Carpe diem (Seize the day)! 1 November 2022

After a two-year hiatus in travel and events, 2022 is the year where traveling and social activities came back with a vengeance. Living out of a suitcase since February 2022, I took full advanta...

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Inspiring Messages from Around the World 28 October 2021 2020 and 2021 were challenging years for everyone, especially for those in the wine, F&B and tourism industries. The messages below inspirin...

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1982 Horizontal Tasting of the Top Wines of Bordeaux including the Five First Growths 27 October 2021 1982 is an iconic vintage for Bordeaux, and for many wine lovers, it’s a reference point as a modern, ripe year that was delicious from the onse...

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1999 Burgundy Vintage, 22 Years On 15 September 2021 I have been fortunate during this pandemic to enjoy numerous Burgundy red wines from the 1999 vintage. I started to notice that many wine friend...

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Vertical of 28 Vintages of San Leonardo 24 August 2021 San Leonardo is a hidden gem for wine lovers who enjoy Bordeaux but are looking outside of France. The wine estate was founded more than 300 yea...

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Bordeaux 2020 En Primeur: Third Warm Vintage in a Row 30 May 2021 It was a pleasure tasting the Bordeaux 2020 en primeur wines this spring, mostly as samples sent to me in Hong Kong and Korea. The red wines ov...

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Wine Tasting Insights & Tips 2 March 2021 Overall - Taste wine with an open mind and remember that your sensitivity to tannins, acidity, alcohol, flavors and faults in wine will differ f...

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Bordeaux 2018 Wines in Bottle 15 December 2020 2018 was an excellent vintage but it also had its share of challenges: Mildew pressure was intense and lingering which forced many organic and b...

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Holiday Gift Guide for Wine 19 February 2020 We are approaching the holiday season when gift giving and sharing meals with family and friends is on everyone’s agenda. The most common questi...

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Sumptuous 2018 Burgundy Reds 20 January 2020 Burgundy merchants around the world are already pronouncing 2018 as a great year and offers for young en primeur wines are filling collectors’ i...

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Great Value Burgundy to Buy Now 13 January 2020 The great news for Burgundy lovers in the 2018 vintage is that you don’t need to buy grand cru level wines. And you don’t need to go for famous,...

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What Wine Taught Me About Life 18 December 2019 Wine appeared in my life as a saviour after university, giving me direction and focus. Up until then, I hopped from one passion or interest to a...

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Tough Times for Hong Kong’s Wine Market 2 November 2019 In my nearly 26 years living in Hong Kong, I have never seen the city wracked in such turmoil since May 2019. For the city’s residents and...

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Top Amarones 21 October 2019 Amarone is a very special wine that’s hard not to love. It is warm, generous and offers a big bear hug with plush tannins and chocolatey, ...

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Great Champagnes for the Holidays 5 October 2019 I will be opening quite a lot of champagne in the coming months as we come to the end of the year wrapping up 2019 and preparing for 2020. I had...

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Bordeaux 2018 is a Terrific Vintage But Can It Revive the En Primeur System? 17 June 2019 It is no secret that the Bordeaux en primeur system of buying wines young, about 18 months before they are bottled, is going through a tou...

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Californian Wines’ Loss 12 September 2019 All eyes are on the US-China trade war, not just bankers, traders and manufacturers, but also farmers and wine producers. According to the San F...

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Asian’s Love for Red Wines 8 May 2019 I spent a week in February 2019 on a four-city tour with the Ningxia winery association. Ningxia, like Gansu and Xinjiang have been the fastest ...

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Chinese Wines Are Now Ready to Compete Internationally 11 April 2019 No other wine region I can think of has come so far so fast. Just 15 years ago, Ningxia had less than 3,000 hectares under vine and now th...

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2017 Brings Relief to Burgundian Growers Suffering from 7 Years of Shortage 11 April 2019 Burgundies were downright cheerful when I saw them at the end of 2018 to taste their 2017s. Finally, they had wines to sell! The big smile was d...