https://www.scmp.com/rss/310390/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Sarah Heller Sarah Heller Its one month until the Master of Wine results are released. Fortunately, I’ve concluded that even if my research paper doesn’t ultimately pass muster, the research has been rather interesting. My topic was Wine E-commerce among Chinese Millennials. As the wine market with the world’s greatest e-commerce penetration, China should be the torch-bearer for online wine entrepreneurs everywhere. Chinese millennials’ online wine buying habits a confusing subject And in many ways it is. Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2106897/chinese-millennials-should-be-leading-charge-wine-e-commerce?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2106897/chinese-millennials-should-be-leading-charge-wine-e-commerce?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Aug 2017 06:03:47 +0000 A wine bar I’ve opened with Matthew Aylmer of Red Door Group and the Fringe Club was a long time coming for various reasons. At one stage, while studying for the practical part of the Master of Wine exam, I thought of a bar that served wines in theme-based flights designed specifically for MW students. There’d be a New World cabernet flight with Napa, Stellenbosch and Coonawarra cabs for comparing origins, or a flight with village-level, premier cru and grand cru Burgundy (that would be an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2097299/how-idea-hong-kong-wine-bar-took-time-mature-just-good-vintage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2097299/how-idea-hong-kong-wine-bar-took-time-mature-just-good-vintage?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jun 2017 09:15:45 +0000 For anybody disappointed that this column has not focused more on things such as, say, actual wines, I must confess that since passing the Master of Wine exams I’ve taken a hiatus from the endless stream of tasting that was my pre-exam existence. Apparently I’m not alone in abandoning the bottle in the afterglow of passing. I recently shared dinner with an MW who confided that he too had markedly reduced the volume and diversity of his consumption post-practical (the name for the tasting exam).... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2082691/master-wine-sarah-hellers-desert-island-wines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2082691/master-wine-sarah-hellers-desert-island-wines?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Mar 2017 09:17:24 +0000 The path for a newly qualified master of wine is not obvious but a look at those who have gone before can be instructive. The Institute of Masters of Wine was initially developed to certify members of the wine trade, ie people whose primary business is selling wine, not making it, writing or educating people about it. The first “non-trade” master of wine (and probably the best known), writer Jancis Robinson, was only admitted in 1984, 31 years into the institute’s history. Many a freshly minted... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2072657/career-opportunities-freshly-graduated-masters-wine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2072657/career-opportunities-freshly-graduated-masters-wine?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Feb 2017 09:10:33 +0000 Sarah Heller Sarah Heller Like anybody else with a daunting New Year’s resolution, I’ve spent the past week in bouts of deep procrastination interspersed with meagre attempts to shame myself into starting. And like trying to relinquish cigarettes or lose 10kg, the best method for researching the preferences of Chinese millennial wine drinkers who shop for wine online isn’t totally clear. Why Chinese millennials buying wine online is a phenomenon ripe for research Fortunately, some bits are straightforward: definitions... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2061143/chinese-millennials-online-wine-buying-habits-confusing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2061143/chinese-millennials-online-wine-buying-habits-confusing?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Jan 2017 08:31:19 +0000 Sarah Heller Sarah Heller It wasbound to come to an end eventually. Having spent years fantasising about the cloud of bliss life would be if only I could pass all my Master of Wine exams and “just” have the research paper left, I now find that peachy cloud slowly evaporating and myself settling into the rather less fantastical realisation that there’s still work to do. This is not to say that I don’t find my topic really rather interesting – I more or less took all the sexy topics I could think of and jammed them into... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2051812/why-chinese-millennials-buying-wine-online-phenomenon-ripe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2051812/why-chinese-millennials-buying-wine-online-phenomenon-ripe?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Dec 2016 08:45:30 +0000 At a time when wine is more accessible than ever before, especially in a global city like Hong Kong, the question of why we should travel for wine inspires increasingly nagging guilt. After all, this November if I wish to gorge myself silly on truffles and Barolo, I can easily do it here in Hong Kong and spare the atmosphere the carbon impact of my jetting to my beloved Piedmont (even I can’t eat my own weight in truffles, though I have a better shot with the Barolo). And yet travel for wine –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2044034/tannic-whites-and-sweet-reds-georgias-fantastic-upside-down?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2044034/tannic-whites-and-sweet-reds-georgias-fantastic-upside-down?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Nov 2016 10:01:01 +0000 If I said that the days leading up to doomsday (or the day I got the results of my Master of Wine exam) weren’t filled with blistering anxiety about this column, it would be one of the larger untruths I’ve attempted. As the day approached, my ego amused itself with fantasies of writing my column on another subject entirely (rootstocks or something), slipping “oh, and I didn’t pass” into the last sentence and hoping nobody noticed. One of the risks of the increased access to our lives we are all... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2022898/master-wine-student-power-group-study-and-breaking-down-blind?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2022898/master-wine-student-power-group-study-and-breaking-down-blind?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Sep 2016 04:19:01 +0000 Anybody who’s studied something for long enough can likely empathise with my conundrum. No matter how much love you have for a subject at the start, by the time you are several years in, the topic – however sexy – has lost its lustre. The difference between wine and, say, etymology, is that for many people, especially those outside the wine world, the topic remains fairly juicy. Thus your sullen reticence, or tacked-on grimace, when called upon to discuss this thing you love seems totally... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2011275/wine-writer-gets-her-groove-back-trip-turin-where-love-affair?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/2011275/wine-writer-gets-her-groove-back-trip-turin-where-love-affair?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Aug 2016 09:00:45 +0000 The origin story of this column is especially dear to me, as it is testament to the bliss that is a Master of Wine student’s post-exam life. You see, in the interests of preserving my delicate olfactory instrument (aka my nose) I had essentially forsworn perfume for two-and-a-half years (with, I confess, the occasional guilty lapse limited to very special occasions, like non-wine dinners). A few weeks ago, traversing the seemingly interminable duty-free concession that London’s Heathrow airport... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1994924/wines-hook-thunderbolt-bypasses-mere-words-and-thoughts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1994924/wines-hook-thunderbolt-bypasses-mere-words-and-thoughts?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Jul 2016 09:00:33 +0000 I should have sensed that something was amiss. The sun was shining, Master of Wine exams over, and I was feeling, if not quite like I was walking on air (something I suspect is impossible after three days of punishing exams), like all was reasonably well in a decent version of all possible worlds. Hong Kong wine expert Sarah Heller on the terrors of blind tastings Then, with the thudding inevitability of death and hangovers, came the blow. I was waiting for a taxi to whisk me away for an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1982632/master-wine-i-doubt-it-when-i-can-make-mistake-exam?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1982632/master-wine-i-doubt-it-when-i-can-make-mistake-exam?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jun 2016 09:01:48 +0000 There’s only about a month remaining before my Master of Wine tasting exams, and the pressure is now somewhere between 10 and 11 on the dial. I remember from last year that this is about the time when most of us candidates begin to show subtle (and some less subtle) signs of wear – under-eye bags are darker than usual, spines like typhoon-battered tree trunks from shuttling about weighty tomes and cases of wine, teeth perpetually black from daily tasting. Personally, I’ve found the more... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1946668/how-be-wine-taster-calm-down-enjoy-experience-and-meditate-if?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1946668/how-be-wine-taster-calm-down-enjoy-experience-and-meditate-if?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 May 2016 09:00:42 +0000 One question that never seems to get old when you reveal to people that your version of studying involves tasting lots of different types of wine is, “You must drink loads of good wine, then?” Regrettably, this truly isn’t the case (at least, not while I’m studying). Loath as I am to play the consummate wine snob, even my well-exercised liver lacks the capacity to process whole bottles of the myriad (many, sadly, rather average) wines that I’m required to know intimately in order to pass the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1935512/coravin-handy-device-lets-you-try-wine-without-uncorking?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1935512/coravin-handy-device-lets-you-try-wine-without-uncorking?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Apr 2016 16:02:01 +0000 After weeks of trying to channel How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Master of Wine Exam, I’ll capitulate and revisit one of my many exam lowlights. Most people’s exams don’t involve alcoholic drinks (at least not concurrently), but I imagine everyone can recall an exam question that made them want one. Certain grapes are considered a boon to blind tasters. Pinot noir is one such – a pale ruby beacon of hope in a daunting sea of purple. The promisingly pale first three glasses of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1922702/why-its-so-hard-pin-down-where-pinot-noir-comes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1922702/why-its-so-hard-pin-down-where-pinot-noir-comes?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Mar 2016 09:01:04 +0000 Blind tasting has always been one of the banes of my vinous existence. While some Master of Wine students and particularly Master Sommeliers (a totally separate undertaking with its own London-based HQ, the Court of Master Sommeliers) take to blind tasting like Chardonnay to oak barrels, I view it as a necessary evil. Were I psychoanalytically inclined, I might trace this deep-seated distaste to my earliest blind tastings, delivered by somebody who is, inexplicably, still a good friend, despite... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1909301/hong-kong-wine-expert-sarah-heller-terrors-blind-tastings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1909301/hong-kong-wine-expert-sarah-heller-terrors-blind-tastings?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Feb 2016 09:00:00 +0000 “Wine theory” exams are something that people outside the wine industry would be forgiven for regarding sceptically. After all, even the most bearded of long macchiato hipsters doesn’t go around referring to “coffee theory” expecting to be taken seriously. However, in the context of the Master of Wine, the validity of theory exams often goes unquestioned, perhaps because of the sheer volume of output required. In total: five exams taken over four days, most lasting three hours, with two to three... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1898385/why-you-can-be-master-wine-yet-pour-it-left-handed-gorilla?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1898385/why-you-can-be-master-wine-yet-pour-it-left-handed-gorilla?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jan 2016 10:30:30 +0000 While clearing up after a recent consumer wine tasting, I was struck by the fact that of the three spit buckets I’d set out, not one contained a drop of wine. I realised I’d forgotten that, for most people, the idea of spitting out wine borders on sacrilege, and was reminded how fundamentally different the worlds of wine tasting and wine drinking are. To underline a rather unpleasant point, spit buckets are the deeply unglamorous underbelly of professional wine tasting. Nothing says “welcome to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1880145/why-spitting-trumps-swallowing-serious-wine-taster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1880145/why-spitting-trumps-swallowing-serious-wine-taster?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Nov 2015 13:00:50 +0000 Although Hong Kong is a city where fads are as short-lived as fruit flies, anyone who doubts the endurance of Hong Kong's wine obsession need only look to our swelling pack of students hoping to become a master of wine. As one such individual, I've been asked to help explain exactly what a master of wine student is. Having stepped away from full-time employment to focus on my studies about 18 months ago, I'm well rehearsed in the discussion. It tends to flow along these lines: "I see, are you a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1867844/challenges-becoming-master-wine-hong-kong-and-elsewhere?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1867844/challenges-becoming-master-wine-hong-kong-and-elsewhere?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:01:37 +0000 It seems likely that one of the biggest barriers to broader wine consumption in Hong Kong is the tricky question of how to store it. The seemingly obvious answer is the mini wine fridge (I am the proud owner of two). However, what follows is advice for those who are not willing to put down cold, hard cash for this admittedly rather chichi home appliance. For the person merely seeking a way to keep the occasional bottle in drinkable condition until it can be relieved of its delicious contents,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1849255/four-worst-enemies-wine-hot-burning-bright-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1849255/four-worst-enemies-wine-hot-burning-bright-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Aug 2015 15:15:15 +0000 If you're not an obsessed wine drinker, you can be forgiven for thinking the industry doesn't have a lot of compassion for its customers. For example, a question as basic as what the name of a wine actually means has no consistent answer. In some areas of the world (mainly Europe), wine is named after the place it is from, as in Bordeaux, Burgundy or Barolo. Others trade under the name of their principal grape, such as shiraz or chardonnay. A seemingly more promising approach uses a recognisable... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1840200/less-more-why-it-pays-producers-promote-signature-wine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1840200/less-more-why-it-pays-producers-promote-signature-wine?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Jul 2015 22:17:40 +0000 Sarah Heller Sarah Heller Before any parents reading this start composing sternly worded letters, this isn't an article peddling wine to 15-year-olds. "Millennial" is a poorly defined demographic, sometimes described as those born post-millennium, but according to our ultimate millennial resource, Google, it is "a person reaching young adulthood around the year 2000". Millennials are among the most maligned and marketed-to groups. Employers bemoan their sense of entitlement, laziness and constant demands for feedback... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1816289/dumbing-down-wine-not-way-sell-more-millennial-customers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1816289/dumbing-down-wine-not-way-sell-more-millennial-customers?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Jun 2015 22:15:30 +0000 Like a heavyweight champ donning a demure string of pearls, the concept of sparkling red wine strikes many as just a bit off. Pale pink and sparkly by all means, we seem to feel, but red and sparkly? Never. However, a sea change seems imminent. Beijing-based educator Fongyee Walker risked life and limb - "I'm going to get lynched for this," she was quoted as saying in the local press - at Australia's Limestone Coast Wine Show when she chose Majella's sparkling shiraz over the region's more... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1805308/australia-and-italy-lead-way-search-fine-sparkling-red?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1805308/australia-and-italy-lead-way-search-fine-sparkling-red?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 May 2015 22:57:24 +0000 In the minds of many wine connoisseurs, nothing is so shaded from this great elixir's rarified glow than the idea of bulk wine. The very word "bulk" is deeply unsexy, more likely to bring to mind supersized packs of toilet paper than a treasured bottle you might share with loved ones. However, bulk is big news in the wine world and nowhere more so than the budget-conscious British market. The buzz has permeated the whole volume-driven sector, with Accolade, Tesco and Marks & Spencer all jumping... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-wine/article/1767766/huge-plastic-bladder-makes-bulk-wine-imports-cheaper-and-greener?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-wine/article/1767766/huge-plastic-bladder-makes-bulk-wine-imports-cheaper-and-greener?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2015 22:23:48 +0000 In the popular imagination, the archetypal wine collector is a creature of Harris tweeds, leather club chairs and crystal decanters, laced together with a whiff of Cuban cigar. To the wine sceptic, wine collecting has its own whiff - of elitism, decadence and, above all, great expense. This very much needn't be the case. The prerequisite for being a wine collector is simply the act of accumulating bottles for later consumption. A Rolls-Royce is not required; however, a genuine enjoyment of wine... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1735985/tips-and-tricks-would-be-wine-collectors?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1735985/tips-and-tricks-would-be-wine-collectors?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Mar 2015 22:12:28 +0000 Anybody who brings up weight in the post-holiday months probably deserves a sack of coal next Christmas. Our culture's fixation with bodies is such that we tend to apply body-related analogies even to things for which they're poorly suited. For example, a so called full-bodied wine is not literally any larger or heavier than a light-bodied one. It's not even necessarily denser, given alcohol is only 80 per cent as dense as water, and full-bodied wines tend to pack the alcohol in spades,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-wine/article/1676891/elegant-lighter-bodied-shiraz-comes-fore-australia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-wine/article/1676891/elegant-lighter-bodied-shiraz-comes-fore-australia?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jan 2015 08:49:06 +0000 Anyone reading the newspaper of late can be left in no doubt that the question of who holds power is on everyone's mind. In the realm of politics, it is hard for us to come to an agreement, but the little world of wine tends to favour a more decentralised power system. As wine consumers, we like wine that tells us about where it comes from: a wine with "somewhereness", a term borrowed from politics. "Südtirol" or "Alto Adige," depending on whether your ancestors were the original German speaking... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1617661/importance-somewhereness-winemaking-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1617661/importance-somewhereness-winemaking-world?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Oct 2014 08:28:41 +0000 Counterfeit wine expert Maureen Downey’s advice boils down to one message: “Just keep screaming”. We are regularly asked why we are so reluctant to address the issue of counterfeiting, given its prevalence in our markets. But with no solid numbers to hand, and a fine wine market that was only beginning to find its feet, none of us wanted to crush the growth, or worse, be called Chicken Little. Or even, as Downey jokingly refers to herself, as “that crazy blonde from California”. The industry... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1385742/wine-opinion-how-spot-counterfeit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1385742/wine-opinion-how-spot-counterfeit?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 19 Dec 2013 02:49:02 +0000 Wine people are often called upon to explain what makes a particular region unique, and because wine itself is difficult to differentiate with words - one person's plum is another's blackberry - the tendency is to fixate on soil, climate, landscape, grape varieties or even the winemaking if there's something to say. Portugal's Douro region has all of these: a friable grey schist soil; an arid, almost desert climate suitable only for gnarled vines and olive trees; and an otherworldly topography... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1338823/wine-opinion-exploring-unique-character-portugals-douro-region?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/1338823/wine-opinion-exploring-unique-character-portugals-douro-region?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Oct 2013 11:11:03 +0000