.002+08:002020-05-02T18:50:57.446+08:00Burgundy meets OregonBurgundy and Oregon maybe a world apart but thanks to Jean-Nicolas Méo, owner of Domaine Méo-Camuzet in Burgundy and partner of Nicolas-Jay in Oregon, we were able to compare the Pinot Noirs from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean during his recent visit in town.
The family owned Domaine Méo-Camuzet is in Vosne-Romanée. In 1989, Jean-Nicolas joined his father after studying winemaking in Burgundy Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-21555230434749288102020-03-13T09:28:00.000+08:002020-05-14T00:06:01.912+08:00China’s low-latitude high-altitude winesYunnan province maybe too warm for vine growing but it is more than compensated by the high altitude. The vineyards in Shangri-la, the Tibetan highland in the northwest of Yunnan adjacent to Sichuan and Tibet, are planted above 2,000, and up to 2,900m.
At present, there are less than ten wineries in Yunnan of which three are only making ice wine. Thanks to friend and winemaker Ian Dai, we Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-91661691708347807792020-02-14T17:51:00.000+08:002020-02-14T17:51:24.910+08:00Domaine Franco-Chinois re-visit
When I visited Canaan Wine (迦南酒業) and its sister winery Domaine Franco-Chinois (中法莊園), located in Huailai (懷來) in Hebei province back in mid 2017, the wines were not commercially available despite the fact that wine has been made since 2003. The selection of wine I tasted then was much better than some of the more famous Chinese brands but the owner thought that it was still not good to be Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-21545385413558000302019-12-20T19:36:00.000+08:002019-12-22T13:32:01.066+08:00A discovery journey with Colchagua SingularChilean wine industry is pretty much a 80/20 rule. Over 80% of the export market is shared among the big producers like Concha y Toro, Errazuriz, Montes and Santa Rita which represented only around 20% of the 350 wineries. The smaller guys are often out of the radar of international markets and critics. In 2017, 12 producers from Colchagua, one of the three zones within Rapel sub-region in Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-57136280857236088452019-11-29T17:03:00.001+08:002019-11-29T17:03:38.936+08:00Exploring French wine regions on foot, by bike and car
Wine lovers always choose to go to wine regions for holiday and I am no exception. My adventure in July was Burgundy, Jura and Alsace. I have never been to this part of France and my French is pathetic, but this is exactly why it was fun.
Some friends were excited about my trip and asked which wineries I had made appointments to visit. Actually I didn’t and didn’t want to. It would be a work Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-65498319255021396372019-09-30T10:10:00.001+08:002019-09-30T10:10:33.918+08:00Millton, not your typical kiwi wineAt the #DrinkChenin Day a few months ago, there was an impressive Chenin Blanc from Gisborne, New Zealand. Therefore, when I knew the owner of the winery, Annie Millton, would be in town to present the wine, I jumped to the chance.
Located in Gisborne on the eastern coast of North Island, Millton Vineyards was established by James and Annie Millton in 1984 after their stint in France and GermanyTersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-15326136523959479762019-08-16T11:58:00.001+08:002019-08-16T11:58:21.078+08:00Low alcohol / no alcohol wine? Are they wine?The trend may not be obvious in Hong Kong but low-alcohol or no-alcohol wine/beer/spirits is getting popular in the UK and the US. Hong Kong importers offering these products claim sales are satisfactory. Is there a place for these low/no alcohol ‘alcohol beverage’ or is it just a fad?
Advocates of low/no alcohol wine argue that they want to socialise with friends and have a good time but don’t Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-40605804996592954502019-08-03T17:38:00.002+08:002019-08-07T15:26:56.527+08:00Jura, the neighbour of Burgundy
Burgundy, home of world class Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, has also some of the most expensive wines in the world. But because of the region’s fame and glory, most wine lovers overlooked its neighbour, Jura. However, the fact that Jura has successfully seduced Guillaume d’Angerville, a winemaker with six generations history in Burgundy, to develop a new brand there tells us perhaps we should take Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-79005537977370954602019-07-05T18:09:00.002+08:002019-07-05T18:09:29.802+08:00James Bond Champagne Bollinger celebrated La Grande Année 2008
I never say no to bubbles so it was with pleasure that I attended the launch of Bollinger Le Grande Année 2008 lunch recently, and especially that 2008 is a legendary vintage for champagne.
2008 had perfect weather condition in Champagne, cool climate growing season with minimum disease risks. Temperature increased in the last few weeks before harvest resulting in fruits with fine acidity and Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-36514301392746914612019-06-23T19:31:00.001+08:002019-06-23T19:31:17.629+08:00Sister grapes: Chenin Blanc and Riesling15th June is #DrinkChenin, a day of celebrating his versatile grape variety around of world initiated by South African Chenin Blanc Association. With the support of importers, Wines of South Africa (WOSA) teamed up with Loire Valley Wine Bureau, New Zealand Wine, Oregon Wine Board and Washington State Wine to showcase 16 Chenin Blancs to wine lovers at a cosy bar, To Be Frank, to close to 100 Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-39925800184966193452019-06-07T09:15:00.001+08:002019-06-07T09:15:33.348+08:00Tasmanian wine, less is moreHong Kong wine trade is overwhelmed with trade tasting and we just cannot go to all of them. I am glad that I made an effort to Tyson Stelzer’s recent Tasmania tasting, which turned out to be one of the enjoyable events.
The walk-around tasting was generous in time with a five hours duration and there were only 32 sparkling wines and Pinot Noirs that Tyson said were the best of Tasmania. This Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-57332024076574125732019-05-17T09:43:00.003+08:002019-05-17T09:43:51.841+08:00What wine can learn from whisky?
Blended whisky has been losing market share to single malt whisky in the last 10 years. To counteract, Chivas Regal recently held the world’s first whisky blending competition in Hong Kong for both consumers and professionals. I was honoured to be one of the judges and even more impressed with the outcome, perhaps something that even Pernod Ricard, owner of Chivas Regal did not anticipate.
TheTersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-3546332303486358532019-04-29T11:01:00.002+08:002019-04-29T11:02:11.282+08:00Spätburgunder, not quite the hidden gem of Germany anymoreSure Riesling is Germany’s most well known wine but Spätburgunder (aka Pinot Noir) is quietly catching up. Joel Payne, nicknamed Mr German Wine by Karl Bachmair from Bachmair Wines, guided a full house of sommeliers and media to taste nine such fine wines from five German wine regions recently.
Spätburgunder is nothing new in Germany. Like most grapes in Europe, it was brought from Burgundy and Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-7395555212987677862019-04-19T09:52:00.000+08:002019-04-19T13:03:15.076+08:00Natural wine? Is there artificial wine then? The latest buzzword in the wine circle is natural wine. Natural wine bars frequented by young hipsters are popping up around the world. What’s the fuss?
First of all, look at this. There are many yeast strains in our environment. When grapes, or any fruits, are left unattended, yeasts ferment sugar in grapes and turn it into alcohol. The process of fermentation, therefore, is natural. However, Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-8727093818152326762019-03-29T09:27:00.002+08:002019-03-29T09:27:37.225+08:00Underdog grapesBourgogne Wine Board (BIVB) organises regular masterclasses in town but most of them are focused on their famed grape varieties Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Therefore, the fact that the first BIVB masterclass this year was ‘An in-depth analysis of the Aligoté grape’ came as a surprise - in fact, a very nice surprise.
I’m pretty sure that not all Burgundy fans heard of Aligoté. The grape has been Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-11773543796025963322019-02-22T08:58:00.000+08:002019-02-22T08:58:05.527+08:00Château Mercian, in harmony with natureListening to Kenichi Ohashi MW is always a joy because he is passionate. At the recent Château Mercian masterclass, he gave a quick rundown on the relatively unknown history of the estate that showed its quest for making the best possible wine in Japan.
Dai-Nihon Yamanashi Budoushu-Gaisha (大日本山梨葡萄酒會社) was the forerunner of Château Mercian established more than 140 years ago in 1877. At that timeTersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-50460153017378055472019-01-18T09:00:00.000+08:002019-01-18T09:09:31.182+08:00The Noble Family from BaroloThe noble family Cordero di Montezemolo has managed the Monfalletto property at the heart of Barolo in La Morra village for 19 generations since 1340. Alberto Cordero di Montezemolo, who was in Hong Kong recently, explained that the estate was a multi-agricultural farm until his orphan grandfather Paolo focused on wine production, and the family was blessed with a historical single vineyard plot Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-28280957665144580002019-01-04T09:19:00.000+08:002019-01-04T09:19:15.139+08:00Tokaj, the King of wines
When I was working in Holdvölgy during my gap year, I didn’t have time to visit too many wineries, therefore I jumped at the chance when I was invited to the Szepsy media luncheon, the winery located in the village of Mád in Tokaj and the neighbour of Holdvölgy.
Szepsy is a family own estate that has been making wine in Tokaj for more than 500 years. It was this family who developed Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-85129476084650986252018-12-14T10:08:00.000+08:002018-12-18T10:43:08.842+08:00A feast of tastingsQ4 is the busiest season in the wine industry. In addition to the big scale consumer events and trade fairs, there are also more intimate trade tastings and meals. In less than four weeks, I have attended seven such tastings and there were a lot more during that period.
Tuscany’s Bordeaux
The first one was Ornellaia tasting with winemaker Axel Heinz. Ornellaia is renowned for its super Tuscan Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-72478852223628708602018-11-28T08:30:00.000+08:002018-11-28T08:30:15.404+08:00Pinot Palooza - Welcome to the world of Pinot
Big scale wine events are abound in Hong Kong, including the annual Wine & Dine Festival, Taste Hong Kong and various country generic tastings such as Discover South Africa, Riesling Weeks and also James Suckling Great Wines series. But as far as I’m aware, there has not been a big scale single varietal tasting event yet.
Organising a single varietal tasting in such a scale is challenging Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-75005981578252398812018-10-31T10:00:00.000+08:002018-10-31T10:19:26.533+08:00Central Otago | Tasmania
The two most southern wine regions in the Pacific known for their Pinot Noirs but there are much more than just Pinot.
Finally I had a chance to visit these two wine regions back to back, and I’m glad to learn that the regions are more diverse than most of us think.
Central Otago is the most inland wine region in New Zealand with semi-continental climate. Although the six sub-regions, Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-69539752957743224302018-08-28T12:28:00.000+08:002018-08-28T12:28:31.235+08:00Made in BaliLocated just south of equator at 8ºS, Bali is known for growing rice and exotic fruits. But wine grapes? Most wine professionals will tell you impossible because it is just too hot. In fact, Bali has been growing table grapes since the beginning of the 20th century and like rice, there are three harvests per year as there is no winter for the vines to be dormant. However, this doesn’t stop some Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-85227695110690346822018-08-09T11:23:00.002+08:002019-03-19T07:59:04.399+08:00Gimblett Gravels/Hawkes Bay revisitUnison
The last time I was in Gimblett Gravels was three years ago in 2015 when I did a harvest at Unison Vineyard. I was only there for three weeks and left after all the grapes were picked. Therefore it was fitting that I went back to Unison during my extended winemaking journey but this time for post harvest work. I arrived two days after the last Cabernet Sauvignon was picked.
There is stillTersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-26450494856776719822018-06-18T10:25:00.000+08:002019-01-06T22:37:43.836+08:00Maxwell Wines: MaxWell-made wine
I planned my harvest gap year back in 2017 and asked for vintage work in my 2017 January newsletter. Mark from Maxwell Wines in McLaren Vale was the first to reply so there I was, for a month from mid March 2018. I only stopped at McLaren Vale for lunch a long time ago when I was visiting Australia as a tourist so it was a nice opportunity to get acquainted with this region which is only one Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7179168422686609001.post-73088967253851457972018-04-24T15:44:00.000+08:002018-04-24T15:44:49.852+08:00Harvests in South AfricaI first visited South Africa back in 1997 as a tourist and the country just blew me away. I was really impressed with the landscape, wildlife and most of all the friendliness of the people. It was also the first time I did tasting at cellar doors – at that time I was only an average wine consumer who didn't know much about wine. And it was this visit to a wine country that made me truly fall in Tersina Shiehhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06846805908676997680noreply@blogger.com0