If the recent US$1,000 price for a 2005 Chateau Lafite, a favourite among Chinese collectors, makes your eyes bulge, just take a look at top Burgundy prices. The coveted Grand Crus from the best Burgundy producers are above Lafite’s prices with the hallowed wines of Domaine de Romanee Conti (DRC) commanding in excess of US$10,000 per bottle for the 2005 vintage! One explanation is supply and demand: Lafite produces 200,000 bottles of their grand vin while DRC produces just 5,000 bottles of the Romanee Conti. Another could be that whilst there are numerous well-made Cabernet Sauvignon blends from around the world, there are still very few convincing Pinot Noirs that are en par with the best from Burgundy.

A recent trip to Burgundy, hopping from one domaine to another, just reaffirmed the qualities that make this region so fascinating: Endless variation, inimitable quality, a cast of intriguing owners and vignerons and the wine’s connection to the land. This is all from just two key grape varieties – Pinot Noir for reds and Chardonnay for whites. 

It isn’t just the complexity of Burgundy and its wines that are challenging, but even the sheer act of visiting the properties can be tricky. Very few of the domaine addresses are on the GPS system. So one is left to following vague directions like: “Once you pass the town, pass the church on the right and the restaurant, then turn left at junction; drive 100 yards and it is the house with the garden.” Unlike Bordeaux where the spirals of the chateaux gleam from a distance, less than half of the twenty top domaines I visited had any signage. One could easily assume passing by the properties of Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey or Emmanuel Rouget that it is simply their home rather than a highly-regarded wine property that sells wine around the world at well over US$100 per bottle. 

The styles and expressions of the Pinot Noir grape from this region are extraordinary. There are the ruby-tinted ethereal beauties from Roumier and Vogue. There are the densely coloured concentrated styles from Dugat-Py and Ponsot. Then of course there is the unique Domaine de Romanee Conti, embedding their own signature polish, charm and personality into every wine they produce, from the single Premier Cru to the entire range of Grand Crus. How can one not be beguiled by their power combined with feminine charm? 

Burgundy does not receive as much attention as Bordeaux, especially in Asia. But in its own quiet down-to-earth manner, Burgundy has attracted a strong following, almost a cult following given the prices they command. Just take a look at the latest Hong Kong wine auction results and it isn’t just Lafite and Petrus that are breaking auction records, it is also DRC and its Burgundian cohorts achieving similar success. At the recent Hospice de Beaune auction held in November 2009, which provides an indication of Burgundy wine prices for the 2009 vintage, prices were up over 30 percent for the red wines despite the worldwide economic uncertainties. For the love of Burgundy, for some there is no limit.

I held a seminar to a packed audience of nearly 200 people during the fair on the potential of Hong Kong becoming a fine wine hub. This was the subject of my dissertation for the Institute of the Masters of Wine submitted in 2008 and I was keen to update my figures a year and a half later to see if there were any interesting trends. Since the wine duty was eliminated in February 2008, the interest in fine wine has skyrocketed in Hong Kong, fueled as much by the growing wine industry players as the wine auction business and media attention.

The updated statistics I gathered were quite surprising: Despite the huge growth in wine imports into Hong Kong in both value and volume, the value of re-exports to China  dropped in 2008 and 2009 (figures available until end of August 2009). On the other hand, re-exports to Macau were becoming more significant than the re-exports to China! These two markets make up the vast majority of re-exports from Hong Kong with only a handful of other countries like Vietnam and South Korea  accounting for less than 10% of Hong Kong’s total re-exports. These trends pose some questions for the future: If Hong Kong is indeed a fine wine hub, why does it mainly re-export to just China and Macau? Given Macau’s duty free status, why is Macau, a tiny territory, becoming a more important re-export destination than China?  

It is definitely premature to say that Hong Kong is a wine hub. The city is certainly in an enviable position as the fine wine trading centre for Asian wine buyers, as reported by fine wine merchants and auction houses. All of the major wine auction houses such as Zachys, Acker Merrall, Sotheby’s and Christies have announced that wine auction sales in Hong Kong have already surpassed sales in London. Within 21 months, Hong Kong has become the second most important wine auction market after New York. There is certainly a lot of excitement and energy, but let’s not forget that when people talk about Hong Kong as a wine hub, this is referring to merely the top 1% of the world’s most expensive and most sought-after wines.

At least twice a year, I visit Japan under the thin guise of food and wine related work or ‘research’ for future stories. Just recently, I returned from a week in Kyoto and had the most incredible kaiseki meals of my life. A pilgrimage to the traditional Kyoto restaurants such as Kikunoi, Kitcho, Hyo-tei and Mizai are a must for all serious Asian food lovers. At Kikunoi, the dishes looked even better than the beautiful pictures I had admired in the book Kaiseki by Yoshihiro Murata (owner and chef of Kikunoi). The visual detail and colour scheme of Kaiseki was an inspiration when I published my book, Asian Palate.

A traditional kaiseki meal is almost a spiritual experience that engages all your senses. The spacious private room at Kikunoi was mainly bare except for a private rock garden and a lovely ikebana flower arrangement and ink painting at one side of the room. At Hyo-tei, the atmosphere was equally tranquil but the setting and decor was of another era when geishas’ music and laughter echoed through the thin paper and wooden doors. Women in kimonos serve each dish in unique ceramic or lacquer dishes. The pace is unhurried and befitting the atmosphere, each morsel of food is expressive in a subtle, quiet way.

The fall season is a glorious time to eat in Japan. The small ayu fish is filled with roe and the umami-laden matsutake mushrooms can be found in many dishes from soups to mushroom rice and the persimmons are sweeter than honey. Because a traditional kaiseki meal uses the freshest seasonal ingredients, it is advisable to visit only one or two kaiseki restaurants within a week in Kyoto. Though preparation will differ slightly, the ingredients are often repeated, such as the matsutake mushrooms and ayu fish in the fall.

The joy of eating in a city like Kyoto is that the everyday food is equally wonderful and delicious. In the name of research, I had to try out all the famous takoyaki (squid ball) stands while walking around in Gion and Ponto-cho as well as numerous soba noodle shops and yuba (soymilk skin) specialty shops. Of course, enjoying freshly whipped green tea was a daily ritual during my stay, accompanied by the sweet red bean-filled mochi. At the end of the week, I felt I had a better appreciation of how just the right amount of sweetness can counter bitter flavours.

In Kyoto, where sake brewing is a tradition as rich and long as its culinary history, I chose to drink sake rather than wine with my meals. Especially for kaiseki meals, the subtle yet complex backdrop of a good sake such as a junmai daiginjo from a top brewer like Shikisakura, really allowed the delicate dishes to express itself fully rather than having to fight with an array of foreign flavours. I love wine but I love and appreciate Asian food enough to know that wine isn’t always the best accompaniment to a great meal.

When my eldest daughter Katherine was five years old, she looked at me in all innocence and asked, “Mommy, does someone really pay you to go around eating and drinking?” Fortunately, yes. But my love for eating, cooking and enjoying wine was always an ingrained part of my being, much to the chagrin of my parents who discovered that their daughter’s spending money during university days was going towards hedonistic pursuits rather than academic ones. I managed over the years to turn my passion for food and wine into a career and for this I am always grateful. 

I was born in Seoul, Korea, and currently reside in Hong Kong, but my stomach is truly pan-Asian. I have as intense cravings for laksa, prawn mee or phad Thai as I do for ramen, wonton mee or naengmyun (cold spicy Korean noodles). Thus my perspective as a commentator on the world of food and wine at its best can be uniquely perceptive and pan-Asian or at its worst, too generic and without sufficient roots. I have floated happily between cultures – feeling at times like an insider and other times like an outsider, even in cities where I have spent numerous years like Hong Kong, Seoul and New York. 

The six stories which will follow over the coming weeks are about my musings and thoughts on the evolving, dynamic food and wine scene in Asia. It is a vast subject and the stories are merely snapshots within specific cities that exemplify trends and highlight the complexity behind our vibrant food and wine culture. For an in-depth look at this subject, please take a look at my book, Asian Palate, the culmination of a two-year journey exploring the food culture and the flavours behind the cuisines I love and enjoy with wine.

Looking at the cover of my book, Asian Palate, my youngest daughter Julia asked, “Mommy, why do you look so different, so much younger in this photo?” My eldest daughter answered, “That’s photoshop of course.” It is my four children that keep me grounded and inspired in life and I love their refreshing, brutal honesty.