Trip to Asia Proves Fruitful for JPV Wines

By Rob Baxter, Export Consultant

Rob at the Joseph Phelps dinner in the Park Hyatt Hotel on the 93rd floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center

SINGAPORE
My first trip of the year to the Far East found me stopping over in Singapore with its equatorial warmth. In conjunction with our importer Culina I hosted a soldout dinner at newly-opened The Mountbatten Room of the venerable British club. This venue was included in the Wine & Dine Singapore Top Restaurants Guide for 2008.

Whilst in Singapore I visited Don Tay’s Bacchus wine store, one of the best in Asia, which has cases of Insignia and other fine wines piled high almost to the ceiling; only Don knows what gems are buried under the more recent vintage arrivals.

HONG KONG
My next stop was Hong Kong, one of Asia’s most vibrant cities, where we have been working with Richard Paine from importer Fine Vintage since the late 1980’s.

Hong Kong has become Asia’s wine hub since the abolition of import duties in 2008. Its reputation as one of Asia’s culinary capitals has been reinforced by the release of the very first Hong Kong & Macau Michelin Guide for 2009.

I was fortunate to dine at one star Michelin Petrus restaurant in the luxurious Island Shangri-La which has dominating views of the skyline and does a brisk trade in JPV Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. During my stay I hosted a JPV dinner at H-One in the International Financial Centre in conjunction with visiting two star Michelin chef Juuse Mikkonen of Finland.

The following night we held a private press dinner at Morton’s in the Sheraton in Kowloon with the notable attendance of wine journalist and consultant Simon Tam who has been to JPV several times. The highlight of the dinner was a 1986 Insignia magnum which was showing a lovely elegance with lush black cherry aromas and a touch of spice. JPV wines are also to be found in several retail outlets in Hong Kong such as K.K. Wong’s outstanding Rare & Fine Wines stores which have an enviable selection of the world’s premier wines and City Super’s specialist wine section.

View from the 93rd floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center
into the Jin Mao tower, also one of the world’s tallest buildings.

DONGGUAN
We are reading more and more about China as an upcoming destination for expats and travelers and the final leg of my trip to mainland China underscored the diversity of this huge country. I started off close to Hong Kong in the city of Dongguan in the Pearl River Delta of the Guangdong region which is still in its infancy regarding international food and wine, despite its six and a half million inhabitants.

The jewel in Dongguan’s crown is the new Hyatt Regency whose spacious park and lake belie the proximity to one of the world’s largest manufacturing centers, responsible for many of China’s exports. Here we introduced local dignitaries to the delights of JPV’s wines matched to perfection in the Copper Grill restaurant by passionate Austrian chef Erich Garber.

SHANGHAI
The penultimate stop of my tour took me to Shanghai, which is China’s most sophisticated culinary scene with the diversity of wines to match, and is home to our importer ASC Fine Wines’ head office from where our energetic fellow Californian Amy Bromstead manages our brands in mainland China. Amy took me to ASC’s unique Wine Residence which is a peaceful haven for fine wine lovers, whose members can store their wines in an underground cellar, situated in an exquisitely restored 1906 Club House off People’s Square in the heart of this city of 20 million. The following night we held an historic JPV dinner in the Park Hyatt on the 93rd floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center, which is by some measures the tallest functioning building in the world at 492 meters (101 storeys). This newly opened Hyatt counts as the highest hotel in the world (from the ground!) and our sold-out dinner was presided over by the very capable Master Sommelier Shang Jean- Marc Nolant.

Guests at the Park Hyatt JPV dinner.

BEIJING
No visit to China would be complete without a trip to Beijing where I found myself at the end of my tour savouring a delicious lunch at Maison Boulud in the historic Legation Quarter just off Tiananmen Square. Daniel Boulud is well-known to many of our Phelps Preferred members from his U.S. restaurants, and in this exotic Asian outpost you can enjoy a couple of different vintages of Insignia and Napa Cabernet to accompany his French inspired cuisine made from local and Pacific Rim ingredients.