Having witnessed over the last few visits to Shanghai the amazing build-up for which the city was preparing itself, World Expo 2010 is another demonstration of China's emergence. This visit took place on day 15 but Expo will be open until late November.

There is no question that the China pavilion is the star, high above all others on its own ground, but having our wine served on the French pavilion, we were quite happy to queue for just about an hour to get access. Located right next to the mighty German stand, France plays the green card, nature, quality of life and French "savoir vivre" which seems to fascinate the local visitors, the French pavilion receiving on this day some 70 000 visitors ! A small tip to visitors of the French Pavilion, to avoid the long queue, just go through the access to the Sens restaurant and go straight into action.

But what a pleasant surprise to have the honour of being welcomed by Jacques Pourcel in person, on the one and only French restaurant on the fair. Les frères Pourcel were amongst the first to set foot in Shanghai with their Sens and Bund. And how not to be proud to taste a glass of Gentil side by side with eau de Perrier, due to the great efforts of Summergate, our Chinese importer.

The green theme chosen by France for its pavilion absolutely fits the organisers' slogan "Better city, better life" but its content is also a showcase for its financial contributors, from Citroën to Michelin, the Musée d'Orsay and the ever global Louis Vuitton. The proof of Bernard Arnault's integration of E-marketing, the presence of a couple of laptop computers allowing visitors interested in their products to register online and be added to their Emailing list. With the current boom of E-commerce in China they will certainly one day be purchasing handbags from virtual stores and why not one day, a bottle of château Cheval Blanc or d'Yquem...

As expected, this first Chinese World Expo takes place under tight security of the local police, probably the one aspect of China that has least changed in decades !

No time gets wasted in China, and while all infrastructures are well in place in Shanghai for their World Expo demonstration, newly built hotels are now running at full capacity. The Puli now buzzing with guests remains on the top of their art of Asian urban resort concept. It seems the whole city of Shanghai and especially the hospitality sector is taking advantage of the Expo boost. La Lé wine bar just opened last week and Hugel is there also well into place, and our wines are in very good company. If you drop in for a glass, say hello for me to the managing partner Mindy Chu.

 



 

It seems that for us, as for many vintners alike, the market in the Philippines was slightly off the radar of all the fast emerging Asian economies. As far as our wines were concerned, we had had no real presence in this market for well over a decade.

During the last edition of Vinexpo in Bordeaux, we had the pleasure of welcoming the visit of wine lover Romeo Sia who showed great interest in taking in his hands the destiny of our wines in his country. With great determination and efficiency, a first order was placed and shipped. Part of the new partnership agreement was a market visit to launch the wines.

Manila was therefore added to the already long list of countries on this tour. Staff training press lunch / interviews and visiting several Healthy Options stores that were until now the main activity of Romy and his dedicated team... Yet there is one project that has recently been on Romeo's mind: opening Wine Story in Manila's top shopping location. This state of the art space dedicated to excellence in and around wines will certainly put Manila on the global wine map. No efforts have been spared, from design, state of the art by the glass dispender, wine books and a tasting room that would rival those of long established London wine merchants !

Best of luck Romeo and all your enthusiastic and now fully trained dream team, you will at last be putting Manila on the wine map.    

 

What better life can there be than blending business with friendship and pleasure ? In just a few days, Thomas Duroux, CEO of Château Palmer and the team of our Vietnamese agents Tankhoa have multiplied the exposure to our respective wines through a series of perfectly orchestrated events in Hanoi and HCM city (Saigon)

In just 3 days, we met in Hanoi with the staff of Bacchus Corner for a staff training session of the enthusiastic team supervised by Baldwin Jehanno. Thomas and I were greeted by the entire team of the Métropole Hanoi, first of the new series of the Sofitel Legend flagship brand. GM Kai Speth can be proud of his F&B team, Carl Gagnon, Charles Demange and their colleagues. The gala dinner was not only outstanding but also full of surprises, a bathtub used to chill down the wines had to be tested just prior to the dinner for photographic purposes and also to put us all in good spirit... The joint Palmer - Hugel dinner ended-up in good spirit (our 45° Framboise was served) and some of the local attendants even started a karaoke... in pure Vietnamese tradition ;-)

Next day was spent in Saigon, the economical capital of Vietnam. In the headquarter city of our importer Tankhoa, Dongkoi and ever efficient (and charming) assistant Nhu greeted us with the team of their retail outlet Bacchus Corner that has experienced a serious facelift since the last visit. The day's gala dinner was at centrally located Caravelle Hotel with guest chef Jean Baptiste Natali at the piano. Jean Baptiste runs l'hostellerie La Montagne, the Michelin starred restaurant next to the Mémorial Charles de Gaulle in Colombey les deux églises. The sold out event saw 65 happy gusts enjoying the carefully decanted wines of Château Palmer, including the 1990 vintage and ending-up with our Gewurztraminer SGN 2005, all specially airfreighted for the event. Good friend and ambassador for Hugel wines Eric Simard attended the dinner with his wife Nadège that took the photo of the "dream team" on
THE yellow Lambretta whose developing story has been featured on our Blog since 2007 and updated for the 3rd time...

Following Thomas Duroux's departure some more relaxing work took place, a most memorable boatride on the Saigon river organised by Hugel client Madlen Ernest that runs with her father Bonsai river cruise and uses Gentil on board their two ships. Some genuine  
local food after all the French wining & dining. Chef Jean Baptiste Natali giving a finishing touch to the seafood soup with a splash of our Riesling. We still enjoyed the rest of the bottle even so we had to use teacups to drink the wine... The boatride with Dongkoi and Nhu and the scooter ride thereafter will leave ever lasting memories of a visit to a country in rapid evolution but where the inhabitants show a sense of hospitality rarely seen elsewhere in Asia.

Never been to Vietnam ? Call your travel agent right now ! Eric Simard's Victoria hotels are saving a room for you !

A visit to Singapore would not be complete without seeing longtime friends Melina and NK Yong. The memories are still vivid of NK's celebration 80...

This time Hugel wines were partnered with Château Palmer with its CEO and close friend Thomas Duroux  who had sent for the occasion some very special wines, of which his Historic Blend (as in the past, Clarets were "Hermitagés" by the adition of some Northern Rhône fleshy syrah). The menu was, as ever, simply spectacular.

No fewer that 35 friends were gathered for the occasion at Melina and NK's home, with guests spreaded around two impressive tables, the senior members at the head table and, waiting patiently for their "upgrade" one day, the junior table... Guest list included Shangri-La's new Hotel Manager

Thomas Schmitt-Glaeser. NK's cellar, part of it only lying in Singapore includes a rare bottle of 

1865 Palmer which is not even found at the châteaux cellar...

My very first experience dining at at Melina and NK's home goes back almost 20 years with the very missed Gérard Jaboulet. He had "warned" me that the best meal he had ever had in Singapore came out of Melina's kitchen. This still remains true to me until today. Its most gracious and generous host also remains a very special person with a huge heart called NK.
Thank you both for your continued friendship.

The pace of economic growth in China of 10% in a depressed World economic context looks very conservative when looking at the boom in the hospitality sector. Following Beijing with its Olympics, the focus is now clearly on Shanghai with the upcoming World Expo.

There seems to be no limit to new hotel openings, such as the Peninsula, perpetuating the standarts of excellence of its Hong Kong flagship property... only 2 Rolls Royces for the moment in front of the Shanghai hotel, but a quick walk on Nanjing Road and its amazing shopping centers shows the direction the city is taking: luxury brands are all there, loved the sign Dior opening soon, not far from the Ferrari dealership...

On the program of my visit, other than Shanghai, trade tastings in the booming city of Shenzhen where China's economic boom all started during Deng Xiao Ping's presidency, then Guangzhou (Canton) which will soon see the opening of the first Alsace restaurant called Alsace Village with Christophe Bilde and his brother in charge and soon to be a Hugel ambassadors in the city. A 4th city was the peaceful and scenic Hangzhou on the lake with a dinner event at the newly opened Plaza Royale hosted at their Thaï restaurant that opened just 4 days earlier !

There seems to be no limit to the apetite to grow in China and wines are indeed part if this growth. Yet, for many Chinese, wine is almost synonimous to red wine so our main challenge and focus now with our Chinese agents Summergate is to educate on the pairing of the "Chopstick's favourite wines" with Chinese gastronomy. A very encourageing sign is Shangri-La, one of the leader in the industry trying to establish its Shang Palace or Summer Palace chinese restaurants as their flagship restaurants. In Hong Kong's Island Shangri-La their restaurant was awarded ** Michelin !

Back to Shanghai for a few relaxing days in the latest opened ***** hotels, member of Leading Hotels of the World, the urban resort of The Puli, with a most relaxing stay in a such a vibrant city. From Martijn the GM to all the staff including Frenchman Cédric Martin all the team of the Puli went out of their way to make each guest feel they are their most important customer. This was certainly the case for Summergate's Dieter Grün's GM friends that we had the pleasure to entertain.

Can there be any better profession than making people happy ? We are an important part of the hospitality equation, wine is an essential part and offers its adequate "lubricant" properties ;-)

A quick walk through the traditionnal parts of Shanghai is another eye opener, revealing the amazings contrast between tradition and modernity, playing table tennis on a recycled door with a very solid net !

Off to Taiwan with at last direct flights to the island which clearly understands its interest to increase its ties with its mainland neighbour. More on that visit shortly...

See the great article by Jenny in Singapore's Sunday Times the following weekend: Alsace meets Asia and also a nice report on Daniel Chia's blog

The city state of Singapore is unique in many respects. From overseas some may just know a sanitized opulent city which forbids the chewing of gums...

Singapore offers much more including some hidden treasures very much enjoyed by the locals. One of Singapore's amazing hospitality is also found in its multi cultural food scene right next to some of the best in the hospitality business, from airline to some of the World's finest hotels. One facet not to be missed is what they call Hawker Centers. Just had one of the best (and most charming) guide, local and fast growing local wine authority Jenny Tan (pictured above with friend Daniel Chia)

Jenny Tan is an independent wine writer, who contributes to the weekly wine review column for The Straits Times, the national newspaper. Born and bred in Singapore, she also works on the wine pages for several magazines in the region, such as The Edge, Appetite and Silverkris. Her next project: a wine blog catered for the growing Asian market. She is amongst the who's who of some the World's finest wine writers for Wine Business International

Some of these open air eateries are known and visited by tourists, but some are well kept secrets and need some local guidance such as Tiong Bahru market. Popular stalls include the pig's organ soup, and the roast meats but as we were there for brunch we settled for chwee kueh, raw fish salad and congee amongst others. Very hard to make a choice with such a wide variety od specialyies so patience is usually rewarded, the longer queues are an excellent indication... No luxury there, the tables are cleared in efficient style but what an explosion of TASTE ! No wine yet on offer (other than BYO) but in Singapore, things do change quickly and wine is fast becoming part of the local way of life.

One last tip, from Jenny herself, in preparation for your visit, you may like to acustom yourself with Singlish... I am willing to take courses ;-) Merci Jenny ! 

A first report of photo compilations of the gala dinners posted on Youtube

The Hong Kong part of the Wine event of the Year with Island Shangri-La

And the Japanese gala dinner with the Tokyo Shangri-La

Above picture taken on January 26, 2010 in Saigon with friends Eric Simard and Dong Khoi...

The story is just too nice not to be told...

It all starts in late 2006 when former Auberge de l'Ill employee, Franco-Vietnamese Eric Simard contacts us from Vietnam asking if we were interested to start establishing distribution in his distant Indochina market. Eric now head of Victoria hotels obviously knows the various importers and recommends Franco-Vietnamese Dong Khoi of leading importer Tan Khoa.

No later than two months later, our wines were launched in Vietnam with both of our friend involved. The above center picture was taken in January 2007 with Eric on his yellow Lambretta whose colour is exactly that of our labels... In Vietnam most transports happen on two wheels, including sometimes deliveries as on above right photo with Tan Khoa's boss taken in January 2008 on second market visit. My reaction: Eric, it would be so nice if you, our Hugel ambassador had our logo added to your yellow Lambretta.

And here we go, above is Eric Simard's Lambretta reunion with his two wine friends driven by our "Vienamese ambassador". Needless to say that Hugel wines are to be found at Victoria hotels.

This World of wines is really a very special one, where friendship blends so nicely into our lives and memories. CHEERS and THANKS !

Yet another trip to Japan, this time with the support of our good friend Serge Dubs in cooperation with our local partner agent Jeroboam.

On the agenda this time, a large scale tasting for members of the Japanese Sommelier Association with a record attendance of 320 top sommeliers that came to taste no less than 8 rieslings from our domaine with the authoritive comments of the Best Sommelier in the World 1989.

Another highlight of this visit was a dinner in Nagoya where our friends of the Haeberlin family just opened a year ago an Auberge de l'Ill together with Monsieur Hiramatsu, keeping intact the symbol of their celebrated HH. Another Auberge de l'Ill is due to open this time in Tokyo, the city with most Michelin starred restaurants in the World. Their partnership may in due course challenge Château Robuchon that was just awarded *** Michelin.

The remaining part of this week long stay was visits to clients, winemaker dinners and tutored tastings organised by our importer centered on a Hugel X Asian Cuisine promotion which enjoys a great success.

On the agenda of the last day of this week long stay is a visit to Enoteca with a warm and generous welcome by Hirose-san before a quick stop with some bottle signing at Dean and DeLuca conveniently located in the Tokyo mid-town shopping center. Our wines are currently featured at both of these prestigious retail outlets.

Discover a slideshow of pictures of this visit.

 

 

What better launch could there be for a new wine related marketing initiative than Vinexpo ? If success is measured by the number of visitors on one's stand and by the buzz generated we cannot be too far from success as proved above on the short video clip featured on graperadio.com

You will also find here a selection of some of the most memorable moments on our dedicated photo gallery 

At a daily lunchtime Asian buffet on our stand we presented our new  chopstick holder, an original idea created with the help of our supplier of DIAM. The idea came a few months earlier during an informal Chinese lunch in Taiwan in the company of the owner and staff of our new local importer. In the course of lunch Jessie Fang of prominent importer Leading Brands took one of our cork to support her chopsticks on the table. The idea was born and executed with enthusiasm and efficiency by Jessie and her team.

In order to support this innovative initiative, we have asked our local communication agency to design a supporting document which, with our importers help, is now available in high definition PDF in A5 formats in the following languages: English, French, simplified Chinese , Traditional Chinese (Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong), Japanese, Vietnamese, German, Italian  and Dutch. The wide variety of languages now available is a demonstration of the warm reception by most of our importer.

The chopstick holders will start to be available from the end of August on in the following language versions: English/French, English/Chinese and English/Japanese. They will be presented in elegant individual yellow boxes. Each cork will carry the bilingual message "The Chopsticks' favourite wines". We have every hope that this will help the further distribution of our wines in many Asian restaurants, in Asia and elsewhere.

This page will be open to receive the feedback from our importers and clients or just consumers. Blog on !

 

It is a fact, " world food " and " fusion cuisine " become more and more part of our eating habits and seduce more and more gastronomes the world over. For too long, Asian cuisine was associated with the drinking of jasmine tea or beer and has had little success attracting fine wines consumers. Things are changing at a very rapid pace.
If many food critics mention Alsace wines amongst the best to match with oriental cuisine, we put forward to you the opinion of some of the most knowledgeable and unbiased of them : Dr N.K. YONG and his wife Melina . Their experience and authority go beyond their native Singapore and even Asia. Dr N.K. YONG is for instance the former world-wide president of the influential and respected International Wine & Food Society ... and by the way, a great supporter of our wines.
Yes, our wines are the chopsticks' favourites !

 

It was titled "Celebration 80, ode to joy" a tribute to a very unique person by some of the World's finest wines and their attending producers.

An amazing list of the who's who of wine producers  but also for the happy few (still numbering about 350). A very special occasion of tasting in the presence of most vintners and some of their finest vintages. As if this was not enough, the tasting was tutored by the vintners themselves together with the expert comments of Serena Sutcliffe M.W. and husband David Peppercorn M.W.

Most important an ode to friendship and hospitality of Melina and NK YONG that will long be remembered by all the spoiled attendees.

A short photo gallery of three amazing days can be seen here. 

Could there be any better endorsement than this recommendation that was just published on shanghaidaily.com ?

"With wine, most diners tend to go with regular reds, enjoying the drink without bothering too much about the clash of styles. True, some rouges can be quite enjoyable with the considerably lighter Cantonese dishes, but most will agree, however, that a vintage bordeaux is not necessarily the best match for lamb vindaloo.

The best bet is actually an often overlooked one. White wines from the Alsace region of northeastern France are dry, light and fruity - perfect for Asian food.

Instead of ordering a bottle of red with your next Asian meal, why not try matching it with something that goes well with the style of food on the table. Any doubters will be bound to eat their words."


Read the full story here

There are fewer and fewer economists, even in the western world that put into question that the center of gravity of the world's economy is moving towards Asia, and in particular around China.

Similar things can be said when it comes to the dynamism of the hospitality industry. No city has a greater number of fine hotels opening up than Shanghai or Beijing. They act as magnets for some of the world's finest hotel groups and celebrity chefs.

Having always preached the perfect mariage between our wines and Asian cuisine(s), the consumers are now gradually starting to fully enjoy that ideal combination. The message is now also fuelled by our outstanding local importers that are true ambassadors to our wines.

A rencent visit to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan has opened a few new eyes. Our local importers are sharing our enthusiasm and no longer hesitate to organise Hugel wine events centered on Asian or fusion cuisine such as at the celebrated Whampoa Club on Shanghai's Bund.

See an extensive photo gallery of these fascinating visits by clicking here