A Riesling revolution has just swept across China! Peter Barry of Jim Barry Wines, Etienne Hugel of the Hugel family, and Ernst Loosen of Dr Loosen  have joined forces with their importer and distributor Summergate, to challenge the reign of red wine in China. All through the week, the group conducted tastings, master classes, and media events across the region to celebrate the greatness of Riesling in all its many styles. The tour started in Macau, and moved on to the cities of Xiamen in Fujian province, and Chengdu in Sichuan province, followed by gala events in Shanghai, finally culminating in the capital city of Beijing on Saturday April 12th.

"We are championing Riesling as a spearhead of the white wine revolution in China. There is no better way to break China's red obsession than our Riesling Revolution tour with this trio of Riesling magicians" said Summergate founder and General Manager Ian Ford. "I expect our sales of Riesling to much more than double in the months and years ahead" said Ford.

China has been known for years as a red wine market, highlighted in the recent film "Red Obsession". The IWSR recently stated that China is now the largest red wine consuming nation on earth, at an estimated 1.86 billion bottles including domestic production.

"Summergate together with these three great producers are the first to take a huge step forward in promoting and celebrating Riesling and white wine, on a large scale, across this country" said Ford.

The "Riesling Revolution" tour climaxed in Beijing on Saturday April 12th, highlighted by a Riesling tasting review from all three producers, and a gala dinner with the Capital's top wine enthusiasts.

For the Hugel family, a solid presence in Asia dates back to the 1950's and now covers virtually every country in the region. Mainland China is clearly now the latest challenge.

With a website in 4 Asian languages, the simplified Chinese website has just been enriched with detailed product descriptions for the wines featured on this tour: Riesling Hugel 2012 and Riesling Jubilee 2007.

The above selection of photos our the Summergate Riesling Revolution tour can be found here https://www.flickr.com/photos/123206995@N05/sets/72157643938707823/

More details on http://www.summergate.com

Freunde unserer Weine in der Schweiz können sich jetzt freuen dass seit einigen Wochen eine gute Auswahl Hugelweine bei Mövenpick zu finden sind.

14 Weinkeller in der Schweiz aber auch 14 in Deutschland und im Fürstentum Liechtenstein und sehr bald in die neue moderne state of the art Wein Bar in Zürich. Santé !

Hugel | Foto Reportage von Etienne Hugel | Plein écran | Wine Media Library

Kindly taped by Riki at Planet of Grapes in London and posted on drinkslover Facebook page on October 7, the day before my birthday, and before les Bleus' victory on England in the Rugby World cup...

Nice informal chat, on Alsace Riesling, styles and Rugby...

Heaven does exist on earth and some of the Worlds' best wine are in the cellar waiting for you !
No need to look any further (if money is not the issue...) the amazing teams of Soneva Gili and Soneva Fushi are waiting for you to be pampered and visiting winemakers will accompany your gastronomic experience...

Hugel | Maldives Soneva | 640x640 | Plein écran | Wine Media Library

Nice press articles followed this visit in Sommelier India, Show Buzz, and in
The Hindu online, south India's N°1 daily as well as their Metro Plus paper issue

Journalist friend Jenny Tan and husband Charles Lim, this year helped our wine & Asian food gathering at Thion Bahru, just like she did last year (see report)

This year, extra friends joined the brunch, including Edwin Soon, author of the acclaimed book Pairing Wine with Asian Food, Singapore Airlines' Air sommeliers Gerard Ee and colleague Reggie, chocolate expert Dieter Speer of ADM cocoa and despite beeing now well into his 80's, Dr NK YONG whose celebration 80 a few years back remains forever an unforgettable ode to joy.

This year, your "vintner vlogger" came with adequate gear for this report, posted on Youtube... more to follow in the coming days, depending on Johan's promptness;-) Blog on ! 

... and by the way, you may want to accustom yourself with Singlish...

At the occasion of the launch of a two years' promotion of our Gentil by the glass at all the Shangri-La Hotel of Mainland China. Staff trainings, trade events and dinners in 10 cities... in 10 days ! Organised with the great support of Summergate, our greater China agents. Well worth having a new Chinese website for the occasion;-) Gentil Hugel, what else ?

Pictures of the first 5 cities of this wine marathon from December 5 to 14, 2010



Hugel | SH_Roadshow | 640x640 | Wine Media Library

Serena Sutcliffe M.W. head of Sotheby's Wine Department was the Master of Ceremony
at the Primum Familiae Vini event at the Hong Kong Island Shangri-La black tie even.

Serena made a very moving introduction to Etienne Hugel and tribute to uncle Johnny.

 

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

One of those rare moments where business blends into sheer pleasure and a rare feeling of having reached perfection... The occasion came at the end of an extensive 3 weeks Asian market visits before a few days vacations with my wife Anne Christine. A few days in Bali, almost exactly 20 years after our first visit together to this paradise on earth.

As if life was not good enough, on the only day of customer visits on the island, our local importer Putu Murtika had the good idea to pay a quick visit together to probably the most amazing Bali resort, the famous BVLGARI Bali.

Greeted in style in an amazing surrounding by Director of F&B Radu Cernia and executive chef Andrew Skinner. As some specially sent wines were still available for the course of my visit, an exclusive dinner was put in place with the blessing of the GM and long time Hugel friend Robert Lagerwey.

In just a week, a most amazing menu was created, a flyer produced with a selection of Asian dishes created to match our wines like never before. Also an uncompromising attention to details on the presentation of the dishes up to the marking of the different glasses. The select guests (by invitation only) had a chance to enjoy some of our wines that were available for the first time in Indonesia.

If perfection does not exist, it may well have found its closest expression, where all comes so harmoniously together. Planning a visit to Bali ? You may want to make your own opinion of the BVLGARI Bali   

If there was one good news about the benefit for Alsace of the recent NATO summit in Strasbourg, it is that Americans will at last know that Strasbourg is in... France. We were of course delighted when we heard that one of our wines, our Pinot Gris Tradition 2005 had been chosen for the Friday night gala dinner prepared by Strasbourg's most celebrated chef Emile Jung of Crocodile restaurant

As husbands and wives did not dine at the same table that night nor did they have the same beverage selection (oh... la la !) until the following day we were not sure if our wine had been served to Barack and Nicolas or at Michelle and Carla's party. Knowing the popularity and personality of the first ladies, we are pleased to report that our wine was enjoyed at Michelle and Carla's dinner and from what we heard through the grapevine, they had lots of fun ;-) Thank you Emile for your nice words in the menu you sent us. Perhaps our French President should take lessons on that from his Italian born wife !

Having heard the news on the occasion of a visit to Japan, walking in front of a local hotel doing a promotion for US beef with the poster of President Obama, I could not resist taking this picture... Yes, we can ! 

Delighted to report the great buzz created by the live tasting of our wines to took place on August 21st from 7 to 9 PM (EST) on binendswine.com

See a summary of posts here and a selection of pictures from people tasting live with us here. Some participants even put together a whole gastro dinner with the wines, great report on The Wine Conversation and Spittoons.biz blog. Thanks to all.

This live event over the net was announced on Winecast.net a leader in wine podcasting with an interview of Etienne Hugel by host Tim Elliott, a longtime wine lover.

Podcasting is amongst new opportunities that Internet offers to share information with passionate wine enthusiasts. Another innovative webtool will be used to this event: Twitter Social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.

A selection of our wines were offered at favourable prices to most US shipping destinations by binendswine.com but our wines are available in most countries around the World. Feel free to contact our importers for stockists.

Users outside North America, were able to check the local time of this event. Participants from Spain, the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Puerto Rico, China, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Chile, and yes twitterheads from all over the U.S also joined in the fun. 

Blog on !

For a few days the capital of country music became the capital of wine in the country with an amazing celebration of fines wines and foods, joy, friendship and generosity for a charitable cause, the fight against cancer.

Hugel together with Champagne Pol Roger, Louis Jadot Burgundy and Bordeaux's Château Palmer were the guests of honour of l'Ete du Vin, America’s oldest charity wine auction.

Part of the 3 days events was a tutored tasting with moderator Robin Kelly O'Connor, a black tie gala dinner and an auction where a magnum of our Gewurztraminer Sélection de Grains Nobles 1989 S raised a record 4200 $. These days also saw a series of lunches and dinners hosted by generous donours in their gorgeous home(s) with wines that went well beyond vintages and wines that we had donated.

Above all, Ete du Vin is a celebration of what fine wines is all about, sharing good moments with friends, old or new that included Patrice Noyelle of Champagne Pol Roger, with wife Benedicte whose family owns Clos de Tart, Jacques Lardière of Louis Jadot and Thomas Duroux of Château Palmer, a long time personnal friend. 

New friends and local patrons, with most amazing cellars and generosity included Tom Black and Keith Pitts that hosted us in their amazing well cellared homes... current and future ;-)

A huge thank you to the organizers, especially Torrey Stella Barnhill, Events Director, executive director Michael Haney and wine director Collin Husbands. Their professionalism was as precious as their kindness. Last but not least American Airlines that went well beyond their duties to fly us making all possible arrangements... and more !

How could one spend some time in Nashville without a tour of music related landmarks and bars.
PFV friend Patrice Noyelle of Champagne Pol Roger also a partner in our US importer Frederick Wildman even found a soundtrack whose title is Drinking Champagne, feeling no pain... Winston Churchill could not have said it any better !

You can view here a selection of pictures of the event

The chopstick's favourite wines have just made their roadshow in Sweden under the masterful organisation of our agents HJO Grosshandel. See the GASTRO review in Swedish on the Helsingborg part of the trip. More may follow shortly...

Soooooooo great to see at this occasion the many friends of our wines in a country that has always greeted our wines with great enthusiasm.

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 !

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

Just another amazing Grand Cru event put together by Todd & Colin Halpern and their team for their main clients, friends and suppliers. Delighted to be one of them.

You can see the photo gallery of these memorable days here

The list of wines opened that one night (due to the generosity of our hosts) follows...
WARNING: some wines listed can be offending to those that were not part of this experience !

Thanks also to Eddy and his Blackberry for allowing us to keep track of all the wines tasted

Below are the supper wines...
Champagne Gosset, 2000 Olivier Leflaive Montrachet, 1999 Marc Colin Montrachet, 2000 Drc Montrachet, 1982 Bon Pasteur, 1997 Corton Charlemagne Remoissenet, Mag 1982 Latour A Pomerol, 1978 Hermitage La Chapelle, 1996 Harlan Estate, 1985 Groth, 1974 Marthas Heitz, 1990 Rayas mag, 1989 Rayas, 1961 Lynch bages, 1975 La Mission HB, 1957 Richebourg Remoissenet, 1959 Clos Vougeot Remoissenet, 1978 Richebourg Remoissenet, 1962 La romanee Leroy, 1982 Mouton in Magnum, 1990 Beausejour, 1959 Latour, 1961 Latour, 1959 Latour Haut Brion, 1961 La Mission HB, 1959 La Mission HB, 1989 HB mag, 1982 Lafleur mag, 1945 Gruaud Larose mag, 1990 Richebourg Drc, 1997 Gewurztraminer SGN Hugel, 1986 SGN ZH Heimbourg Gewurztraminer !!!