Chinese Wine Fair in Hong Kong

I visited the Vinexpo Asia-Pacific 2006, (the international wine and spirits exhibition for Asia-Pacific) in Hong Kong in May. It was the usual mass scale gathering of wine stands with representation from around the world.

The exhibition, held in the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, welcomed 6,883 trade visitors. Half of the visitors were from Hong-Kong and Macao while the others came from continental China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Hong Kong city with its magnetizing architecture, energetic life, street clutter, chaos, pollution and a constant 90% humidity with 30 degrees seemed an unusual setting for a wine fair. However comfort was provided with air conditioning just about everywhere.

The representation of vineyards was geared to the potential Asian buyers with France accounting for most of the floor space. Bordeaux was in high profile with a large numbers of Chateaux represented. Eye catching marketing, pretty hostesses with show bags along with give-aways were some of the tools used by the Bordelais to lure un-initiated consumers.
Personally I preferred the Bordeaux private tasting room away from the main arena and the constant gaze of the export manager behind each tasting counter!

One of the highlight of the trade show was the representation of Chinese wineries.
While Chinese wine making is not new (the Chinese were making wine by 212 B.C. according to some archeological evidence) it is only really since the mid 80's that serious production begun.
There are virtually 2 styles in Chinese wine production: the Western style and the Chinese style- wine. While the former tends to have a generous amount of sweetness, the most exciting wines I tried were all crafted along a western style.

Chateau Tayshi situated next to the Mongolian desert and Grace Vineyards on the bank of the Yellow River were some of the best examples.
Grace vineyard along the Yellow River on a plateau in Shangi Province southwest of Bejing was really the highlight on tasting. The quality was higher then any of the other producers on Show.
Grace was founded in 1997 by C.K.Chan a Chinese-Indonesian businessman with a passion for wine and plenty of cash. The result is a Chateau-like mansion surrounded by 165 acres of land. The winery has had an injection of US$ 6 millions in order to achieve the targeted quality level. According to Judy Leissner, Chan's daughter, they had to buy everything from the vines, barrels, to the know how. The winemaking advice came via Bordeaux veteran Gerard Colin. Needless to say that the red wines are cabernet driven and crafted alongside a Bordeaux style to suit Asian palates.
The wines tasted had good structure and good fruit with a degree of elegance.
But things might be about to change with the arrival of Ken Murchinson, a homegrown winemaker from Mornington Peninsula, Victoria and owner of Portree Vineyard. While Ken has not done a vintage yet he will look closely at improving the technical side of production. According to Ken the style of the wine will largely remained unchanged , however I cannot help thinking that he might bring a New world touch rather then an old world stylistic approach to the wines.
As for the future of Chinese wines, Judy has summed it up best by saying: “Wine is here to stay in China, you don't need to teach people how to enjoy life. When they have money, they will learn how to do it very quickly”.

Christian Maier
Sommelier/Wine Educator

PREVIOUS BAR & CELLAR FEATURE:

If I had a bottle of Grange for every time I was asked this question, well, they’d be out of stock and I’d be drinking the stuff like it was water.

Read the Article >>>

THE WINE CALENDAR:

WINE SEARCH:

THE BEER LIST: