“We have just dispatched Jasper Morris MW, our Burgundy Buyer, back to his home in the Côtes of Burgundy, having completed our second Burgundy Week in Hong Kong. The week, which consists of master classes, interviews, dinners and tastings included the first tasting in Hong Kong of the 2008 Burgundies en primeur (and perhaps the first Burgundy primeurs tastings in Asia – left) as well as a thoughtful and thoroughly enjoyable look at the 1996 vintage of Domaine de la Romanee Conti, at a dinner organised in conjunction with American Express for 15 people last Friday night.

The Burgundy 1996 vintage has been quite closed for some time at this highest level, we were hoping for the wines to give us a glimpse of what’s going on with them, and we were not disappointed. We tasted Echezeaux (very seductive but not a heavy-weight), Grands Echezeaux (fuller than the Echezeaux but less scented), Romanee-St-Vivant (extraordinary nose and evolving beautifully), Richebourg (the bruiser of the bunch and still not ready, but will be fabulous) and La Tache (my choice of the night, and most peoples’ star wine in years to come). Yet, just as we were looking at the wines and assessing them carefully, they reminded us of how wonderfully long-lived the 1996’s are; and closed down again in the glass.

So, we must wait for a time to look at them again and in the meantime, the other memorable note of the week, aside from how pleased with are with the 2008’s progress, is how delicious to drink the Burgundy 2007s are now.

We have all been heartened to see how the interest for Burgundy is growing in Hong Kong, and if Jasper’s ticket sales are anything to go by, this trend will continue and we’ll need to book the 800-seater Convention Centre for 2011.”