The Champagne Bar might be on the ground floor of the Grand Hyatt, but on Monday a lot of the bubbly was consumed in the Pool House on the 11th floor. That's where champagne house Perrier-Jouet hosted a private dinner for two of its top executives who had dropped into town.
'Hong Kong is a very sophisticated market and people really appreciate good food and good champagne,' said Herve Deschamps (top), the label's chef de caves (chief champagne blender), who arrived only a day beforehand. 'It's part of my job to support the local marketing teams and I enjoy coming here.'
The re-emerging French label - brought back to Hong Kong only three years ago by spirits conglomerate Pernod Ricard - will have its next blanc de blanc vintage available exclusively at the hotel, so that was reason enough for a posh shindig with 40 guests sitting around a very large table.
Deschamps was joined by the label's Asia-Pacific regional director, Yann Soenen (left). As companies have become more cost conscious, Soenen is travelling less these days. However, he also manages another Pernod Ricard champagne brand that is associated with the F1 circuit, so he had to go to two recent regional events. 'I was just in Australia and Malaysia. Yes, I was at the F1 races. It's like Disneyland. We were taken around and given a tour of the garage. I wasn't a big fan before but now I follow it a bit.' Tough job, right?