Lai See | Burgundy is the new Bordeaux in mainland China

We've always been reluctant to go to the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair as there was a lingering fear that having ventured in we might have trouble exiting. It's a big event covering two floors and for someone who is partial to the occasional tipple we felt a bit like the proverbial kid in a candy store.

There was an astonishing amount to see and, er, sample. So over a glass of 20-year-old Taylor's with marketing director Nicolas Heath, we discussed the impact of the reduction of the tax on wines and spirits in 2008. He said that while volumes hadn't increased that much, his company sold more of its top-end port into Hong Kong.

"We are now able to sell you more of the good stuff."

The big attraction for many exhibitors is to sell into the mainland. We understand that while the Bordeaux bubble has burst on account of high prices and the increasing prevalence of bottles of fake Bordeaux in the mainland, the new brand that is catching on is "Burgundy".

Hong Kong, however, is viewed as a mature market, or at least Hong Kong Island is. Walk into a wine store in Hong Kong and there will be a range of wines for sale. Over in Kowloon it's a different story with wine shops packed with virtually nothing but Bordeaux.

Providers of new world wine remain sanguine that the mainland palette is maturing and gathering sophistication as people and their children travel abroad and develop a sense for how wine should taste. What they don't perhaps appreciate is the extent to which the mainland wine trade is driven by face, and the importance of the brand being appreciated by the recipient of a gift of a bottle of wine - usually a politician. We left the fair heavily tempted but not stirred.