A former amateur racing driver, Carson Chan Kai-shun enjoys cars. So when an opening came up at Bonhams' local subsidiary 10 years ago, he seized the chance - the auction house was then better known for its sales of vintage cars. But now, as managing director of Bonhams in Hong Kong, Chan finds himself at the forefront of a regional wine boom that has made Barolos and Chateau Rothschilds the focus of his attention rather than Aston Martins and Rolls-Royces.
Traders expected a boost from the government's scrapping of wine tax in 2008, and their hopes have since been fulfilled in impressive style with Hong Kong quickly challenging London's place as the world's second biggest auction market for fine wines after New York.
'I knew the auction scene was going to be big in Hong Kong as soon as the tax was dropped,' says Chan.
Still, it took nifty footwork to catch the wave. 'We had a hunch months in advance that the government was going to lower the wine tax because officials had been talking to people in the wine industry,' Chan says.
Once the tax abolition was announced, he and his team got together and made swift plans. Within two months Bonhams held a wine auction - its first in Hong Kong for over a decade - recording sales of more than HK$11 million.
Other auction houses soon followed, with Sotheby's announcing that Hong Kong has become its most important centre for fine wines after notching up more than HK$111 million from its three sales last year. Its auctions in New York took in US$12.7 million while London booked GBP9.2 million (HK$116 million) from 10 auctions.