Annual portfolio tastings

The last quarter of the year is always busy on the Hong Kong wine scene. In addition to the mega events like Wine & Dine and the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair, both in November, there are James Suckling’s Great Wines of the World and Great Wines of Italy, Wine HK and more. For a fee, wine lovers can taste hundreds of wines, among them many award-winners, some available in Hong Kong, some not, and some poured by the winemakers or owners themselves.

But amid all these high profile events it's easy to lose sight of local importers’ annual portfolio tastings. In October and November alone there were at least six such tastings: Wellspring, Kerry Wines, Armit Wines, Northeast, Altaya and BB&R's Italian portfolio. Usually the afternoon session is reserved for the media and trade while the evening is open to the public. And yes, for a small fee, wine lovers can taste a wide range of wines, some award-winning and some poured by the winemakers or owners themselves, and all the wines tasted are available, or soon to be available, in Hong Kong.

Mega wine events and high profile wine tastings are fun to go to, but portfolio tastings are often more practical for regular drinkers as they let you identify the strengths of each importer and the wines they carry, so you know where to get what wines for which occasion. And don’t think that most importers carry pretty much the same things; you’ll be surprised by the diversity of some and the specialities of others. Plus of course there are both big and boutique importers who stock very different styles and ranges. Some portfolio tastings also have winery representatives present who are happy to answer any questions related to their wines. Even when there are no wineries representatives, the whole team of importer staff is always on hand to assist. Because portfolio tastings are comparatively less crowded, you will also get more attention from the people behind the counter, a plus if you have a lot of questions.


Actually, not all annual portfolio tastings happen in Q4. There are some in other months, such as VinoVeritas in March, Continental Wines in May and Wine High Club in August. I’m sure there are a lot more that I haven’t mentioned here but keep an eye on the Wine Times HK Event page, or various Facebook pages: Hong Kong Wine Lovers, Hong Kong Wine & Food and HK Wine Fans. Of course the most direct way is to get onto the mailing lists of importers.

Happy New Year and Happy tasting!

Here are my impressions of the various annual portfolio tastings I have attended this year (Apologies if I missed anyone out):

• Altaya: Probably the biggest such event with some 70 wineries present. Heavily French biased but not short of famous names. Consumers were queuing outside one hour before it started!

• Armit Wines: A decent collection skewed towards the Old World. There were both big and small names and some from off the beaten track too. 

• BB&R Italian wine tasting: If you are a fan of small Italian wine producers, you'll love this. All wines were carefully selected by David Berry Green, BBR's Italian wine buyer.  

• Kerry Wines: Another big event featuring about 50 wineries mostly from the Old World (France, Italy and Spain). 

• Northeast: The most lively and cosy event with wines mainly from the New World and a range of craft beer and cider. 

• Red Mill: Mainly Lebanese wine, shown alongside Northeast’s. If you want something different, this is it. Definitely worth trying.

• VinoVeritas: Italian wine specialist. This tasting was memorable because it was held at Colour Living, a lifestyle store featuring stylish kitchen and bathroom furnishings. 

• Wellspring: A French dominated portfolio, but don’t be put off as its Bordeaux and Burgundy ranges are really good value. Look our for their Italian and German producers.

• Wine High Club: A fine wine merchant with a focus on France. Their sparklings and champagnes are definitely worth a try.  

White pepper Syrah

The intense white pepper from the Craggy Range Syrah that I tasted in their cellar at Gimblett Gravels back in 2008 was so pronounced that I finally understood why Syrah is so often characterised as smelling of white pepper. Since then, I have always kept an eye out for Gimblett Gravels Syrahs and they have not disappointed.

This distinctive aroma can be attributed to the combination of the gravelly soil and the climate—free draining, warm days and cool nights. It is more akin to the Northern Rhone style than the full-bodied, jammy Shiraz from warmer regions. However, being New Zealand, the wine is more vibrant than Hermitage. To me, it is a perfect combination of climate, soil and winemaking technique.

At last year Gimblett Gravels Annual Vintage Selection tasting, Tony Bish, Chairman of  the Gimblett Gravels Winegowers Association, presented 12 wines—eight red blends and four Syrahs independently selected by Andrew Caillard MW—that best represented the vintage and the region. I was particularly impressed by the William Murdoch and Vidal Legacy Series. A couple of attendees remarked "... Gimblett Gravels is a fresh spring for me", and "...it was exciting to taste so many promising Syrahs from the region". I couldn’t agree more.

If anyone is scratching his head about how to identify white pepper in Syrah, get a Gimblett Gravels Syrah and you’ll never forget it. It is my favourite Syrah!

Once dismissed by sheep farmers as useless land, the Gimblett Gravels Wine Growing District is an 800ha vineyard area strictly determined by the gravelly soils laid down by the old Ngaruroro River in the Hawke’s Bay area of of New Zealand’s North Island. Believed to be the first designation for a winegrowing district outside Europe, it is now home to around 30 vineyards and is quickly gaining fame in the wine world.

Not to be outdone by the district's Syrahs are its Bordeaux blends. They have the structure of a cool climate region but again with a New World fruit forwardness that many have described as elegant and sophisticated. Although some of the wines at the tasting were too young to drink, they nevertheless had concentration and ageing potential. Asked if the wines were released too early, Tony agreed but said the wines have been kept for two years and most wineries cannot afford to store them for longer because they need the space and the cash for the new vintage. He hopes consumers can cellar the wines for a while to realise their full potential. Well, I suppose we have to be a little patient.

The wines we tasted were:

Blended reds (Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon dominant):
Babich The Patriarch, available from Watson’s Wine
Craggy Range Te Kahu, available from Montrose
Esk Valley Winemakers Reserve Merlot Malbec Cabernet, available from Summergate
Mills Reef Elspeth Cabernet Merlot, available from Northeast
Newton Forrest Stony Corner, available from Kerry Wines
Sacred Hill Brokenstone, available from Jebsen
Sacred Hill Helmsman, available from Jebsen
Trinity Hill The Gimblett, available from ABS Asia

Syrah:
Squawking Magpie Stoned Crow
Vidal Legacy Series, available from Asia Euro
Villa Maria Reserve, available from Summergate
William Murdoch, available from Vintage International

The New generation of German winemakers

It was a pleasure to chat with Cornelius Dönnhoff and Nik Weis, owners of Weingut Dönnhoff in Nahe and Weingut St. Urbans-Hof in Mosel at a recent tasting organised by Kerry Wines.

There are commonalities between these two wineries. Both are family owned and highly regarded in their own right. Cornelius and Nik are the latest generation to be in charge of the estates, with Cornelius only taking over in 2000 and Nik back in 1997. Both respect the traditions and are committed to producing top quality wines, just like their fathers and grandfathers.

But their wines, though all Rieslings, are different. Dönnhoff is in Nahe, between Mosel and Rheinhessen. As in Mosel, the vineyards are on
steep south-facing slopes on the banks of the Nahe river. It is warmer, so the wine has riper fruit characters than Mosel’s but still retains the acidity. Cornelius, like his father, likes clean, straightforward wines. He may use cultured yeasts but only the neutral kind whose sole job is to ferment the grape juice rather than enhancing flavours, thus allowing the wine to express itself. Dönnhoff has nine Grand Cru vineyards, and according to Cornelius they have different soil types, ranging from slate at Hermannshöhle and Kreuznacher to volcanic at Felsenberg and loam at Krötenpfuhl. All grapes are vinified the same way but the wines from each site taste different. Before joining the family business, Cornelius had worked in Australia and New Zealand but he realised that because of the differences in climate he couldn’t blindly apply New World techniques at Dönnhoff. He believes his father’s way of working with the vines and grapes is still the best way to express the Nahe terroir. I asked if he would blend the different crus together to make a superblend. His answer was a definite no. The wines have been made as single vineyard wines since his father’s day and they are as good as they can be. By the way, his father is Helmut Dönnhoff, named German Winemaker of the Year in 1999 by the Gault Millau Guide to German Wines.

Turning to Nik Weis, the third generation owner. Technically he is not a member of ‘Generation Riesling’, a term used to refer to the young generation of German winemakers under 35 years old (sorry Nik), but he is no doubt their inspiration. Weingut St. Urbans-Hof, because of Nik’s consistently high standards, was admitted as a member of the prestigious VDP (Association of German Prädikat Estates) in 2000. The 32ha of vineyards are located in Mosel and Saar where the soil has several colours of slate—blue, grey and red—that contribute to the distinctive minerality of Mosel Riesling. He only makes Riesling as he firmly believes the terroir of the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer region—cool nights, marginal sunlight, steep slopes, the heat-absorbing slate and the river—is ideally suited to expressing the elegance and finesse of Riesling. I also like his philosophy: "Sweetness belongs to Mosel wine like bubbles belong to Champagne". The combination of residual sugar, crisp acidity and minerality create a harmoniously fruity sensation, and the natural sweetness also extends the ageing potential. He explained to us that natural residual sugar in wine is mainly fructose, which is light and fruity, in contrast to the grape concentrate or süssreserve that is added to dry wine to make lesser sweet wines. Grape concentrate is glucose; it makes wine cloying and heavy rather than light and elegant.

Having said that, Nik reckons climate change has allowed German winemakers to start making less-sweet wines. Sugar is necessary to balance the high level of harsh malic acid in a traditional Riesling, but, as the climate warms, the concentration of malic acid decreases so less sugar is needed to balance the wine. We tasted two Spätleses from Leiwener Laurentiuslay vineyard. The 2001 vintage has 50g/l of residual sugar but the 2011 vintage, which was much warmer, has only half as much (25g/l). Both tasted delicious and balanced. With consumers moving towards drier wines, both Nik and Cornelius agreed that climate change is to their advantage as they are now able to make good quality dry Rieslings. The Dönnhoff Hermannshöhle Grosses Gewächs dry Riesling 2012 was a fine example.

We tried four Spätleses at the tasting, two each from Nik and Cornelius (vintage 2001 and 2011). They were just fantastic: rich, with a depth of flavour supported by a crisp acidity, resulting in concentrated yet elegant wines. I didn’t like sweet Riesling when I first started tasting wine, but I have come to realise that it was the badly made sweet Rieslings that I didn’t like. Clearly, fructose and glucose really do taste different!

Both Dönnhoff and St. Urbans-Hof are available from Kerry Wines.

Celebrating the Rainbow Nation of Wine

April was a busy month for South African wine in Hong Kong. To celebrate the country’s Freedom Day on 27th April, the South African Cosulate-General and Wines of South Africa lent their full support to various organisations in Hong Kong, including the South China Morning Post (SCMP) and the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC), hosting a series of South African wine activities.

The SCMP South African wine evening saw 15 of Hong Kong’s South African wine distributors present over 130 wines from 36 wineries. Wines included both internationally acclaimed brands and less well known boutique names. Most were rated Platter’s 4 stars or above (for those who are not familiar with South African wine, Platter’s is the most comprehensive and authoritative annual South African wine guide. 5 stars is the maximum Platter’s rating). The HKJC, on the other hand, selected 10 South African wines of different styles, half available from Hong Kong and the rest directly from South Africa, to be served at its five venues, including country club, clubhouses and racecourses.

Being a fan of South African wine, I went to most of these events and talked to guests and consumers. I found that about half had never tried South African wine. Some didn’t even realise that South Africa was a wine producing country. But they were all curious and were generally positive about the wines after trying them. In fact, the country itself drew a lot of interest and we ended up having lively discussions on South African themes, from landscape and nature to culture and people. It seems that South Africa is, rightly, on the ‘countries to be visited’ list of quite a number of people.

Some people, though— and this includes people in the trade and even some South African winemakers—wrongly and unfairly dismiss South African wine for various reasons, one of which is Pinotage,. Pinotage is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, and is a unique South African variety. It is true that early Pinotage was often green and bitter, but with improved winemaking techniques and better understanding of the variety, today’s Pinotages should be a pride of of the South African wine industry. Its easy drinking style with moderate tannin appeals to inexperienced consumers. A few enthusiastic drinkers were comparing Pinotages from different wineries at the SCMP evening and happily declared that they liked the variety. Those who like rich wine were equally impressed by the more serious style of Pinotage that shows depth and ageing capability. The Rijk’s Pinotage Reserve 2008 at the HKJC was one of the most popular wines among Bordeaux drinkers.

Chenin Blanc is another variety that attracted attention. It has crisp acidity and can be made into different styles from sparkling and refreshing summer white wine to complex barrel fermented food-friendly wine and sweet wine. The Ken Forester Reserve Chenin Blanc (available from Kerry Wines) and Bellingham Old Vine Chenin Blanc (available from Northeast) were particular popular at the SCMP evening. Chenin Blanc is in fact a Loire variety although not many consumers are aware of this thanks to the ‘non-disclosure’ of grape varieties on most French labels, but it is in South Africa where the variety shows its true self. 1/5 of the vineyard planting in South Africa in Chenin Blanc, far more than what it is planted in Loire.

South Africa is also reputed for its international varieties: Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc from the cooler regions of Elgin and Hermanus, full bodied Chardonnay and Bordeaux blends from Stellenbosch, Syrah and Rhone style wines particularly from Swartland. Its wine is as diverse as its landscape and culture. The wines showcased in the SCMP and HKJC events truly did impress some of the most discerning drinkers.

Hong Kong wine lovers deserve to taste more South African wine.

South Africa Freedom Day commemorates the country’s first democratic post-Apartheid elections in 1994. It unites South Africans of all colours and backgrounds to celebrate democracy and freedom. Next year will be its 20th anniversary. It would be a perfect moment to introduce more of these wonderfully diverse wines to Hong Kong wine lovers. We are all looking forward to celebrating the Rainbow Nation and its wine.