Bacchus in Hong Kong: Eight Mysteries(2)
Mystery # 2: Existence of a Chinese Palate
London’s International Wine and Spirit Competition certainly thinks there is as they’re assembling a tasting panel of Chinese palates for their November show and organizer Simon Tam confidently predicts “results 60-70% different than from a Western panel.” A contention contradicted by James Rowell who says bluntly “no, there is no Chinese palate” and confirms it by letting slip he was a little late for our meeting arranging delivery of a bottle of ’59 Gruaud-Larose (HK$ 8900) for a customer. Certainly with over 50% of wine imports from France and Nick Pegna, MD of Berry Bros. confirming that claret outsells every other brand 3:1, HK consumers behave like rich Bordelais, with the joke that HK is the capital of Bordeaux far from an empty one.
Mystery #3: Why a Wine Hub in HK
HK may be a natural jewel with over four times as many tourists a year as locals, yet it makes a curious choice as wine hub as the hot and humid climate is far from ideal for storing the stuff. A per capita annual wine consumption of 2 litres makes HK the city in the developed world with the lowest consumption, confirming that there is clearly no tradition of wine appreciation, at least among ordinary citizens.
The argument that fine dining was too expensive and impeding tourism on account of import duties also rings hollow when examples are quoted of Pinot Grigio marked up 600% in restaurants. As James Rowell notes “after the duty was scrapped, hotels and restaurants substituted higher quality wines at the same price points rather than reducing prices.”
On a different level entirely, Kevin Tang asks “what is a wine hub?”
