Fifty importers, distributors, buyers and sommeliers were invited to the Causeway Bay Harbour View Hotel in Hong Kong on 28th October 2008 and came to taste with us a range of Spanish wines produced in the appellations of origin such as Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Toro, Cava, Priorato, Jerez, Vinos de la Tierra... They were all presented by Nelson Chow, a master of ceremony who has twenty years of experience in the appreciation of wines from all over the world.
The wine market in Asia is developing significantly, especially in Hong Kong (+7% per year), and business here has literally exploded over the past few months, since its Government decided to abolish all taxes, as well as other import charges on wine and the reaction to this has been extremely swift. Since the month of April, France has tripled its exports to Hong Kong, which has now become a real trade hub for the Asian market. The volume of re-exports from Hong Kong to other Asian countries has grown exponentially since the implementation of this reform.
French wine is the leader in terms of market share and value; Spain, with slightly less than 7% of market share has considerable growth potential, especially as professionals are beginning to extend their range of products and consumers appreciate Spanish wines for their quality, fruity, but complex character, and of course their good value for money.
This information is in complete concordance with the results of our immensely successful Spanish wine tasting!!! Participants were surprised by the excellent quality of the wines and we were sincerely delighted to observe the calibre and quantity of tasters present. Companies who attended the tasting included: StreamTease, importer in China & Hong Kong, Pata Negra Hong Kong, Watson Hong Kong, CornerStone Distribution Hong Kong, Friends Daily China, Global Concern Hong Kong, Food and Wine Chinese Cuisine Academy, Europvin Asia, Winpo Asia, Fine Vintage Hong Kong, Cellar Master Hong Kong, Orient Pacific LTD... Just to mention a few.
To ensure the smooth running of this tasting event, Nelson Chow decided to group the wines together by Appellation of Origin, or categories of similar wines. The programme for the day was set out as follows:10.00 : Overall presentation of Spanish wine; the various production areas, main characteristics of the wines,
and various types of wine produced in Spain.
10.30 : Blind tasting, followed by an open tasting of white wines.18.45 : End of the tasting event.
At every stage of the day’s tastings, participants were able to note down their impressions of each wine on forms provided for this purpose and make a comparison between the blind tasting and then the open tasting, where full information about the wine was given (grape variety, strength in alcohol, maturation, approximate export price...).
To continue, you can find a summary of this tasting of wines we had the pleasure of presenting.
