Tea, Burgundy and Aussie wine tastings so far in 2025

Fresh from completing my 2023 vintage notes after the arduous autumn tasting season, I set out in early February for a month’s visit to South-East Asia and Australia. So many great bottles get opened in Hong Kong these days and I was privileged to taste some extraordinary wines. We organised a few tastings ourselves of mature wines (including a stunning vertical of older vintages from francois Jobard), as well as events at the Hong Kong Club, Aberdeen Marina Club, Carlyle & Co and the Dynasty Club. An overnight stay in Macau enabled me to lead a really interesting tasting of 2020 vintage wines from Puligny-Montrachet. Reports will follow!

Not all my tastings were of wine though – I was fascinated to taste tea with a former colleague from BBR days, Wing, who with her husband now has a tea shop in Kowloon. She is also organising tea pairings with Michelin star restaurants for those who don’t want to drink all the time (which even includes me!). its an idea which she would love to bring to Europe.

The main thrust of the Australian leg of my trip was supporting Bibendum, who have been the agents for the second edition of Inside Burgundy, the book, and have done a sensational job for us. Covid meant that I was not able to travel at the time the book was launched, so there was quite a demand for signing copies in Melbourne and Sydney. I was able also to visit a couple of cutting-edge wineries – Place of Changing Winds in the Macedon ranges and both Paradigm Hill, and Ten Minutes by Tractor in Mornington. All were on the verge of picking what looks like to be an excellent harvest – respectable volumes and potentially great quality. It was interesting to study the precision-timing of when to harvest ripe bunches, and the variety of Pinot Noir clones (Calera, Abel, Pommard, MV6…) caused much discussion on social media.

Heading home via Singapore, for some masterclasses at the amazing 67 Pall Mall Club there, following events for them in Hong Kong and Melbourne (where the next club in the portfolio is due to open shortly).

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