Last week was an exciting one for wine lovers in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Our very first Asia tour of Great Wines of the Andes launched on this side of the globe this year. The event was previously held in the United States, drawing crowds in New York, Miami and San Francisco. The event kick-started on May 31 with an exclusive welcome party at the chic Duddell’s where all producers and friends of James Suckling were invited. The guests stayed until late evening, enjoying the wine bar which showcased top vintages from each producer, as well as Michelin-starred food prepared by executive chef Fung Man-Ip. The evening was followed by the greatly anticipated Grand Tasting at the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, where nearly 40 leading producers from Argentina, Chile and Uruguay gathered to present two of their best vintages. Each of these producers featured wines that have been awarded 90 points or higher on JamesSuckling.com. The selection of wines does not only boast top scores but also reflect the breathtaking diversity of the Andes.
Rockstar Surahn Sidhu supplied the music at all the events. He formerly toured with Empire of the Sun and more recently with Flight Facilities. With sleek beats playing in the background, the ballroom was buzzing with more than 500 members of the wine trade and keen consumers, tasting the selection of wines and mingling with the wine producers. There were big names such as Seña, Concha y Toro and Lapostolle, as well as smaller, tiny-production wineries such as Clos Andino, Laura Hartwig and Polkura. For instance, rock star winemaker Daniel Pi of Trapiche was pouring linear and refined malbecs, and Charles de Bournet of Clos Apalta was sharing his perfect 100-point Clos Apalta Valle de Colchagua 2014.
Great Wines of the Andes also attracted prominent government officials. Henry Tang, who served as chief secretary of Hong Kong between 2007 and 2011 and a long-time wine collector, gave an opening speech after James. Secondly, James also had the pleasure of meeting Chilean Consul General José Miguel González Serrano and General Consul of the Argentine Republic Gustavo Fazzari at the event. Great Wines of the Andes truly demonstrated Chile’s limitless quality and Argentina’s efforts in pushing the envelope in winemaking.
The JamesSuckling.com team kept the momentum going and took off to Shanghai on the following day to set up the Great Wines of the Andes in Shanghai. We first hosted an opening party with the producers on June 3 at the glamorous Canton Table on the Bund. The actual event was held on the next day, June 4, and more than 500 excited Chinese consumers and wine trade members swarmed the ballroom at Mandarin Oriental Pudong in Shanghai. They were all eager to taste the remarkable array of wines from the Andes. To name a few, there were mountain cabernets from Viña Koyle, terroir-conscious reds from El Esteco, fresh malbecs with good acidity from Trivento and more. Likewise, in Hong Kong, the group of producers that James handpicked all displayed wines of differing and distinctive terroirs, making them a good representation of the wine of the Andes.
In result of our partnership with COFCO Wine & Wine, our wine app goes from beta to full operation this year. We coordinated with COFCO’s IT team to bring an event app to life at the Great Wines of the Andes. The event app featured winery profiles in both English and Chinese, as well as wines on pour and scores that were pulled from our JamesSuckling.com media platform.
We are thrilled to see so many enthusiastic wine lovers tasting and learning more about what the Andes has to offer in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which are arguably Asia’s two biggest markets. In this video, you’ll find all the event highlights recorded at the two Great Wines of the Andes events.
The JamesSuckling.com team will be back with the next edition of Great Wines of the World Asia 2018 (Hong Kong on November 2 and Beijing on November 5) and Great Wines of Italy Asia 2018 (Beijing on December 3, Hong Kong on December 5 and Bangkok on December 7). For those that are in the United States, we’ll be bringing Great Wines of the Andes USA 2018 to you this autumn (San Francisco on September 30, New York on October 2 and Miami on October 5). See you there!
