Celebrity Life

Shanyan Fok Koder and Richard Bassett explain how a Hong Kong art entrepreneur joined forces with a former special-forces soldier to launch a health and mental wellbeing app, Mentor360.

"Mental health and mental fitness are universal concerns," says Shanyan Fok Koder. "And regardless of your demographic, social status, your job or your age, it’s something everyone has to deal with."

Shanyan Fok Koder & Richard Bassett on Mental Health App Mentor360

The Mentor360 app dropped on World Mental Health Day in October, the cumulation of the last 20 months of work and conversations (usually across continents over Zoom) between former military man Richard Bassett and worldly art advisor Koder. A month later, I’m sitting with both in a North London café talking over slices of pizza.

Their app, they hope, offers everyone a holistic 360 guide and framework to “finding your formula” for mental and physical wellbeing. It uses a hybrid approach, with a core layer of clinicians and professional Mentors and then celebrity Ambassadors (who’ve publicly shared meaningful life stories) critical for building noise and momentum.

"I’d been in the military for a long time. And there were a couple of incidents in my life that made me want to create something," Bassett, the CEO, explains. "Firstly, it was my father committing suicide. Then my son had a bit of misdirection. And several of my friends in the military had PTSD issues or adjustment disorders."

"The biggest issue is why people wouldn’t come forward and say they’ve got a problem?” he asks.

“Unlike some apps, we’re not trying to get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it”

— Richard Bassett

The answer often lay in culture, lack of education or concerns about privacy that prevent many from seeking help. With that came Bassett’s idea of creating an app that functions as a “non-judgmental toolkit” with content validated by experts – who include coaches, performance psychologists, mental health-specialising nurses and a clinical psychologist.

Basset’s link with Koder came when his best friend, ex-special forces colleague and TV star Jason Fox, sat next to a pregnant Koder at a charity fundraiser for Born (which researches to prevent premature birth) in late 2019. As the pair talked about their passions for mental health and children’s wellbeing, the connection to Bassett’s idea became quickly apparent.

"Foxy told me that I have to meet his friend, Richard, who’s building this app," Koder recalls. "I was always wanting to support things that are very meaningful and close to my heart … and now Jason is actually our key mentor. The partnership between Richard and I was almost like two parts of a jigsaw puzzle come together."

Although some might go to the app for help with stress, trauma or even resources to help with suicidal feelings, Mentor360 is designed specifically as a three-dimensional offering that will also encourage fitness, workouts, performance and meditation or more clinical matters.

"We wanted to maintain the human factor as a constant throughout. So it feels like somebody has given you some advice rather than some process-driven machine learning," Bassett adds.

The co-founders might come from two different worlds, but the unlikely partnership speaks to the ubiquity of the issues at hand. Bassett’s 25-year military career saw him being appointed the first ever Command Sergeant Major within the UK Special Forces military group. "It was at that stage where I was asked if I wanted to run defence,” he says. “At that point, I thought, I’ve kind of had my fill of the military now, it’s time to move on."

Koder meanwhile grew up in Hong Kong and the UK as the daughter of Li Ka-shing’s "right-hand man" Canning Fok, carving out a career in the arts and taking over her family’s impressive collection. As a female art entrepreneur and mother, her challenges would be different.

"When I had the misfortune of losing three babies to miscarriage and dealing with that emotional fallout, it led me to want to support this as a cause," Koder divulges. "If there’d been something like this app available to me, I don’t think I’d have suffered as much as I did emotionally. It’s a topic that’s still very taboo, even in this day and age … and while you eventually find your own community, at the very beginning, you do feel very alone."

Both were clearly driven towards the app through deeply personal experiences. Bassett saw first-hand how soldiers who’d done several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered – his best friend, Fox, had left the forces with PTSD. Perhaps machismo or fear of institutional repercussions meant that the issue was often ignored or hidden in the military – but he hopes that Mentor360’s holistic approach can gently lead people to explore mental fitness alongside physical performance too.

The male-female perspectives of the pair offer a well-rounded, powerful tool. And while the wellness space is already crowded, Mentor360 stands out by being so broad, human-focused and non-prescriptive.

There’s been exciting traction too. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded in more than 176 countries, with the UK, the US and Australia leading. British schools have reached out and it’s one governance board away from being trialled within the National Health Service (NHS), which means added clinical risk management in the app. That has been an important validation, says Bassett, "especially when an institution like that has picked it out from a huge spectrum of apps on the market today."

Covid-19 and lockdowns have helped throw light on mental health, taking the conversation more mainstream. The timeliness has hit home; as Bassett says, “there’s a lot of people now struggling with the transition between Covid and normality”.

Koder tells us that the plan is to serve individuals but also institutions such as the NHS and the military. There’s also the option of “white labelling” it, so the app can be packaged and tailored to certain industries or corporate employees. In the future, might they look more global, with different languages and translations? Absolutely, the pair say, but they’re taking it “slow and steady”. There’s been interest from American corporations and Koder says that she’s keen to push into Asia very soon. Although going truly global might mean translating for languages, cultures and tone, as well as working with diverse psychologists, it remains a future ambition.

Mentor360 may be extra helpful in cultures where mental health is still relatively taboo. As Koder says, "I think, coming from our Asian culture, it speaks volumes to me – so much of our culture is about still performance or hiding a lot of what you’re feeling."

"Unlike some apps,” Bassett adds, "what we’re not trying to do is create a hook or get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it, and if you don’t need it for a while because you’re good, you can just put it away … We’re starting to see those patterns in the trend analysis."

To get a little personal, I ask what works for them individually to keep a healthy mind and body. Bassett’s formula revolves around daily exercise, time with the family, dogs and good sleep – even the occasional glass of wine on the sofa in front of a crackling fireplace. Koder’s happiness hacks centre around motherhood, being content and at peace in her skin, and looking at life with a certain romanticism: "I always love to see the poetry in my day,” she says, "and I think it’s important to just pause throughout the day, check-in and acknowledge that I’ve achieved these things and I should be proud of myself, rather than just rushing on to the next thing."

The post The Good & The Great: The Best German Wines of the Year appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

As 2019 broke the spell of warm, dry vintages, James Suckling finds plenty of top-notch Pinot noirs on the Oregon wine trail, with chardonnays showing increasing diversity of style and character.

We went big in our tastings of Oregon wines this year, uncorking more than 800 bottles in our largest review of the state so far and finding plenty of evidence to substantiate its reputation for making consistently top-notch pinot noir, with a smaller but potentially even more impressive selection of chardonnay.

Antica Terra Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills Antikythera 2018 again tops our ratings, showing an incredible complexity of aromas with a chalky, stony texture and layered, spicy character, and Antica Terra’s 2018 Ceras and 2018 Botanica also makes it into the top five of all the wines we’ve rated this year from Oregon.

“For me, the ’18s were so exciting,” says Maggie Harrison, the owner and winemaker of Antica Terra. She says 2018 was dry and warm, with consistency and a longer harvest, resulting in “much greater diversity of expression on the table” – as can be seen from her array of wines.

For Oregon winemakers, how to deal with warming temperatures has become a common theme. “Each year, I think we’re getting a little bit better at handling the heat,” says Tom Gerrie, owner and winemaker of Cristom. Cristom Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills Jessie Vineyard 2018 is another wine in our top five of the report.

While it’s tempting to draw a parallel with Burgundy’s regional variations, such as Côte de Beaune vs Côte de Nuits, there are fewer general differences among the 10 Willamette Valley AVAs. But as a varietal sensitive to both terroir and winemaking, pinot noir expresses a unique personality based on a combination of differences in soil, elevation and microclimate, as well as clone, rootstock and vine age.

Gerrie says that from his perspective, the unique personalities of pinot noir derive more from the soil than from the other geographical elements of each individual AVA.

“Our deep volcanic soils are extremely bright and red-fruited, very high-toned, very floral,” he explains, with vines planted in the shallow, rocky soils under more stress, resulting in fruit that “can be dark and brooding, almost blue-fruited”. Fewer producers in Oregon focus on chardonnay, but those that do, such as 00 Wines, are making incredible whites. Its Chardonnay Willamette Valley Eola-Amity Hills Freya Hermann Cuvee 2018, which was among our top five wines, shows impressive texture and structure thanks to a focus on phenolic extraction, alongside an exquisite purity of fruit, with flinty and spicy elements.

"It was really never anyone’s focal point, because, of course, pinot noir has been the big story in Oregon since the very beginning,” Chris Hermann, the co-founder of 00 Wines, says of carving out a niche for chardonnay in the state’s wine scene.

Chardonnay comprised only 17 percent of our tastings, compared with two-thirds pinot noir, but out of our top 30 wines, 11 are chardonnay – more than double the average proportion. They show more diversity in style and character, with all of them expressing a sharp backbone of acidity thanks to the high diurnal temperature range across the state.

We also tasted some fresh whites from pinot gris, once Oregon’s signature white, but these failed to impress at just under 90 points on average. We tasted some zesty rieslings, too, at an average of just under 91 points, but saw more potential and consistency in Oregon’s sparkling wines. With their bright acidity, wines such as Domaine Serene Dundee Hills Evenstad Reserve Brut NV show more freshness, minerality and refinement compared with Californian equivalents.

The region is still young, with producers gradually discovering the land and making more deliberate decisions regarding where best to plant vines, factoring in elevation and soil type. With most vines still in an early stage, there’s room to improve, and we hope that more Oregon producers can eventually unlock the potential for great chardonnay.

The Top 10 Oregon Wine Bottles

JamesSuckling.com ranks 10 top wines from the Pacific Northwest.

ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR EOLA-AMITY HILLS ANTIKYTHERA 2018

Score: 99

Wow. Aromas of blackberry, ripe strawberry, spice and smoke follow through to a full body with firm, minerally tannins that have a chalky, stony texture that gives it firmness and complexity. Very long and driven.

DOMAINE DROUHIN PINOT NOIR EOLAAMITY HILLS ROSEROCK ZÉPHIRINE 2019

Score: 97

Redcurrant, sour cherry and smoke on the nose. Layered and balanced, with a long, savoury finish. Very vertical and deep.

00 WINES CHARDONNAY WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS FREYA HERMANN CUVÉE 2018

Score: 98

Striking aromas of sliced nectarine and white peach with flinty and spicy elements. Mouthwatering. The palate is impressively rich and pithy with good extract. Drink or hold.

ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY BOTANICA 2018

Score: 98

This pinot proffers detail and textural nuance, as well as aromatic complexity and fresh flavour. Fresh yet ripe with fully resolved tannin maturity and seamless resolve. Drink or hold.

ANTICA TERRA PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY CERAS 2018

Score: 98

The palate is so smooth and so layered with a long arc of deep blue-fruit flavours holding seamlessly long. An exceptional Ceras. So long and seamless. Drink or hold.

00 WINES CHARDONNAY CHEHALEM MOUNTAINS KATHRYN HERMANN CUVÉE 2018

Score: 97

The palate is striking for the concentration and fleshy build, as well as the way it maintains focus and holds the finish. A great chardonnay, every way you look at it. Drink or hold.

DOMAINE SERENE CHARDONNAY DUNDEE HILLS RÉCOLTE GRAND CRU 2017

Score: 97

The pinnacle of chardonnay for this producer, it outguns the rest of the stable for sheer concentration and power. Complex and vibrant all at once.

CRISTOM PINOT NOIR WILLAMETTE VALLEY EOLA-AMITY HILLS JESSIE VINEYARD 2018

Score: 99

This dramatically steep site delivers a wine of real personality and distinctiveness. The star of 2018 at Cristom and, indeed, for Willamette Valley pinot per see.

BERGSTRÖM PINOT NOIR EOLA-AMITY HILLS TEMPERANCE HILL VINEYARD 2019

Score: 97

A very spicy expression of pinot, this has so much to say on the nose. Fascinating pinot.

SOTER PINOT NOIR YAMHILL-CARLTON MINERAL SPRINGS RANCH 2018

Score: 97

This has such ripe redcherry pinot fruit aromas, as well as forest wood and a swathe of deep-set spices. The palate carries such plush red and darkcherry flavours in a long, fresh and energetic mode. Commanding pinot with such impressive poise. Drink or hold.

For more wine reports and ratings, you can visit JamesSuckling.com

The post Pacific Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays: The Best Oregon Wines appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

As Chaumet's CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt tells us, bringing the house's 240-year heritage into the modern era is an immense task that amounts to a "daily obsession". But if the new pieces in the Chaumet Joséphine collection are anything to go by, the Place Vendôme stalwart is heading in the right direction.

What kind of woman today does the Joséphine collection appeal to?

First, it’s about a woman with a certain character. Because when you choose to wear a tiara on your finger, you’re making a choice of distinction, a choice of character. You’re sending a message to say you’re not like everyone else and you have a certain strength and a certain personality. But also a sense of virtuosity, grace and beauty, because it’s not for women who want to be too provocative.

It’s a way to set your personality. And then of course, there are two major reasons to become a client of Joséphine. On one side, it remains one of the favourite pieces chosen for a bridal purpose. It’s connected to the initial history of Chaumet, the history of the power and love between Napoleon and Joséphine. And Napoleon is known everywhere, that’s incredible. There’s another type of client on the other side of the connection with the pearls, the coloured stones, something a bit easier and more accessible.

This year, Chaumet's creations have also incorporated sleeker, more modern takes on the tiara. Can you tell us a bit about the new high jewellery?

After many creations that were a bit more tiara-like, a bit more decorative, more visible, more baroque in a certain way, we wanted to enrich the collection with new ways to mix and match, and to go for designs that were slicker, with a more minimalist approach, because that’s also the style of today. We have a feeling that clients today are a little more understated, and we have the capacity to create beauty through a fine line, rather than an accumulation. So one of our high- jewellery pieces, which is sort of a V with a stone in suspension, doesn’t shout about its design. It’s all about balance.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Joséphine collection...

But we don’t mark it that way for two reasons. I always feel that if you start doing anniversaries for everything, then at the end, what’s the meaning in it? Last year, when we did the 240 years of Chaumet, that was slightly different. For Chaumet, our heritage is much longer than a decade, it’s about centuries. Instead, this year, we’re celebrating our connection with the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, which is significant in Europe and in France. We’ve done an exhibition at 12 Place Vendôme that was open to the public which tells the love story of Napoleon and Josephine through 150 different objects, beautiful loans from museums and private owners.

Which piece proved to be the most challenging piece in the collection?

The most discussed and the most debated one was the watch. Because we’re clearly a jeweller, and we’ve focused all our efforts and attention on jewellery. But since a few years ago, we’ve reassessed and repositioned what watches mean for Chaumet. It’s true that with the business of watches within Chaumet, we’ve really tried to be coherent with what the story of watchmaking for Chaumet is as a jeweller. One of our challenges was to look at the market – in the market, 90 percent of watches are round – and nobody’s waiting for Chaumet to create a round watch, because we already have thousands of beautiful options on the market.

We decided on a shaped watch, and it wasn’t very difficult to settle on the pear shape, like an illusion of a diamond. We also faceted the watch’s dial.

How do you balance 240 years of heritage behind a brand and stay relevant at the same time?

That’s really the obsession every single day. How do we continue the narrative, the link to the story? Since the pandemic, we’ve seen clients choose Chaumet because there’s longevity. And so it becomes a daily obsession of ours to convey this message to our clients through different means, including the digital approach, so we can speak to the needs of our audience today. We also go through the traditional channels and have books and exhibitions. I regularly write down on paper in two columns: on one side, how much do we tell the story of Chaumet, and on the other, how do we take a contemporary approach, either through the narrative or through using different tools? I take a step back and ask myself is there a balance? If we’re going too much in one direction, maybe it’s time to rebalance. It’s in everything we do.

The post Nature’s Finest: The Best Organic Wine Bottles appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The first Grand Cru in Alsace was the Schlossberg of Kaysersberg, a sort of trial balloon for the category that began back in 1975. Since then, 50 more Grands Crus have come into being. James Suckling takes a closer look at the top 10 Grand Cru wine bottles.

When it comes to French wines, the term Grand Cru has a magical connotation. But just how magical the name of a particular Grand Cru vineyard and the wines named after it really depend enormously on the region. Both in terms of reputation and to your wallet, it makes a huge difference if a Grand Cru white wine is from Burgundy or Alsace.

Let me give a few concrete examples. The world’s most expensive dry white wine is the Montrachet Grand Cru from Domaine Leflaive in Burgundy, which Wine-Searcher prices at US$12,750 for the 2015 vintage (the latest available) and US$19,590 for the 2014. In contrast, even the most expensive Grand Cru wines from Alsace are those from the Rangen Grand Cru site in the commune of Thann, produced by Domaine Zind Humbrecht, and they lie at just under $100 for the 2019 vintage. That’s a more than a hundred-fold price difference.

The question is whether that price difference is reflected in the wine quality. For us, the answer is… not necessarily. Sure, the best Grand Cru dry whites from Burgundy are amazing wines, and for sommeliers and collectors around Planet Wine, they remain the benchmark for the chardonnay grape. The Montrachet Grand Cru is an example of how enormous global demand for a very limited production combined with high-quality results in stratospheric prices for certain Burgundian Grand Cru wine.

For Alsace, demand is almost never as great, but what about quality? Recently, we tasted the 2018 and 2019 vintages of the Rangen Grand Cru wines from Zind Humbrecht and rated them every bit as high as the best Grand Cru whites of Burgundy. This situation creates a golden opportunity for savvy consumers, and our Top 10 is designed to help you make the most of it.

There’s another important reason to take these wines seriously. Many consumers wonder what the “mineral character” that sommeliers and wine critics often talk about tastes like. Alsace Grand Cru is an ideal way to find out.

The hashtag #alsacerocks is a marketing tool for the region’s wines, but it fits, because the best Alsace Grand Cru have intense notes of flint, chalk, wet stones and dry earth. This, together with the combination of generosity and freshness typical for Alsace whites, makes them a special category.

“A true Grand Cru is a singularity of character with consistently high quality,” says Marie Zusslin, from Domaine Valentin Zusslin. “That’s why my idea is to show the uniqueness of each site.” Her Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Pfingstberg 2017 is a magnificent expression of this idea.

“Alsace has enormous geological diversity within a small area, and each Grand Cru has its own identity,” Eric Kientzler of the Kientzler estate in Ribeauville told me. “For example, the wines from our three riesling Grand Crus are very different, though the Osterberg, Kirchberg de Ribeauville and Geisberg sites are neighbours.” With its combination of elegance and minerality, his Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Kirchberg de Ribeauville 2018 is an ideal introduction to the Alsace Grand Cru category.

Alsace Grands Crus are nearly always varietal whites, with the variety named on the label: gewurztraminer, muscat, pinot gris or riesling. Riesling is the most successful grape for Alsace Grand Cru in the market because these wines are always dry and their bright acidity accentuates this.

For us the Domaine Weinbach Riesling Alsace Grand Cru Schlossberg Cuvée Ste Catherine is a near-perfect example of an Alsace Grand Cru, combining mineral subtlety with great concentration and length.

Top 10 Alsace Grand Cru Wines

These wines that exemplify the greatness of Alsace Grand Cru are all either currently in the market or about to appear.

DOMAINE WEINBACH RIESLING ALSACE GRAND CRU SCHLOSSBERG CUVÉE STE CATHERINE 2019

Score: 99

Enveloping, sensual bouquet of a thousand yellow fruits and some wild berries that’s just beginning to reveal its profundity. Gigantic concentration, but this remains as light on its feet as a prima ballerina.

FAMILLE HUGEL RIESLING ALSACE SCHOELHAMMER 2010

Score: 99

One of the world’s unique dry whites. This is so deep and spicy with a ton of candied citrus. Stunning concentration, power and structure on the palate.

DOMAINE ZIND HUMBRECHT PINOT GRIS ALSACE GRAND CRU RANGEN DE THANN CLOS SAINT URBAIN 2019

Score: 98

So spicy and smoky with a hint of mushroom, this is an enormously deep and concentrated dry pinot gris that’s just beginning to open up.

TRIMBACH RIESLING ALSACE GRAND CRU GEISBERG 2014

Score: 98

Aromas of limestone and hints of earth. Wet-morning forest floor. From the vineyards of the convent of Ribeauville, it’s been made separately since 2009. All organically farmed.

DOMAINE VALENTIN ZUSSLIN RIESLING GRAND CRU PFINGSTBERG 2017

Score: 98

Hang your nose into a glass of this astonishing dry white wine and let yourself be swept away in a cloud of smoke. Then, when you’re inside it, the wine’s subtle, citrusy beauty will unfurl and you’ll realise that it can only be riesling.

DOMAINE MARCEL DEISS GRAND CRU SCHOENENBOURG 2017

Score: 98

Super fresh for three years of age — the floral, honey and beeswax aromas are especially enticing. 

DOMAINE PFISTER RIESLING ALSACE GRAND CRU ENGELBERG 2018

Score: 97

A masterpiece of cool elegance, in spite of this being the warmest vintage in living memory! Pristine with crystalline purity and a totally mineral personality.

MURÉ PINOT NOIR CLOS SAINT LANDELIN 2018

Score: 96

The stunning balance of very fine tannins and delicate “sweetness“ that pervades the long, super-silky finish reminds me of Grand Cru Musigny from Burgundy. 

KIENTZLER RIESLING ALSACE GRAND CRU KIRCHBERG DE RIBEAUVILLÉ 2018

Score: 95

A complex and elegant Grand Cru dry riesling with tons of wet-stone character, married to nice lemon and fresh herb aromas.

DIRLER-CADÉ GEWURZTRAMINER ALSACE GRAND CRU SAERING 2018

Score: 94

Tons of spice and Turkish delight here, yet this is anything but opulent. Powerful and rich, but also minerally and properly dry.

The post Best of Wine: The Top 10 Grand Cru Wine Bottles appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.