Celebrity Life

A wine critic and now restaurant owner, James Suckling explains why he gave up one of the most enviable jobs in the world to set up on his own and move to Hong Kong.

Wine Critic James Suckling

Seated comfortably in his Soho wine bar and restaurant, which has been pretty much the centre of his world since the early months of 2020, James Suckling looks like an extremely happy man.

One of the world’s most respected and influential wine critics, he has the privilege of doing a job that he absolutely loves and seems delighted to share his great good fortune with everyone around him.

In almost 40 years in the industry, he thinks he must have tasted and rated a quarter of a million vintages; his JamesSuckling.com website gets around 600,000 unique visitors each year; he holds decorations from both the French and Italian governments, as well as honorary citizenship of the Italian wine-making town of Montalcino in Brunello; and he’s the only wine expert offering classes on Masterclass.com.

Appearances to the contrary, though, Suckling’s professional journey has been neither straightforward nor smooth. He readily admits his Staunton Street establishment, James Suckling Wine Central, which he and his Korean wife and business partner Marie opened in October 2018, almost went under before it was rescued, bizarrely, by the Covid pandemic.

And why he decided to throw in what must have been one of the most envied positions in the world of wine, as senior editor and European bureau chief of the oenophiles’ bible, the Wine Spectator, to move to a part of the world he hardly knew, is another story entirely. The way he tells it, though – accompanied by self-deprecating smiles and laughs – you’d think it had all been plain sailing.

Back at the beginning in 1981, when Suckling returned home to Los Angeles after taking a post-graduate degree in journalism at the University of Wisconsin, he’d found himself jobless until he answered an advertisement “for position at a tiny magazine called the Wine Spectator, run out of a garage in San Diego”. Not only did he get the job, but within four years he found himself in Paris, remaining in Europe for the next decade and a half, “learning on the job, travelling around and meeting producers”.

For a young man whose own wine epiphany began while at university (he’d shared a bottle of 1966 Château Lafite with his lawyer father and declared, “Wow, this wine stuff’s amazing”) it was, he says, “an amazing start to my career, and I learned so much”.

“I lived in Paris for three years and then moved to the UK. I was there for 10 years, then moved to Italy and then I came here. During that time the Wine Spectator had grown to become the biggest wine magazine in the world, and all that time I was tasting, travelling and building the magazine.” It was then, too, that Suckling first met Marie, who worked at the venerable London wine merchant Corney & Barrow, though the romance didn’t blossom till later.

The idea of upping sticks and moving to Hong Kong came shortly after the difficult decision to leave his comfortable and highly influential position at the Wine Spectator. “I’d been there for 29 years, and I just decided it was now or never. It was a crazy move – I was 50 and it probably was foolhardy in a way, because I had this really cushy job and was living in Italy. But then I was thinking, do I want to spend the rest of my life working for the same company? And I’d always thought it would be amazing to do my own thing. So I just did it.”

The following year, Suckling attended the 2011 Wine & Dine Festival in this city, alongside other noted experts from around the world. By that time, Hong Kong had already removed all government duties on wine, a move that almost overnight had turned the city into the region’s premier wine-trading hub.

“And that,” says Suckling, “was the main reason I moved.” Coincidentally, Marie had also left London for Hong Kong, where, she says, “We met at the Wine & Dine Festival’s big event at the Grand Hyatt. After two years, we got married in Korea.”

Suckling had decided that video was the way to go for his website, which would be the centrepiece of his solo operation. “My partner, James Orr, was a really close friend who was into wine and cigars; he still owns a small part of the company. He was a film director, producer and writer – he did Three Men and a Baby and Sister Act 2. We had this idea that the site would be just video – we were way ahead of our time because now everyone’s doing streaming video … And so he and I travelled around wine regions, and did videos of tastings with wine producers. And for about six months, it was going OK, though not as well as I’d hoped."

“I realised that I had to get back and start tasting wines, but also that people didn’t want to pay for video. I was running out of money. But then I happened to be with a friend of mine, Mike Diamond from the Beastie Boys, at his house in Malibu, and I told him, ‘Dude, I’m running out of money.’ And he just goes, ‘And why did you think people would ever want to pay for your videos? It’s like people wanting to pay for my music. You’re gonna have to do events, you should do wine events, just like years ago we’d go on tour to sell CDs.’

“So I started doing wine events. And the first place I did wine events – profitable wine events – was in Hong Kong. At the time, it was just me and an assistant. I knew collectors like Henry Tang, Peter Lam and George Wong, and a few wine merchants, but I wasn’t really that connected – though one of my best friends, Patricio de la Fuente, who own Links Concept, was really helpful. But I could see that with no taxes and [the proximity to] China – even though the market hadn’t really developed to what it is today – this was the international wine hub for Asia. And then I met Marie – and she took pity on me!”

The business, says Suckling, really didn’t start making sense financially until around five years ago. “It took a while – it was really touch and go, and pretty scary, to be honest. But now, as you can see, we have 15 employees and a restaurant, which has been a lot of work but now is really successful.

“We opened the restaurant in October 2018, and now it’s doing really well. It never did so well – last month was our biggest, 500 wines by the glass and we have a really cool local chef who studied in Paris. But it took a long time – and it’s interesting because if it hadn’t been for Covid, we probably would have closed. The demonstrations were very difficult and while Marie and I were away in Napa Valley a lot of people were leaving. When we came back in March 2020, it was on its knees, so Marie actually went into the kitchen and started cooking Korean food. [Asked whether Korean food goes with wine, Suckling says, “Of course it does. I eat Korean food every day and I drink wine every day.”] And in the first few months, I was even on the floor serving wine – well, I had nothing else to do!"

“During Covid, website subscriptions actually went up 50 percent, and people weren’t travelling. So ironically, Covid was better for our business. I remember talking to a friend from Boston Consulting Group, who said, “James, you’re OK, but you have to focus on the local economy. And that’s what we did with the restaurant – and we did events. So it actually worked out well, though it would be nice to travel again and do events around the world.”

The outcome is that Suckling now finds himself in the paradoxical position of running both a locally focused wine bar and restaurant, and an internationally oriented wine website, 50 percent of whose visitors are based in North America. “I was recently named one of the 100 most important members of the US wine industry. I’m not sure they know I’m a Permanent Resident of Hong Kong,” he says with a laugh. “Most people think I live in New York.”

Thanks to Hong Kong’s duty-free regime, running a wine-tasting operation here is simplicity itself, he says. “Because there’s no tax, people just ship the wines here. In Hong Kong this year, we’ve tasted about 18,000 wines. The logistics have been great – a producer in Bordeaux just gives his wine to DHL and it’s here in two days. It’s just like door-to-door. And that was one reason I thought that if one day I didn’t want to travel as much, Hong Kong would be great because there are none of these logistical problems."

“If you’re in the US, each state has different laws on shipping wine, and to import wine you need licences and all sorts – and I just thought this could be so easy. And it’s turned out to be a godsend, and wine producers are fine with it. We just tasted 1,500 wines from all over Spain … even barrel samples: this year I tasted 1,500 barrel samples. People pull a sample from a barrel, bottle it, cork it and then they ship it over. Isn’t that cool?”

Indeed, though they’d like to be able to travel for, say, a month to Italy or California, he and Marie have no desire to return to the old regime of being away for 225 days in a year, flying to San Francisco or Burgundy just for dinner. “What’s been exciting about this place was that being stuck here almost two years, I’ve really had the chance to see people and talk to them, see what they drink and what they’re interested in with wine,” Suckling says.

“And I realised that for years, as a journalist or with the internet, you don’t really get the chance to talk to people and understand what they enjoy, whether it’s food or wine. I’ve really enjoyed getting back to, you know, grassroots or basics. Because sometimes you get detached – ‘Oh, I’m this wine critic or I’m that important journalist or whatever.’ I read The New York Times, and sometimes I find the writing can be a bit elitist. And I think that’s just because, as journalists, you get detached from your readers sometimes.

“It’s been a lot of work, though. I think you’ve probably heard people saying, ‘Never, never start your own restaurant. Because you don’t make any money and it’s a lot of work.’ Well, everything they tell you about restaurants is true, but at the same time, it’s been really fun. And now it’s working well. So I’m pretty proud of that. It’s worked out.”

The post Critic James Suckling on a Lifetime in the Wine Industry appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Not too keen on mass-market wine retailers or unreliable e-commerce operators? For a better wine-buying experience, visit our picks of the best and most well-stocked wine shops in Hong Kong.

While there’s no shortage of outstanding wine bars and restaurants with extensive wine lists in Hong Kong, that same level of excellence isn’t so easily found when it comes to the city’s wine retailers. Sure, you’re never far from a supermarket with a sizeable selection or even a big retailer with bottles from all over the world, but shopping at such places feels transactional and a bit joyless. Similarly, an increasing number of online stores offer variety and convenience but little guidance — it’s impersonal and uninspiring.

But then there are a handful of wonderful specialty wine shops where you can chat with passionate staff, expand your knowledge and challenge your palate with unusual and intriguing selections. If you enjoy going to stores where the experience is edifying and enhances your love of vino, consider our selection of the best wine shops in Hong Kong.

La Cabane Wine Cellar

Unwaveringly focused on natural and biodynamic wines, this stairside shop carries around 700 references from both New and Old World producers that tend to be small and artisanal. The knowledgeable staff can extol the virtues of unfiltered, additive-free wines before recommending funky skin contact wines and bottles of Pét Nat. Unfortunately the biweekly tasting events ceased in mid-March and have yet to resume, but buying one of their curated wine boxes is a smart way to sample unfamiliar styles and vineyards from the comfort of home.

La Cabane Wine Cellar, 10 Shing Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2517 0816

Burgundy Etc

A temple to one of the world’s great winemaking regions, this sophisticated shop houses a selection of more than a thousand wines and access to an inventory of over 6,000 labels — one of Hong Kong’s biggest Burgundy wine collections if not the biggest. Don’t worry if you’re not an expert on this wine region’s geography, however, because the shelves are organised by appellations, from all-important Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune to Chassagne-Montrachet, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and beyond.

Burgundy Etc, Shop 108, 1/F, Central Building, 1-3 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2812 2009

Premier Cru

Billing itself as a “wine library,” this utterly charming and cosy venue is not only one of the best wine shops in Hong Kong, but also one of the most well-stocked. It carries more than a thousand French labels and is run by the third generation of a wine-loving family. The idea is that, similar to pulling a book from a shelf, you can pick up any bottle of wine here and learn something from owner Martin Perino and his talented team. Come for the reasonably priced wines — the markup here is two times rather than the typical three to five times found in most retail outlets — and stay for the welcoming, non-pretentious vibe, which spills out onto a lovely little terrace in the back.

Premier Cru, 15 High Street, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, +852 9522 5267

Oz Terroirs

Deepen your knowledge of Australian winemaking at this shop specialising in organic, biodynamic and small-batch wines from Down Under. Linked to a Melbourne-based exporter that mainly sources bottles from the Victoria region and passes its knowledge on to the Hong Kong team, this stairside boutique is the perfect place to learn more about the differences between wine from the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Beechworth and beyond. The selection changes regularly, so you’re bound to find something new each time you go back.

Oz Terroirs, 2 Mee Lun Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 6147 0460

Penticton

Helmed by Olivia Lee, a trained sommelier with a diploma from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, this store celebrates innovation and the craft of winemaking while featuring labels that can’t be found anywhere else in Hong Kong. The shelves are stocked with small-batch bottles sourced from top-notch artisanal producers across France, including female winemakers, a relative rarity in the industry. The team here can tell you the story behind any bottle of wine, so ask away or learn more during one of their regular tastings and workshops.

Penticton, The Mills, Shop 121, 45 Pak Tin Par St, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, +852 2111 2621

Schmidt Vinothek

Is there a reason you’re not drinking more Riesling? If it’s because you’re only frequenting stores focused on countries like France, Italy and Spain, then it’s time to explore the wonderful wines of Germany, Austria and Switzerland at this shop, which has a sister location in Quarry Bay. These countries are most often associated with white wines, but you’ll find reds, roses and even sparkling wines on the shelves of this well-stocked shop, so be adventurous and your palate will be rewarded.

Schmidt Vinothek, Yuk Sing Building, 1-9 Yuk Sau St, Happy Valley, Hong Kong, +852 2838 2818

L’Imperatrice

With a name that means ‘the empress,’ you might expect this handsome shop to only sell wines priced for royalty. Fortunately that’s not the case, but the well-curated selection is very fine indeed, with a primary focus on up-and-coming producers employing organic or biodynamic techniques, as well as outstanding examples of traditional winemakers. This is a great place to expand your knowledge of under-appreciated French wine regions such as Jura, Savoie and Languedoc-Roussillon, in addition to artisanal grower Champagnes.

L’Imperatrice, 56 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong, +852 5345 3582

Avize Wine Cellar

There’s much more to the world of Champagne than Krug, Dom Pérignon and Veuve Clicquot, as you’ll learn firsthand at this shop specialising in labels from the world’s most famous sparkling wine region. Yes, you can find those big names here (including hard-to-find vintages from past decades), but take advantage of the overwhelming variety to try something new. Whether you’re looking for a bottle that costs less than HK$500 or more than HK$15,000, you’re sure to find a sparkler that suits your taste here.

Avize Wine Cellar, G/F, 17 Moreton Terrace, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, +852 2567 0883

(Main image: Burgundy Etc; Featured image: Roberta Sorge/ Unsplash)

The post Raise a Toast to the Best Specialty Wine Shops in Hong Kong appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Not too keen on mass-market wine retailers or unreliable e-commerce operators? For a better wine-buying experience, visit our picks of the best and most well-stocked wine shops in Hong Kong.

While there’s no shortage of outstanding wine bars and restaurants with extensive wine lists in Hong Kong, that same level of excellence isn’t so easily found when it comes to the city’s wine retailers. Sure, you’re never far from a supermarket with a sizeable selection or even a big retailer with bottles from all over the world, but shopping at such places feels transactional and a bit joyless. Similarly, an increasing number of online stores offer variety and convenience but little guidance — it’s impersonal and uninspiring.

But then there are a handful of wonderful specialty wine shops where you can chat with passionate staff, expand your knowledge and challenge your palate with unusual and intriguing selections. If you enjoy going to stores where the experience is edifying and enhances your love of vino, consider our selection of the best wine shops in Hong Kong.

La Cabane Wine Cellar

Unwaveringly focused on natural and biodynamic wines, this stairside shop carries around 700 references from both New and Old World producers that tend to be small and artisanal. The knowledgeable staff can extol the virtues of unfiltered, additive-free wines before recommending funky skin contact wines and bottles of Pét Nat. Unfortunately the biweekly tasting events ceased in mid-March and have yet to resume, but buying one of their curated wine boxes is a smart way to sample unfamiliar styles and vineyards from the comfort of home.

La Cabane Wine Cellar, 10 Shing Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2517 0816

Burgundy Etc

A temple to one of the world’s great winemaking regions, this sophisticated shop houses a selection of more than a thousand wines and access to an inventory of over 6,000 labels — one of Hong Kong’s biggest Burgundy wine collections if not the biggest. Don’t worry if you’re not an expert on this wine region’s geography, however, because the shelves are organised by appellations, from all-important Côte de Nuits and Côte de Beaune to Chassagne-Montrachet, Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet and beyond.

Burgundy Etc, Shop 108, 1/F, Central Building, 1-3 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2812 2009

Premier Cru

Billing itself as a “wine library,” this utterly charming and cosy venue is not only one of the best wine shops in Hong Kong, but also one of the most well-stocked. It carries more than a thousand French labels and is run by the third generation of a wine-loving family. The idea is that, similar to pulling a book from a shelf, you can pick up any bottle of wine here and learn something from owner Martin Perino and his talented team. Come for the reasonably priced wines — the markup here is two times rather than the typical three to five times found in most retail outlets — and stay for the welcoming, non-pretentious vibe, which spills out onto a lovely little terrace in the back.

Premier Cru, 15 High Street, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, +852 9522 5267

Oz Terroirs

Deepen your knowledge of Australian winemaking at this shop specialising in organic, biodynamic and small-batch wines from Down Under. Linked to a Melbourne-based exporter that mainly sources bottles from the Victoria region and passes its knowledge on to the Hong Kong team, this stairside boutique is the perfect place to learn more about the differences between wine from the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Beechworth and beyond. The selection changes regularly, so you’re bound to find something new each time you go back.

Oz Terroirs, 2 Mee Lun Street, Central, Hong Kong, +852 6147 0460

Penticton

Helmed by Olivia Lee, a trained sommelier with a diploma from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, this store celebrates innovation and the craft of winemaking while featuring labels that can’t be found anywhere else in Hong Kong. The shelves are stocked with small-batch bottles sourced from top-notch artisanal producers across France, including female winemakers, a relative rarity in the industry. The team here can tell you the story behind any bottle of wine, so ask away or learn more during one of their regular tastings and workshops.

Penticton, The Mills, Shop 121, 45 Pak Tin Par St, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong, +852 2111 2621

Schmidt Vinothek

Is there a reason you’re not drinking more Riesling? If it’s because you’re only frequenting stores focused on countries like France, Italy and Spain, then it’s time to explore the wonderful wines of Germany, Austria and Switzerland at this shop, which has a sister location in Quarry Bay. These countries are most often associated with white wines, but you’ll find reds, roses and even sparkling wines on the shelves of this well-stocked shop, so be adventurous and your palate will be rewarded.

Schmidt Vinothek, Yuk Sing Building, 1-9 Yuk Sau St, Happy Valley, Hong Kong, +852 2838 2818

L’Imperatrice

With a name that means ‘the empress,’ you might expect this handsome shop to only sell wines priced for royalty. Fortunately that’s not the case, but the well-curated selection is very fine indeed, with a primary focus on up-and-coming producers employing organic or biodynamic techniques, as well as outstanding examples of traditional winemakers. This is a great place to expand your knowledge of under-appreciated French wine regions such as Jura, Savoie and Languedoc-Roussillon, in addition to artisanal grower Champagnes.

L’Imperatrice, 56 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong, +852 5345 3582

Avize Wine Cellar

There’s much more to the world of Champagne than Krug, Dom Pérignon and Veuve Clicquot, as you’ll learn firsthand at this shop specialising in labels from the world’s most famous sparkling wine region. Yes, you can find those big names here (including hard-to-find vintages from past decades), but take advantage of the overwhelming variety to try something new. Whether you’re looking for a bottle that costs less than HK$500 or more than HK$15,000, you’re sure to find a sparkler that suits your taste here.

Avize Wine Cellar, G/F, 17 Moreton Terrace, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, +852 2567 0883

(Main image: Burgundy Etc; Featured image: Roberta Sorge/ Unsplash)

The post Raise a Toast to the Best Specialty Wine Shops in Hong Kong appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The elusive quality that makes us want to drink a glass of wine right away is often encapsulated by critics and connoisseurs in a single word: Wine drinkability. But what does it mean? James Suckling and Zekun Shuai explain.

Many years ago, when talking about drinkability we were probably discussing whether the wine in question was within the suitable drinking window to pull out the cork. Today however, drinkability means much more than simply “suitability for drinking”.

At JamesSuckling.com, drinkability is one of the measures we use for quality, and often it’s one of the basic yet essential indicators for a wine scoring 90 points or above – a threshold for high quality. A 90-point wine is a wine that you want to drink the whole glass right away; 95 points or more, you want to finish the bottle yourself!

A “drinkable cabernet” in a tasting note needs to be interpreted within the context. Is the wine suitable for now? Are we euphemistically suggesting the wine has minimally worthy concentration? Or increasingly, are we saying the wine is an approachable, easy-to-drink bottle that arouses the desire to drink effortlessly? The latter is a way of showing how much the drinker likes the wine in a simple way.

[caption id="attachment_212394" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Wine drinkability means much more than simply “suitability for drinking”. (Image: Kelsey Knight/ Unsplash)[/caption]

Evaluating drinkability comes when we consider the essential function of a wine. If we were to make a comparison with two different piles of apples on a balance, when a taster highlights a wine’s drinkability, today that probably suggests that the pointer is tilting away from the riper, softer and sweeter red apples towards the fresher, crunchier green ones – the kind that make you salivate.

As many critics and journalists advocate for the drinkability of wine, top producers are also scrupulously assessing the sugar-acid balance of the grapes before harvest, as they simultaneously try to maintain ripeness and freshness, while staying away from overripe, jammy fruit or over-extraction in the cellar. Thus, the drinkability of wine is very much associated with descriptors such as “fresh and pure fruit”, “bright acidity”, “bone-dry palate”, “nuance or finesse”, “precision”, “harmony”, “elegance” and a “linear, mineral texture”, and most often is associated with wines that express character and a sense of place.

[caption id="attachment_212386" align="aligncenter" width="821"] Wine drinkability most often is associated with wines that express character and a sense of place.[/caption]

So, a wine’s drinkability today reflects a new and still-evolving trend of wine styles that underline the wisdom of “less could be more”. Whether driven by the trend or driving it, wine journalism is also adjusting, marking an aesthetic return to classicism. It turns the wheel to precision and balance again, even though “balance” itself is now a cliché that’s much too vague and inclusive.

For simple wines, drinkability is almost a given. But for the more complex, ambitious bottles with a substantial concentration of flavours that aim to please and can age, we can say it’s a gift.

Definitely Drinkable

The JamesSuckling.com team selects six sought-after wines that hit the spot in a range of prices and categories.

William Fèvre Chablis Gran Cru Les Clos 2017

[caption id="attachment_212389" align="aligncenter" width="452"] William Fèvre Chablis Gran Cru Les Clos 2017[/caption]

Score: 98
Chablis is probably one of the most underrated yet intellectually challenging and drinkable white wines. The best are known for their full but linear, minerally texture with the nuanced and complex limy, chalky mixture of yellow and green fruit. This William Fèvre Grand Cru Les Clos is a must-buy for quality and great value.

Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py 2018

[caption id="attachment_212391" align="aligncenter" width="354"] Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py 2018[/caption]

Score: 96
You don’t need to pay a high price for drinkability. Beaujolais has a name for making lighter, cheerful and drinkable wines, and this Jean Foillard Morgon Cote du Py gives “Bojo” a serious, structured dimension at a great-value price point. And, of course, drinkability is at its core.

Schäfer- Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Felseneck GG 2018

[caption id="attachment_212390" align="aligncenter" width="224"] Schäfer- Fröhlich Riesling Nahe Felseneck GG 2018[/caption]

Score: 99
The top GG German Rieslings have impeccable drinkability, with zesty, lightly fragrant but subtle aromas. And there are great-value bottles almost everywhere. This 99-point Schäfer- Fröhlich Riesling is a textbook example of a dry Riesling with succulence, mineral purity and power.

Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae Malbec 2012

[caption id="attachment_212388" align="aligncenter" width="263"] Catena Zapata Adrianna Vineyard Fortuna Terrae Malbec 2012[/caption]

Score: 100
A deeply coloured, rich Argentine Malbec from Catena Zapata, many of whose wines have a supple, ethereal character that unwinds evenly on the palate.

Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008

[caption id="attachment_212392" align="aligncenter" width="387"] Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008[/caption]

Score: 99
It’s almost unnecessary to mention the drinkability of a fine bubbly, especially Blanc de Blancs and the fine zero dosage. This nervy and composed Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs 2008 was released recently and is perfect for drinking now, yet could also be cellared for a decade or two.

Gonzalez Byass Jerez Tio Pepe Fino Dos Palmas NV

[caption id="attachment_212387" align="aligncenter" width="333"] Gonzalez Byass Jerez Tio Pepe Fino Dos Palmas NV[/caption]

Score: 95
Still think that fortified sherries are old-fashioned? Try this rich but fabulously creamy, briny and well-aged fino, probably one of the top and best-value sherries made by Gonzalez Byass. The austere yet complex flavours, along with unique floral characters, deconstruct the common perception of drinkability — you don’t need high acidity to deliver that in a wine, or at least not with sherries.

The post What Exactly Does Wine Drinkability Mean? appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.