Tastes and culture of Hong Kong light up Bordeaux wine festival

Mention Bordeaux and one immediately thinks of a luscious glass of red. In June, though, there were Chinese touches in the French wine capital. That’s when it unveiled the 10th edition of the Bordeaux Fête le Vin (Wine Festival) which this year took place from June 23-26 and to which two Hong Kong chefs were invited to play a part.

The setting was magical. Along the promenade on the banks of the river Garonne, the region’s winemakers set up pavilions near the scintillating Miroir des Quais – the world’s largest reflection pool – in front of the fabulous 18th century palaces surrounding Place de la Bourse.

Eight main pavilions represented the eight grand appellations of the area. A Grands Crus Classés 1855 Passport allowed festival goers tastes of the Médoc’s finest reds, from the Haut-Médoc, Margaux and Pauillac appellations, as well as the elegant whites of Saint-Emilion and the ambrosial sweet wines from Sauternes. Additional stands for independent traders and artisanal food producers from the Aquitaine region popped up along the two-kilometre open-air “wine road” along the riverfront, where there was a curious sight – a traditional Cantonese theatre stage, its vivid neon, red and gold standing out amidst the cool cream of Bordeaux’s limestone architecture.

Hong Kong was one of the guest cities of honour to participate in the Wine Festival, together with Brussels, San Francisco and Quebec. The Hong Kong Tourism Board flew in bamboo weeks before, and Choi Wing-kei, a master Cantonese opera stage builder,constructed the colourful Chinese stage by the river. Cantonese opera stars Yuen Sin-ting and Paris Wong Hau-wai performed excerpts from a scene where the Tang emperor Xuanzong gets his famous concubine Yang Guifei drunk, to the delight of the Bordeaux audience.