Celebrity Life

We speak to the Barossa winemaker about the importance of fresh ideas in an industry known for its insistence on tradition.

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Assembling a collection of fine wine certainly seems like a glamorous way of storing your wealth, but does it really make sense as a hard-headed investment? Jon Wall asks the experts.

As an alternative to traditional investments in a diversified portfolio, wine is becoming popular among high-net-worth individuals. Although it can take several years before significant returns are seen, many investors believe that the rewards can be worth the wait – indeed, among the various classes of passion investments, wine has become as popular as, say, rare watches or classic automobiles.

As with any investment of this nature, however, wine obviously requires more than a modicum of passion – and that, surely, is a part of its appeal. According to Michelle Chan, head of the wine department at Christie’s auction house in Hong Kong, “We believe that the beauty of wine is that ultimately you can enjoy and share it with friends. So usually I wouldn’t advise clients to buy wine solely for investment purposes. I want them to enjoy it. Of course, there’s no harm in setting aside a portion that they can resell later, but I do think that clients should buy wines that they’d like to drink.”

[caption id="attachment_211485" align="alignnone" width="1024"] It's important to invest in wines you'd like to drink.[/caption]

Her view is broadly supported by Simon Tam, a Hong Kong-based wine expert and consultant who’s also a former auctioneer. “I would recommend wine as part of an investment portfolio, assuming that you love wine to start with,” Tam says, “though quite honestly, I think there are a lot of things in the world that yield a much higher return than wine.

“The idea I’d like wine lovers to consider,” he adds by way of explanation, “is that there’s nothing better than getting a really nice glass of wine for free and all because you invested wisely. For example, a lot of people bought 1982 Bordeaux, and those who got on to the bandwagon early made money and drank a lot of wine for nothing, because when they came to reselling their surplus quantities, their investment paid for itself many times over. Like many investments, however, you have to keep an eye on it, you have to keep an eye on the ball.”

Tam recalls a meeting he had with a prominent wine client when he first joined an auction house more than 10 years ago. “I asked quite innocently, ‘Why do you invest in wine?’” To Tam’s surprise, the client just laughed and said, “I don’t really invest in wine. I love wine, I love drinking it and I love learning about it.”

[caption id="attachment_211476" align="aligncenter" width="683"] Wine consultant and former auctioneer Simon Tam.[/caption]

Even given such a degree of passion, individuals who are considering devoting considerable sums of money towards the accumulation of an investment-quality wine collection should be aware of several caveats before they even start. There is, rather obviously, the fact that wine is a commodity that can change over time – to its benefit as well as to its detriment – and that, however good and worthy of laying down for three, four or five decades or more it may be, at some point it’s likely to reach a peak of flavour and complexity, after which it will probably deteriorate. There’s even the very simple issue – as Tam demonstrates by waving a cork – of the material most commonly used to plug premium bottles, poor examples of which can help “cook” or otherwise taint even the finest wines.

Bottle breakages don’t even bear thinking about, but they can happen too. So you need to take care of your wine, which in the vast majority of cases means proper, ie professional, storage in a darkened space where a constant temperature of around 12-14 degrees and humidity of around 70 percent are maintained, and which should preferably be vibration-free — and storage such as that is unlikely to be cheap.

“Too hot, too cold or too dry will do harm to the wine,” says Chan. Unlike rare coins, jewellery or watches, cases of wine take up considerable space, a factor that not only directly influences storage costs, but also the expense of shipping the wine from wherever you bought it (which is likely to be Europe or the United States) to the place that you intend to keep it.

[caption id="attachment_211477" align="alignnone" width="579"] Michelle Chan is head of the wine department at Christie's.[/caption]

“If you’re buying wine to be consumed within three to six months,” says Chan, “it’s OK to keep it in your home, though you should have a wine fridge. It would be even better if you had a basement, but in Hong Kong that’s unlikely! For long-term storage, say years, you really need a professional cellar, and that could be quite expensive. There are lots of private storage spaces for wine in Hong Kong, but the rent can be up to $50,000 a year for 50 square feet, which would house around 100 cases.

“Loose bottles are fine for short-term storage for your own consumption,” she adds, “but if you’re going to store the wine for years then I’d strongly recommend the original wooden cases.”

In an age and culture when apparently anything and everything can be faked, provenance is another issue that must be taken into account (though establishing a wine’s history isn’t solely concerned with whether or not it’s the real thing, but also if it’s been properly stored).

Are you sure that case of 1998 Château Lafite Rothschild you just shelled out a small fortune on isn’t some cheap plonk that’s been rebottled? Well, if you’ve obtained it through the proper channels – which generally means from a reputable auction house – you can be fairly sure it is. Any self-respecting auction house has its reputation to consider, so it will exhaustively research the history of the wines it’s offered – where and when they were bought, how they were stored, etc – and even sometimes taste them before agreeing to sell them.

[caption id="attachment_211482" align="alignnone" width="1024"] When it comes to wine investment, the list of bottles worth procuring is actually rather limited.[/caption]

As to the kind of wines that are likely to make good investments, the list is actually rather limited. “I would go for French wines,” says Chan, “wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Champagne and the Rhône Valley. Outside of France, you can consider top Italians and California wines.

“Of course you have to consider the vintage, too. The better vintages can last longer. Take, for example, [Bordeaux] 1993, which is not a very good vintage. If you bought, say, 20 cases, these are already past their peak and if you try to resell them now they won’t be worth as much. But in any case I’d suggest not focusing on a single vintage: your collection should spread out by decade. Even if you know that 2010 is considered a great vintage, don’t buy all 2010. Remember the best vintages and spread out. For Bordeaux, it’s 1945 – if you can still get some – ’47, ’49, ’59, ’61, ’80s ... You need to remember the good vintages for each region.”

Tam, meanwhile, warns potential buyers off Burgundy, which he says is a costly investment that’s unlikely to generate much in the way of returns. “The reality,” he says, “is that the wine world is driven by Bordeaux, and people like some Burgundy. For the past few years, Burgundy prices have reached a plateau and now they’ve got nowhere to go. The boom has passed, though top Burgundies [such as the near-legendary Domaine de la Romanée-Conti] will likely maintain their value because of limited quantity.”

[caption id="attachment_211480" align="alignnone" width="1024"] A 2006 Dom Perignon champagne.[/caption]

Tam, however, does make a strong case for champagne. “If you’re a wine lover,” he says, you’ll know that aged champagne – and this has been true for a few years now – is magnificent and you just can’t go wrong with it. I’m talking about champagne that’s got bottle age. That means you’ve got to buy and cellar for four, five or six years. In that time, you can make 20 to 22 percent, which is better than money in the bank – and that’s why it’s become a bit of a trend. There’s also a proliferation of auction houses and dealers who are eager to snatch it off you, because it’s increasingly hard to find. This requires passion, foresight, a degree of knowledge and not even that deep pockets to be honest.”

As for monetising your collection – or, at least, the part of it that hasn’t already disappeared down your throat or that you wish to put aside for future consumption – Chan says that the best option is to ask an auction house to give you an estimate.

“The usual procedure is that a client will send us a list – it could just be a simple spreadsheet – with wine names and quantities, and I’d ask where they got the wine from, where they’re stored – very straightforward questions. Then we’ll prepare low and high estimates, and negotiate as to whether they’re happy with that, and then we’ll agree on the list that they’d like to sell – and, of course, the more wine there is, the better the terms will be. I’ll also give them some recommendations: for example, if you have 20 cases of Latour 2005, I might not want to offer all 20 in one auction. Instead, I might recommend that they offer five cases in the first auction, five in the next and so on. I’d let them know our strategy."

[caption id="attachment_211479" align="alignnone" width="1024"] An array of wine bottles.[/caption]

“There’s another option,” says Chan, “and that’s what we call a private sale. But it has to be a high-value collection, and for a private sale it would have to be a separate proposal. It would have to be worth at least $1.5-$2 million potential. And we’d offer a net value.”

Assuming all goes well and you manage to dispose of a portion of your investment at a satisfactory price, you may not only have made a pretty profit on the transaction but also, as Tam suggests, have enjoyed several years’ of imbibing some of the finest wines known to mankind – and all for next to nothing.

Most Sought-After French Wines

According to Christie’s, at least some of these bottles should feature in any investment-quality collection.

Bordeaux
Château Lafite Rothschild Château Latour
Château Mouton Rothschild Château Margaux
Château Haut-Brion Château Pétrus Château Cheval Blanc Château Le Pin
Best vintages: 1945, 1947 1949, 1959, 1961, 1982, 1989, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015

[caption id="attachment_211481" align="aligncenter" width="684"] A bottle of Chateau Haut-Brion.[/caption]

Burgundy
Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Domaine Armand Rousseau Domaine Georges Roumier Domaine Leroy
Domaine Leflaive
Domaine Ramonet
Henri Jayer
Best vintages: 1978, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015

Champagne
Krug
Salon
Dom Pérignon
Cristal
Best vintages: 1982,1985,1996, 2002, 2008

[caption id="attachment_211478" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Krug champagne.[/caption]

(Main and featured image: Shutterstock)

The post Liquid Gold: Is it Worth Investing in Wine? appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Just 10 years ago, Chinese wines rarely rated above average, but now the emerging wine region of Ningxia is overturning all doubts. James Suckling and Zekun Shuai take an insiders’ look at this rising star.

You may know Ningxia (pronounced “Ningshia”), located in north China, because of its desolately beautiful desert topography, or for its ancient tomb sites, or its mountain scenery.

More likely, though, these days you’ll know Ningxia for its wine. The dry, compact continental-climate autonomous region tucked between the much larger Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia is home to nearly 200 producers under the appellation of the Eastern Foothills of Helan Mountain. Some 80 producers own their own winery, and many are newcomers, eager to tap into a growing sophistication in the industry that’s seeing Ningxia wines win acclaim the world over.

Ningxia is often described as China’s answer to Bordeaux. For red wine at least, it’s known for Bordeaux varieties. And inspired by Bordeaux’s classifications, the Ningxia Wine Federation, the young regulatory board, has adopted a five-growth classification system since 2013 to assess and rank producers every two years.

[caption id="attachment_211252" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Helan Qingxue in winter, where vines are buried deep in the soil to hibernate.[/caption]

We recently interviewed winemakers and owners from Ningxia to learn how this promising wine region has kept on improving, year on year. Wines with colour and richness abound, but what about finesse?

Ten years ago, when James Suckling was still the senior editor at Wine Spectator, his only memorable Chinese wine then was from Shanxi, the Grace Vineyard Chairman Reserve 2006, which was rated 86 points. Now, it’s a totally different story. More than half (55 percent) of the 150 wines tasted last year by JamesSuckling.com from China got 90 points or above, and Ningxia is at the centre of this dramatic progress.

Many excellent red wines are full-bodied with concentration and sleek tannins. A few possess the composed finesse we’ve long been looking for in wines from Ningxia.

“Most Chinese consumers are just starting to get used to drinking wine, so some have to rely on their baijiu experience,” said Liu Jianjun, a young, soft-spoken independent winemaker who makes aspiring wines with his garage-wine project, Lingering Clouds. “And when they describe a wine, descriptors for baijiu like ‘perfumed’, ‘smooth’, ‘soft’ or ‘aggressive’ are frequently used. So, some sweet fruit with a moderate level of very ripe tannin and lower acidity might do the trick.”

[caption id="attachment_211255" align="aligncenter" width="466"] Independent winemaker Liu Jianjun's 2017 Cabernet blend was named after his own beard.[/caption]

Cabernet Sauvignon is the unabashed mainstay in Ningxia, responsible for around 70 percent of the red varieties, with Merlot coming a distant second (just more than 15 percent). Over the past few years Marselan, the Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache cross, and Merlot have also found success and popularity, not only in Ningxia but also notably in Xinjiang, Shandong and Hebei provinces.

“Last year, we harvested our first vintage of Malbec,” said Zhang Jing, winemaker at Helan Qingxue, an established producer in Ningxia that was promoted to the much-coveted Second Growth status by the Ningxia Wine Federation in 2019. “At the moment, the result in the barrel is excellent. We’ll see if the final wine is good enough to be bottled on its own.”

“Syrah might be a good bet as well,” says Wang Fang of Kanaan Winery. A few producers have made good progress with it. Zhang of Helan Qingxue also told us that she’d like to try Tempranillo in Ningxia, as the variety ripens almost at the same time as Merlot and is quite hardy to drought. The grape is so pliable for wines of very high calibre,” she said.

[caption id="attachment_211253" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Wang Fang of Kanaan Winery.[/caption]

Pinot Noir in Ningxia can be a bit of a wild card in this extreme climate of dry and hot summers and short growing season. However, Chateau Chanson and Helan Qingxue have made their interpretations of the grape, and the recent vintages we tasted were much better than expected.

Pricing seems to be another issue for Chinese wine. Many people point out that excellent Chinese wines are very expensive, and at the same time they don’t have enough confidence to buy the inexpensive bottles.
But Ningxia might be the first region to change this perception. With more quality wines being made by more than just a few producers, we can presume that the high prices will eventually settle to a reasonable point. There are already many good-value wines under US$30 from Ningxia. But for the leading producers, especially the boutique ones, price won’t go very low, as the cost of production is still high in Ningxia for smaller businesses.

“Against all the odds, Ningxia is the hub of modern Chinese wineries,” said Liu. “They’re less scattered than in other regions, like mountainous Yunnan (where the premium and expensive Ao Yun is produced), and they’re supported by the government. Most importantly, it’s hard to find anywhere else in China like Ningxia where people are so serious and all-out about making excellent wine,” he assured us.

Over the last decade, many newcomers who invested in the wine industry in Ningxia also realised that great wine isn’t made by people wearing suits and ties in a fancy “chateau”, but dirty hands and sweaty faces in dusty vineyards.

Today, Ningxia is making excellent wines and the top bottles are already standing shoulder to shoulder with some of the finest Bordeaux (see our recent story on a Hong Kong wine tasting that pitted top Chinese wines with top names from Bordeaux).

[caption id="attachment_211254" align="aligncenter" width="861"] At Silver Heights, wines were aged in this small cellar.[/caption]

Eight of the Best

James Suckling's favourite wines to date from Ningxia's Helan Mountain East Foothills

Kanaan Winery Crazy Fang 2013
Score: 94
Aromas of currants and berries with fresh herbs and tobacco. Perfumed. A pretty red with currant, sweet-tobacco and spice flavours. It’s long and racy. Beautiful focus and persistence. Excellent wine. Drink or hold.

Jade Vineyard Aria Reserve 2015
Score: 93
Beautiful tobacco with sweet berries and cherries. Hints of spice and chocolate. Full-bodied with ripe, velvety fruit and a long, balanced finish. Some stewed fruit. Shows ripeness with balanced, polished tannins. Impressive length. Drink after 2022.

Chateau Mihope Reserve Dry Red 2017
Score: 93
Opaque, black hue. Tons of new leather, almost rubber, tar and meatiness with blackberries and dark chocolate. Lots of richness, concentration and fruit sweetness, yet the tannin is very polished. Better after 2023.

Helan Qingxue Vineyard Jiabeilan Reserve 2014
Score: 93
Very classy nose with Bordeaux flair. Developing complexity now with cedar undertones. Solid fruit and more restrained savouriness here. Nicely balanced with black-olive and cassis character. Long. 80 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 12 percent Merlot and 8 percent Cabernet Franc. Drink now or hold.

Lingering Clouds Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Red Beard 2017
Score: 93
Pretty aromas of cherries, flowers and violets follow through to
a medium body with fine, integrated tannins and a bright, fresh finish. This shows poise and focus with a precise and fine palate. 80 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 20 percent Merlot. Drink or hold.

Silver Heights Emma's Reserve 2015
Score: 93
Aromas of tobacco, cedar and currants with a medium body, soft and silky tannins and beautiful fruit at the finish. Needs time to open, but very attractive already. Drink or hold.

Domaine Cheng Cheng Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Jingjia 2015
Score: 92
Serious depth and complexity. The tannin here is so good. Tightly bound and fine. Full-bodied. Plenty of dark berries and black tea. Leave this in your cellar for two to three years.

Lilan Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Ningxia Lancui 2017
Score: 92
A powerful red with plenty of richness and concentration. It
has a nice core of ripe black fruit, bitter chocolate and spices. Full-bodied with toasted-wood character, yet shows outstanding balance and potential to age well. Long, fruity and chocolatey finish. Drink after 2022.

The post Ningxia, China’s Answer to Bordeaux, is Fast Becoming a Powerhouse in the World of Wine appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Three years of breaking rules on Carpenter Street.

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Three years of breaking rules on Carpenter Street.

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The winemakers for Marks & Spencer talk upcoming wine trends, and how they have been making wine remotely.

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The winemakers for Marks & Spencer talk upcoming wine trends, and how they have been making wine remotely.

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Wine critic James Suckling reports from a blind tasting of 12 wines, and makes a surprising discovery.

Is China capable of producing world-class wines?

Last month, I – along with a small group of luminaries, from the head of a major property company to an Oscar-winning movie director – attended a blind tasting event here in Hong Kong to find out.

The tasting, organised by Canadian businessman Adam Janikowski, pitted six Chinese wines against six from Bordeaux, including great names such as Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Pichon Longueville Lalande and Château Pichon-Longueville Baron. The wines were served in six pairs: One red from France and another from China. The 16 tasters voted for their favourite wine in each pair, and China won four out of the six pairs and tied the other two. Bordeaux failed to win a single pairing.

“I had no idea that China made such outstanding wines,” said a Chinese-Canadian woman, who admitted that she’d preferred the Chinese red in every flight.

The overall winner was LVMH’s 2015 Ao Yun Shangri-La, the cabernet sauvignon blend from northern Yunnan province in southwestern China. The red was open, complex and loaded with currant, sweet berry, tobacco and hints of cedar in the nose and on the palate. By comparison, the Lafite, which was Ao Yun’s companion bottle in the pairing, was tight yet incredibly long and powerful at the finish. I was one of the few who preferred the first growth, because it showed such incredible power and length and potential for ageing.

In fact, all the Bordeaux wines, except for the Lafon-Rochet, which seemed to be a slightly bad bottle, were much tighter, more polished and tannic than the Chinese reds, which showed more ripeness and had even a slightly stewed character to them. The latter were much more attractive to taste and drink now.

I believe most of the people in the tasting were rating the wines for their current drinking pleasure and not for the future – or on a professional level. But the fact is that in almost every pair of reds the Chinese wines were preferred by a consensus for their quality – proof, if you needed it, that the best Chinese wines of today can easily be placed on the table next to bottles of comparable wines from France.

JamesSuckling.com has been following the development of super- premium Chinese wines for some time now. Late last year, our Beijing-based associate editor Zekun Shuai reviewed about 150 wines. A number of other top reds are being produced in the country and they aren’t simply emulating Bordeaux. Marsellan and Syrah are two grape types to watch for the future, as are some small hands-on winemakers.

Most of the people I spoke to at the tasting agreed that China can make world-class wines. Their biggest problem now is to find the bottles they liked, because most are hard to buy at retail just about anywhere outside of the People’s Republic. Maybe that will change soon with the continued improvement in quality.

My notes and scores, shown below, for the full set of 12 wines don’t include ratings or opinions from other tasters at the event.

Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 2015
Score: 99
Firm and powerful with blackberries, blueberries, currants and wet earth. Full-bodied, yet tight and angular with very pretty fruit and brightness. Really racy and super, and set for a long, long life. Better after 2025.

Ao Yun Shangri-La 2015
Score: 96
Currants and sweet berries. Tobacco and hints of cedar. Full-bodied with fine, creamy tannins and chocolate, tobacco and cedar at the end. The quality of the tannins is absolutely excellent. Long and driven. Give this time, but so beautiful already. Drink or hold.

Château Pichon-Longueville Baron Pauillac 2015
Score: 95
Blackberries, sweet tobacco, incense and currants. Aromatic. Medium to full body and firm, sleek tannins. Racy and refined. Shows lovely balance and finesse. Pretty now, but needs another three or four years of bottle age. Try from 2023.

Château Cantenac Brown Margaux 2015
Score: 94
The blueberries, blackberries and fresh violets come through nicely on the nose. Full body with round, juicy tannins. Hints of vanilla. Lots of ripe fruit. A little tight now. Try after 2022.

Château Phélan Ségur St.-Estèphe 2015
Score: 94
A beautifully perfumed young red with blackcurrants, blackberries and dark chocolate. Some sweet tobacco. It is medium-to full-bodied with a very balanced and refined palate, showing focus and tightness. This needs time to open. Try after 2023.

Kanaan Winery Ningxia Helan Mountains East Foothills Crazy Fang 2013
Score: 94
Aromas of currants and berries with fresh herbs and tobacco. Perfumed. A pretty red with currant, sweet-tobacco and spice flavours. It’s long and racy. Beautiful focus and persistence. Excellent wine. Drink or hold.

[caption id="attachment_210855" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The best Chinese wines can easily be placed on the table next to comparable wines from France (Image: James Suckling)[/caption]

Château Pichon Longueville Lalande Pauillac 2013
Score: 93
Ripe berries and prunes with some tobacco and vanilla character. Medium to full body, round tannins and a savoury finish. Very drinkable now. Drink or hold.

Jade Vineyard Ningxia Helan Mountains East Foothills Aria Reserve 2015
Score: 93
Beautiful tobacco with sweet berries and cherries. Hints of spice and chocolate. Full-bodied with ripe, velvety fruit and a long, balanced finish. Some stewed fruit. Shows ripeness with balanced, polished tannins. Impressive length. Drink after 2022.

Silver Heights Ningxia Helan Mountains East Foothills Emma’s Reserve 2015
Score: 93
Aromas of tobacco, cedar and currants with a medium body, soft and silky tannins and beautiful fruit at the finish. Needs time to open, but very attractive already. Drink or hold.

Grace Vineyard Shanxi Chairman’s Reserve 2013
Score: 92
Lots of chocolate, stone, sweet tobacco, walnuts and ripe berries. Slightly stewed. Full-bodied, round tannins and a juicy finish. Extremely long and flavourful. So drinkable now.

Château Lafon-Rochet St.-Estèphe 2013
Score: 89
Blackberries, fresh wood, violets and sandalwood. Floral and aromatic. Some chocolate and hazelnut undertones. Medium to full body and dry tannins. This is drying out a bit. Slightly too much wood. Needs drinking.

Helan Qingxue Vineyard Ningxia Helan Mountains East Foothills Jiabeilan Reserve 2015
Score: 87
Stewed fruit on the palate with prunes and green wood. It’s full-bodied with chewy tannins and a savoury finish. Funky. This is disappointing. Bad bottle? Drink now.

This story first appeared on Prestige Singapore

(Main and featured image: James Suckling)

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