Excuse me sir, there are fish guts in my wine.: MIA update

I am way behind on this and as such I'm doing a quick photo tour of what's been going on the past few weeks. My excuse (valid or not) is that my sparkling wine and spirits tests are coming up, as is the impending due date for my wine paper. Of which I am alllmoooost finished...

Wednesday a while ago was Wine Luxe magazine's Italian wine tasting. I was impressed with the wines (sparkling Gavi, Lambrusco, Prosecco, Barolo, Barbera, etc) and it was fun to catch up with Jon, Caroline, and Faye!

Debra Meiburg MW

The following day Joe and I presented Ginsberg + Chan at a press release for the Wine & Spirits Expo. Again, impressed by the breadth of vendors, and it's always nice to see Debra Meiburg (who I spoke with on the phone about my wine paper- how cool!!) talk about the Hong Kong/Asia wine scene.

Joe and I setting up the table.

My office is nice.

A lovely afternoon cider from Cytise.

And then I went to one of the most fantastic wine events I've been to. I had finally talked myself into going (it was a pricey wine dinner!) to a Hong Kong Wine Society dinner. Previously I went to a luncheon that was just spectacular; and this was no different. Incidentally my bosses, Jay and Mandy, happened to be going too. They are honestly the coolest people there are. Just...cool. I recently spoke with this guy at a tasting who knows them, and he coined it; "You can't help but like them."

Anyway, it was a Burgundy dinner with a focus on Gevery Chambertin, and oh my god, the wines were amazing. It's always amazing to try 15 wines next to each other, but even more amazing when they're from similar regions, different producers, and among people who have visited/live/breathe/eat these wines. I'm learning that Pinot is the coolest f)()#* grape there is. It's tea. It's berries. It's red fruit. It's mushroomy. It's foresty. It's animal. It's amazing.

Scallops with polenta. Snail and truffle risotto (MADE FOR BURGUNDY!). Duck breast with beets and veg. Strawberry tart. Amaze. And amazing to be surrounded by such passionate pinot fans. Can't wait til the next one!

Saturday afternoon I went to a Champagne tasting at the Flying Wine Maker. Volleraux is a lovely medium sized wine company based in Ay. Above is my new best friend, Kay, whom I ran into several days later. Great Champagne at a great price.

The night before we went out for a Groupon sushi which obviously led to escalator dancing. Obviously.

Wooo. Laura, Derek and Sylvia. Not sure how Paul hid from this.

Sunday was spirits tasting with Eddie Nara of Barrel Concepts. Eddie's fantastic. We have taken some wine classed together with JC, and when I expressed my frustration/lack of knowledge with spirits, he offered to hold a class for me and some of my diploma mates. And it was awesome.

Eddie led us blindly through 6 whiskies (Laphroaig, Maker's Mark, Canadian Club, Famous Grous, Aechentosen, and one other I can't remember at the moment) which was uber helpful, and then opened up his shelf of booze for us to try. I'm feeling slightly more confident for spirits.

Did you know? WhiskEy is from Ireland/US and WhiskY is Scottish/Japanese?

Monday (yeah, it never stops) Simone and I went to Berry Brother's Burgundy tasting led by Jasper Morris MW---see above. Jasper lives in Burgundy and is just a wealth of knowledge. My amazing friend Gerrie immediately introduced me which was really cool because not too long after he was swamped with people. The tasting was great and Benjamin Leroux stood out as my overall producer (of the 30+ wines on offer).

All of the wines were arranged by village working from the Cote de Beaune to Cote de Nuits. I love Volnay.

Tuesday was Sip or Skip at mine. Simone and Csilla came over for Riesling night, and hopefully one day soon we'll actually get our website going. Spoiler- we had 2 sips and one skip this night.

My bosses are in Bordeaux.

Thursday was Medoc reception that was just lovely. The wines were all young (2010), but it was a good mix of people I hadn't met before, and some I had (Ian and Kay), which proved to be good networking.

And it was a great venue; ToTT's in the Excelsior in Causeway Bay. Fantas.

Thursday night we went to the most fun wine dinner organized by my friend Ali aka WineTimesHK. It was Crimean wines with Chinese seafood, and it was so much fun.

We had some sparkling, rose, red, and sweet...

And dear friends Julia and Mike joined who just got married!!!! So great to catch up and hear all about their spectacular wedding!

Mike, Jules, Lauren. Paul's on the left...

And after the wine we moved to Tsing Tao, which proved to be a brilliant idea Friday AM.

Friday I went out with Joe, Janet, and Jerry (it's a wonder I got hired) to a fantastic dim sum lunch in Happy Valley. AND it was the first time (of many) that I had chicken feet and actually enjoyed it and understood it a bit. And I learned a new Cantonese phrase "gay tien?" How much?

And we had a wonderful 2006 Chambolle Musigny from Sylvain Cathiard.

Saturday I had a really wonderful tasting at work. We opened 2 Charles Heidsieck champers (1995 Blanc de Milenaires was by far the best champ I have ever had. Rich and creamy and divineeeeeeeee). and then 3 Comtes Georges de Vogue. Chambolle Musigy Village- 1er Cru, and Bonnes Mares Grand Cru. Wonderful wines that I would never be able to afford otherwise :)