City wine cellars will face quality controls

Hong Kong is set to become the first place in the world to introduce an accreditation system for cellars as the city steps up its bid to become Asia's center of excellence for the wine trade.

The new system, which is being studied by the Hong Kong Productivity Council, will set standards for how wine is kept, with a checklist consisting of such factors as temperature, humidity and vibration levels.

According to Crown Wine Cellars general manager Gregory De'eb the system would work like the existing Quality Tourism Services Scheme which promotes excellence in the tourism sector.

De'eb believes that under an accreditation system, wine cellars will have to attain standards set by the productivity council and pay for annual renewal of their accreditation.

"If your wines are kept in quality wine cellars then their value will increase but if not then they will lose value," De'eb said.

De'eb operates a wine cellar in a former underground ammunition and weapons storage depot in Shouson Hill which has controlled temperatures, humidity and zero vibration.

Despite a long wine-making tradition, De'eb said there is no set standard for wine cellars in France or in London where most of the wines are kept at room temperature which can affect quality.

"With the global warming, temperatures in London and Paris range from -10 to 46 degrees Celsius. But in Hong Kong it just ranges from 8 to 38 degrees celsius which is better," De'eb said.

He says the ideal wine cellar should have a temperature of 13 to 14 degrees and 65 percent to 75 percent humidity.

In addition to the storage condition, he added security is an issue.

"In the past six years, wine cellars have gone bankrupt in London and the clients couldn't get their wines back, losing millions of dollars," De'eb said.

"Every owner should go and check their wines. It's just like if you have bought HK$1 million worth of HSBC shares, you need to keep an eye on how they are doing."

He said it is especially the case for Hong Kong wine collectors who together own 17 percent of the rare and collectable wines in the world. Most of them keep their wines in Britain.

More local owners are bringing their wines back to Hong Kong since the government eliminated duties on liquor last year.

Some people store them in warehouses.

"There are many places for storing ordinary wines but not many wine cellars for quality wines whose ideal condition is underground without vibration and sunlight," De'eb said.

He added that the Shouson Hill cellar is full with over 100,000 bottles.