Wine ChroniclesBurgundy 2016
Posted on October 25, 2016
Hospices de Beaune preview and harvest news
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
25 October 2016
In late September this year, I had the good fortune to visit the Hospices de Beaune to preview next month’s famous wine charity auction that has been held there annually since 1859, taking place on the third Sunday in November amid a three-day festival devoted to the food and wines of Burgundy called Les Trois Glorieuses.
The charity is preceded by a black tie dinner at the Clos de Vougeot on day one, followed by the famous all-day and into the evening lunch La Paulée de Meursault on day three. I was invited to that lunch back in November 2013, and it is one of the most enjoyable wine events I have ever experienced, with plenty of singing, speeches and great wines with food.
Hong Kong’s culinary delights on Lamma Island
Posted on September 11, 2016
Fish and Châteauneuf. Say what?
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
11 September 2015
Before I went to Hong Kong for the first time in May 2016, several connoisseurs told me how good the food is. Friends like Mike Lux, who travels there regularly.
Indeed, you can find many Michelin chefs working in this city of seven million people. I enjoyed a superlative lunch at Hong Kong’s top Italian restaurant with none other than Matteo Bruno Lunelli, CEO of top sparking wine producer Ferrari. And thanks to Wilson Kwok, for great bistro style food at his excellent W’s Entrecôte restaurant, with various winemakers from around the world. Wilson loves wine and food, and he and his sister manage the restaurant with style.
One of the most eye-opening meals I enjoyed during my Hong Kong séjour was at the Genuine Lamma Hilton Fishing Village Restaurant on Lamma Island, about 20 minutes from Hong Kong by boat. It was in late May, on the festival for Tin Hau, the goddess who protects fishermen. The restaurant was busy all day, having served some 600 customers, so the staff seemed a bit tired by the time we got there for an exclusive dinner, organized by wine enthusiast and friend Ronny Lau. Read More
Wines that won’t wilt your wallet #Bdx15
Posted on July 24, 2016
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
24 July 2016
In celebrated Bordeaux vintages, consumers may find that prices are out of reach. Sure, wines like Ducru Beaucaillou and Léoville Las Cases are excitingly delicious, but not all us mortals can afford them.
A sign of a top vintage is finding barrel samples that please your palate across all price points. And Bordeaux 2015 makes me happy, too, as it features many high quality cru bourgeois level wines that won’t wilt your wallet. So it is easy to be all smiles about the vintage, as the photo above from a lovely press dinner at Château de Fieuzal shows, with fellow taster Vasily Raskov from Moscow and Emilie Gervoson of Château Larrivet Haut Brion. Read More
English fizz hits the headlines
Posted on July 24, 2016
And it is delicious: Visit to Gusbourne Estate
By Panos Kakaviatos for wine-chronicles.com
24 July 2016
Just how delicious English bubbly can be was reconfirmed to me over dinner with Gusbourne Estate’s Andrew Weeber and promotion agency Vita Bella’s Guillaume Jourdan. It was the conclusion to a wonderful day of visiting vineyards, tasting wines, and enjoying a fine summer picnic with great wines.
We ended the visit with a relaxing summer evening, enjoying veritable fish and chips at a most charming bed and breakfast in Kent, the Woolpack Inn Warehorne.
Freshly caught cod – not fried but grilled to perfection – paired perfectly with homemade potato chips, or thickly cut fries, in American English. The wine? Gusbourne Estate 2010 Blanc de Blancs vintage brut: crisp, precise and creamy. It proved a perfect match for the food. Read More
Ferrari conquers Hong Kong
Posted on June 23, 2016
Not the car, the quality bubbles!
By Panos Kakaviatos for Wine-Chronicles.com
23 June 2016
Today more than ever, Ferrari impresses people worldwide as an ambassador for the Italian art of living.
No, I do not mean the automaker, but rather the sparkling wine producer, with vineyards in the extraordinary natural monument of the Dolomites, which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2009.
The appellation is Trentodoc, which can define itself as a sparkling wine from the mountains, thanks to a special blend of elements: land, high altitude and climate. Just several months ago, I had visited the region, and tried some of the sparkling wines from there. The star remains Cantine Ferrari Trento. Indeed it is not for nothing that Wine Enthusiast awarded the estate as European Winery of the Year in January this year.
Over a century ago, back in 1902, Giulio Ferrari took advantage of cooler climates high in the mountains to make sparkling wine using the Champagne method. After two world wars and economic depression, Ferrari chose Bruno Lunelli to take over.
To illustrate the worldwide appeal of these wines, current CEO Matteo Bruno Lunelli travelled to Hong Kong during Vinexpo in May 2016, to host a very special lunch at the city’s top Italian restaurant 8½ Otto e Mezzo. Read More
Recent Comments