A wine tasting with Chateau Lafite’s cellar master - what a Hong Kong sommelier learned
An afternoon of tastings ahead of a gala dinner in Hong Kong was a masterclass into the painstaking care that goes into high profile events
The opportunity to spend an afternoon tasting wine with the maître de chai (cellar master) of a Bordeaux first-growth – namely, Francis Perez, of Château Lafite Rothschild – is not to be missed.
One of the competition organisers asked if I would be available to taste wines for an upcoming biennial event in Hong Kong – a gala dinner hosted by the Commanderie du Bontemps de Médoc, Graves, Sauternes et Barsac. The wine guild, which dates back to the Middle Ages, was founded by a religious order at Benon, in southwestern France, which specialised in making and trading wine.
I said yes, of course, as the wines that would be served at the event would be the best of the best.
The gala dinner was held in May at the Grand Hyatt, in Wan Chai, where long tables with hundreds of wines awaited, a team of six sommeliers opening cases and arranging bottles. It was there that I met Perez, who was in Hong Kong for the event, which was attended by 800 guests, including more than 40 châteaux owners. For such a high-profile gathering, it’s imperative that each and every bottle is checked before being served.
I like to taste wines in the order in which they would be served but Perez’s way was to alternate between the whites and reds, with sweet wines somewhere in between. Perez and I quickly fell into a rhythm as we stood on opposite sides of the tasting table. The first bottle of each wine we would taste together, to “set” or calibrate our palates. If a bottle passed muster, it was lined up, with the label facing the front of the room. If one of us found a questionable bottle, we would pass it to the other, for them to taste; if the other also thought it was so-so, we would then taste it together. Pour, sniff, taste, spit, put the bottle on the side, empty the glass and repeat.