Back to BlogHomeFollow Us The Okanagan Valley In this summer, I had a family trip to Vancouver, and from there just three hours’ drive inland is the Okanagan Valley, an unbelievable wine region that you can’t taste unless you go there! Why? Most of the wineries here are small-production, family-run businesses. Despite their size, many…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us Flying High in the Andes The opportunity of a tasting session with Daniel Pi, the Chief Winemaker of Trapiche Winery, helped refresh my mind about Argentina, the largest producer of wines in South America. Trapiche was founded in 1883 and has over 1000 hectares of vineyards around Mendoza. It is part…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us Bitter Harvest While I still can’t drive myself out from the unbelievable beauty, great food of Toscana and Piedmont after three weeks of holiday, I can’t help thinking about the labor shortage during the harvest. We have stayed 5 meters far from Sangiovese vine of Chianti Classico, close to Siena, for…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us TEMPRANILLO VS. TEMPRANILLO (Part I) Or to be exact, Tempranillo vs. Tinto Fino vs. Tinta de Toro. Tempranillo is the “king” in Spain.  Since the beginning of this century, Tempranillo has overtaken other varieties, such as Garnacha and Bobal, as the most popular red in Spain.  Yet, just because it is…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us Feis Ile – The Annual Whisky Theme Park at Islay For  Scottish whisky afficionados, a visit to Islay off the west coast of Scotland is a must-do, particularly the Feis Ile whisky music and malt festival every May. You can choose a scenic drive of 3 hours from Glasgow or 4…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us 1 + 1 > 3 It is rare to meet an alliance of superheroes, all at once. From the perspective of a visitor to wine fairs such as Vinexpo, I am quite open-minded to taste wine from unknown wineries but felt awesome when I spotted a big crowd surrounding a particular…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us SOUR GRAPE: Replicate unique sensory experience? Photo by: Lynzey Donahue / US Marshals Talking about fake wine, Chateau Lafite in China market and “Dr Conti” Rudy Kurniawan should be two must-mention topics.  The thirst for rare and fine wine is unmeasurable, from new wine lover to high-profile wine collector. What is…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us From German Football to German Wine As a die-hard German football fan, I am allowed to say that Die Mannschaft sucks big time at the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.  Such lack of preparation and organization is so un-German.  The early exit of the tournament put their defending World Champion title…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Wine Consumption For all of us who enjoy a glass or two of wine, there are conflicting messages  about whether this is beneficial or harmful to our health. The Good Increasing evidence  suggests that light to moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of…

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Back to BlogHomeFollow Us When the Bordeaux gems met Portuguese signature dishes… Wine brings people friendship; and my friends always bring along good wines. At a dinner at Club Lusitano among some old friends acquainted since my school days, we had a rare and scarce chance to have a horizontal comparison of four Bordeaux gems of…

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