Category: Wine & Spirits

One of the delights about living in Shanghai is the abundant fresh seafood. Everything from seasonal local fish and shellfish to sea creatures imported from the four corners of the world grace our tables. Alone these water creatures can be delicious but when paired with the appropriate wine they can become sublime. There’s little secret about what makes a great wine for seafood, it’s all about the acidity.

There’s something quite mystical and a little wild about human settlements at great elevations. Perhaps nowhere does this magic manifest itself more beautifully than in than Lhasa, Tibet. This past weekend I had the privilege to travel to Lhasa to be with wine-loving friends including the world’s most famous winemaker Michel Rolland.

Cycles of growth and stagnation follow the most basic laws of nature. Economies are no exception, and while China has one of the most stable growth economies in the world there’s been a slowing of growth recently that motivates me to write about the art of finding good value. When I’m giving a speech and in the mood to be somewhat naughty one of my favorite lines is “any idiot can spend 5,000 or 10,000 RMB and get a great wine; the real skill is spending much less but still getting a great wine”. Before recommending some excellent value wines available here in Shanghai (change to China), let’s look at two of the most frequently asked questions in the wine world.

Wine is intimately entwined with nature and the cycle of life. I’m often amazed how the natural progression of wine mirrors the existence and demise of all things living, including man. There is birth, growth, hope and flourishing and ultimately aging and death. In fact, a wine can be considered to have three lives, the first in the vineyard, the second in the bottle and the third in the glass. In all three lives the fruit and resulting wine will be young, mature and then over the hill. The celebration of new life and mourning death is particularly appropriate as the important Chinese holiday Qingming Festival approaches. Also referred to as Tomb Sweeping Day, Ancestors Day or literally translated as Pure Brightness Day, this is a time when families in China pay respects to their dead while also celebrating the rebirth and new life that Spring brings.  

I received quite an enthusiastic response from last week’s column dedicated to the importance of women in the wine world. Several of the people who contacted me were successful women in Shanghai who are increasingly expressing themselves and their unique styles though their wine and lifestyle decisions. My enjoyable dialogues with these confident and opinionated women caused me to reflect on personalities of the past and wine styles today. Great figures in history have long enjoyed wine and their wine preferences have intriguing parallels with their personalities. With this in mind, I thought it would be fun as well as informative to look back at some of the great personalities in history and portray their styles through wines.

Argentina seems to have a unique talent for taking obscure varietals that are on the decline in the Old World and making them hits in the New World. Case-in-point is Malbec, an increasingly obscure red wine varietal in Bordeaux and some other regions in France that became the most important red wine in Argentina. Will Torrontes follow this path to glory? I’m fairly certain that most readers have never heard of Torrontes. That’s perfectly alright because outside of Argentina very few people have been making it or drinking it, until recently. Noble white wine varietals like Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling have overshadowed lesser known or appreciated grapes.

The art of wine appreciation has a great deal to do with fragrance. Your nose is one of the most important physical tools used in accessing and enjoying a fine wine. Many times more sensitive than your mouth, the nose not only discerns aromas but also helps heighten your ability to taste. When tasting a wine its best to keep your mouth slightly open and suck in a little air so the faculties of your nose are brought into play. This technique helps illuminate some of the more subtle and often beautiful aromas and flavors that are hidden within a wine. One of the most pleasing and enchanting of these hidden gems is sweet osmanthus flowers.

Funny as it may sound, wine and people actually share many qualities. Both have styles, stories and personalities that are unique and both are impressive forces of nature. In honor of the London Olympics and just to have some fun, I decided to match the performance and styles of well-known Olympic athletes to wines that mirror their personalities and accomplishments. Two of the most compelling storylines coming out of these Olympics are the accomplishments of three well-know Chinese male athletes and the powerful Jamaican sprinters.

What’s the most singular aromatic expression of spring? For me it’s flowers. Though wine is made of grapes, it has an extraordinary ability to offer a multitude of different pleasing aromas, including flowers. So when I think of spring, I think of wines with abundant floral aromas and a freshness that reflects the fresh breezes of the season.

Tired of the same old wines from the same old places? Fret not, the wine world is full of surprises and with a little application one can discover some wonderfully different and delicious wines. An excellent example of this is the dry red wines of Portugal. The long wine history of Portugal has seen numerous ups and downs with the downs decidedly prevalent over the last century. Recently there’s been a renaissance of sorts that has made Portuguese wines some of the most intriguing new wine discoveries in the world. However bright the prospects are today, the history of Portuguese wines has been quite tumultuous.