Corks Are Popping

Last night, as I was enjoying a couple of glasses of Moët & Chandon 1959—and let us pause here, to briefly admire the smugness of that opening remark—the full extent of Hong Kong’s oenological journey (indeed my personal one) was made clear. Twenty years ago, “a drink with dinner” meant, to me as it did to many a Hong Konger, a long squirt of Coolabah, a can of Blue Girl lager, or a slug of VSOP poured into a tumbler. But now, fine wine has colonized great swathes of supermarket shelf space. There are lavish private wine cellars deep in the hills, wine fridges in middleclass homes, and every kind of restaurant you can think of—every Formica-appointed curry house or suburban dim sum joint—is plying you with Chilean reds or Australian whites by the glass.
Today also comes the news that Jointek, China’s largest wine dealer (is dealer the right word? It seems faintly druggy to talk of dealers), is moving its headquarters to Hong Kong. Given that businesses always seem to be going in the other direction, this would appear to be an early boost for the government’s plans to turn the city into a “wine hub” via a major tax break. (The 40-percent wine impost was scrapped back in February—by comparison, the tax on wine in mainland China approaches 50 percent).
There was talk of little else yesterday evening, at a dinner party at Sevva, held to mark the release of the Moët & Chandon Grand Vintage 2003, and during which our free-handed host, Moët’s chef du cave Benoit Gouez, also started pouring the 1995, the 1990, the 1976 and the aforementioned 1959. “As a wine hub, Hong Kong has beaten us to it!” was the rueful declaration of the Singaporean sommelier to my left, which made me grin because Hong Kong-Singapore rivalry is a sport I have always relished.
Moët had assembled a fairly hefty industry crowd—here was Mandarin Oriental GM Peter French, there was New York restaurant consultant Quentin Dante and Aman’s director of operations Andrew Thomson. But of course, Moët aren’t planning to squander precious bottlings on socializing with professional peers. They’re probably more interested in making new friends in China, where champagne imports surged by 30 percent in 2007. Serious mainland wine buyers can also come to Hong Kong to purchase from companies like Jointek, who will store the wine or re-export it to wherever their clients request. This sort of thing is going to take off.
And in case you’re wondering the ’59 was very drinkable, but not a patch on the ’76. Very little left of that one apparently. Do get hold of some if you can.