It's been a busy few weeks for the Hong Kong wine industry, with a festival, competition, fair and awards ceremony.
A highlight was four days of blind tasting by a panel of Asia-based judges for the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition. I and the rest of the panel awarded gold, silver and bronze medals to wines and spirits most suited to Asian tastes.
The judging panel consisted of wine commentators, journalists, sommeliers and educators from Japan, India, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan, as well as Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and, of course, Hong Kong. To pre-empt any inadvertent conflict of interest, importers, winemakers and distributors were precluded.
Surprisingly, an Australian producer won the award for best sauvignon blanc and a New Zealand winery took home the prize for best shiraz. The smart money would have been on the reverse, given New Zealand has built a reputation on bold, vibrant sauvignon blanc and Australia on lush, rich shiraz.
The winning sauvignon blanc was Southern Highland Wines' Oldbury 2010 (HK$198; Kwong Tai Hong, tel: 2544 6846) and the shiraz was the exceptional Hay Paddock 2006 (pictured; HK$600, Merit Wine Boutique, tel: 2528 5025).
This is the only international competition that awards trophies to promote wine production in Asia. Little surprise then that the only Chinese wine offered to Cathay Pacific's first-class passengers picked up the best wine from China award: Hong Kong-owned Grace Vineyard's Deep Blue 2008 (HK$368; City'super, tel: 2506 2888).