Roast duck is a staple on many Hong Kong tables. It's delicious straight out of the oven or served with soup noodles or plain steamed rice. Most restaurants have a secret marinade of master stock, based on dried mandarin peel, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper and other blends of spices that support the richness of the duck. Roasting concentrates the flavour and renders out the fat. Roast duck can be accompanied by red or white wine, but whatever you choose needs to have richness of fruit and fine balance. The more exotically savoury, the better.
Cape Mentelle Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Margaret River, Western Australia
Strangely, this wine is cheaper in Hong Kong than it is in Perth, Western Australia, and we have a better range of vintages available to us. The wine's fame goes back to the 1980s. It's well-suited to roast duck; the minty, savoury fruit links up with the marinade and firm platform of the meat. The grainy tannins in the wine are mouth-filling.
Available for HK$380 at Moet Hennessy Diageo (tel: 2976 1333)
Calera Mt Harlan Viognier 2006, Central Coast, California, the United States
This stunning viognier has been at the top of my list for more than 20 years. It's honest and the perfume lasts and builds upon complexity. It has oodles of richness, give or take minor vintage variations. It's always stylish and long lasting, and goes well with roast duck. The wine's richness is more wholesome than many reds - it seduces and marries the duck's richness and savoury tones. Don't serve it too cold, though.