In wine, as in romance, it is usually first relationships that set the patterns for all those that follow. In Hong Kong, most drinkers come to wine through France; many will never move past this first love.
There are those who came to wine through Italy. This troupe of renegades can always be spotted at wine dinners: they crave wines with higher acidity, drier tannins, less oak influence. To them, the Big B's are Barolo, Brunello and Barbaresco, not Burgundy and Bordeaux, and frankly they'd be just as happy with a nice Chianti Classico.
However, their rhapsodising may not fall on deaf ears for much longer. With last month's Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Vinitaly wine fair team and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council - and every Manhattan Italian chef worth his weight in pasta setting up shop in the city - the question on the tip of the city's wine merchants' tongues is this: is it time to start showing Italy a little more love? Surely there's no harm in playing the field?
So, for those virgin palates unaccustomed to the vinous wiles of the land once known as Oenotria, how to ease your way in? First dating tip: learn to relinquish control. Many of us enjoy the comfort of Bordeaux because of the limited number of brands and districts among which we choose. While Italy does have its share of big labels, the elusive 'Italian-ness' is much more evident in its regional wines, many of which taste like no other wine on earth - try the fruity-spicy Schioppettino from Friuli for a kiss that you'll swear is black pepper.
Accept that nobody is familiar with all of Italy's regional wines, and the true Italy-lover's reaction to an unfamiliar wine is to geek out rather than freak out. Italy, the nation, has existed for only 150 years and that multifaceted identity is evident in its wines.
Now that you're ready for this novel tryst, try a second hot tip: divide the country into broad zones to know what to expect. The northwest is dominated by the Piedmont, the land of truffles, nutella and nebbiolo, the finicky grape behind such storied wines as Barolo and Barbaresco. It features 'autochtonous varieties', a term rarely heard outside Italy that refers to native varieties. Generally northwestern reds are light in colour, often with firm tannins and bright acidity - the flavours tend towards red berries, with the name of one grape called freisa, which means 'strawberry'.