With over 27 million visitors in 2007, Macau has become one of Asia's top destination. Since the liberalization of gaming industry in 2002 most of the key hotel groups have or are about to open including the major Las Vegas giants such as Sands, Wynn or MGM.

A market one can no longer ignore as the industry's turnover already exceeds that of Las Vegas, and things are not over yet...

In its Asian environment, the chopstick's favourite wines have had to find their ambassadors and it is logically our mainland Chinese importers Summergate that was handed over this responsability.

In a 3 days visit just prior to Vinexpo Hong Kong, a series of events were organised at the Crown Macau, MGM Grand and Wynn. Following a lunch with the press, staff trainings and dinners, our wines will be featured using our sleek and own designed cooler box ©

This short stay also allowed a chance to visit the new Asian capital of gaming with its unique Portugese charm.

You can see the photo gallery of this visit.

 Direct access to the interactive map

Access the interactive map 

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.

From all the wine regions, only Alsace and southern Rhône were the wine regions of France where vintage 2007 was rated with the perfect A mark by the influential Wine Spectator.

Overall, wine lovers seeking the elegance and balance that typifies classic Alsatian wines should be pleased with 2007. The vintage, said, Etienne Hugel of Hugel & Fils, "ended up with one of the longest harvesting times in recent years [and] with overall longest hang time from blossoming to picking. Just what the doctor ordered. [It] should turn out to be a great classic vintage for us in Alsace."

Feel free to visit or re-visit the day by day coverage of our 2007 vintage on our Vintage Blog

Here is the update with all latest vintages.

You can download the full vintage chart in PDF format with all vintages from 1959 to 2007. 

With Marc Perrin (Beaucastel) and Hubert de Billy (Champagne Pol Roger) we were at the end of a one week market visit.

The event, related below, will certainly have a long-lasting effect on the entire wine and food world. It is also an inestimable opportunity to be seized as far as our wines are concerned. For many decades our wines have been widely distributed throughout the land of the rising sun, because their ability to match the local cuisine is almost legendary.

TOKYO 'AFP) - On Monday, Tokyo became the Michelin guide's most "star-studded" city in the world. In only its second foray outside the western world, the red guidebook has awarded a record 191 "rosettes" to the restaurants of Japan's capital city, twice as many as in Paris.

For the first time in the 108 year history of the famous French guidebook, a grand total of 150 selected restaurants have been awarded at least one star, a tribute to what Michelin calls the "cuisine beyond compare" of Japan.

Eight restaurants -- five with Japanese cuisine and three with French cuisine -- have received the supreme distinction of three stars, which honour only those establishments that are said to merit making a special journey. 25 other restaurants were awarded two "rosettes" and the remaining 117, one.

This 2007 vintage in Alsace will bring many surprises, and good ones !

After a harvest which already started over 5 weeks ago, we finally reach a very happy end with the picking early this week of our best plots in the Schoenenbourg and the Sporen slopes.

In the Schoenenbourg we harvest our very best vineyards planted with Riesling with an average ripening of 13.8° potential. 

In the Sporen, we are bringing in all remaining plots at the level necessary for Vendange Tardive (Late Harvest) denominations with 17.8° potential. It is worth noting that last week we had already done a selective picking of berries affected by noble rot in the same plots. The corresponding certificate was isued by the inspector of the INAO.

The production or not of VT or SGN is always for us an excellent indicator of the quality of the year.

We invite you to consult the daily figures from our own weather station. The tables show the daily temperature and humidity levels during the whole 5 weeks of picking. Long, cool and dry growing conditions is what makes Alsace unique. With those exceptionnal figures you should have a clearer explanation of our belief that we have just witnessed the birth of a great vintage.

Feel free to consult the final measurements table of the plots we have now finished harvesting. The natural sugar contents have increased rapidly in the last few days due to the development of noble rot.

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.

This is now the final straight of our 2007 harvest with a weather that remains just ideal, fog in the morning and sun in the afternoon. Just what Doctor botrytis ordered

Feel free to consult the measurements table of the plots we have just harvested. This table is being progressively updated as our harvest proceeds, with the final figures and the dates of harvest for each individual plot.

Excellent weather in the last few days, bright and dry. We have at last decided to start bringing in the first Riesling from our domaine. Yet, the 10 day weather forecast is mixed for the later part of the week with some possible light rain. 

We let you discover the above short video clip about our 350th anniversary vineyard.

We start harvesting some Riesling vineyards surrounding the best part of the Schoenenbourg. Certain bunches in the oldest vines of the Schoenenbourg are showing some interesting signs of development of noble rot.

We leave you to discover the measurements table of the plots where we had carried out tests earlier on. This table is being progressively updated as our harvest proceeds, with the final figures and the dates of harvest for each individual plot.

With days when the attention of many is turned towards the rugby world cup, we take the opportunity to introduce to you Krys Smith and Luke McRae.  They are both staying with us for the duration of the harvest, an old tradition wich also give us a chance to keep in touch with the "New World" and to practice the language.]]> http://blog.hugel.com/en/2007/10/our_trainees_from_australia.html http://blog.hugel.com/en/2007/10/our_trainees_from_australia.html Harvest Our trainees from Australia Mon, 01 Oct 2007 09:58:12 +0100

Another proof of the quality and the early nature of the 2007 vintage in Alsace ? 
We have just picked a small amount of Vendange Tardive and Sélection de Grains Nobles in Pinot Gris.

We wanted to keep the news confidential for a few days before releasing the information. On September 20 we picked these nectars that were controlled by the INAO as per the legal procedure in place since 1983. The certificate was issued by the inspector the following day.

A very unusual rythm this year where we still hesitate to attack our best plots of  Gewurztraminer and Riesling of our domaine. The forecast for the weather was supposed to be overcast and rainy on Monday and Tuesday, but we did not get a drop of rain and the skies have remained clear and blue.

We are harvesting our Gewurztraminer vineyards surrounding the best part of the Sporen. Certain bunches in the oldest vines of the Sporen are showing some interesting signs of the development of noble rot. Nothing new on the Riesling front, this variety continues its slow ripening. More to follow...

We leave you to discover the measurements table of the plots where we had carried out tests earlier on. This table is being progressively updated as our harvest proceeds, with the final figures and the dates of harvest for each individual plot.