The week in pictures: Hong Kong

American auctioneer Acker unveiled its latest tasting room, the Last Drop Club, in Hong Kong. The dedicated space is for hosting weekly thematic tastings on specific producers, regions, or vintages and it can also be hired as an event venue for sit-down dinner or cocktail party. The auction house has also introduced a membership programme.

Andrew Bigbee, CEO of the auction house, also took us on a tour to Acker’s warehouse where it provides storage services for its clients.

From September onwards, PIIN Wine Restaurant will host monthly wine classes focusing on a variety of topics on the second Saturday of each month. Award-winning sommelier Reeze Choi will host up to 10 guests on a journey through a broad selection of wine topics. We had a sneak peek of the coming class in October focusing on Japanese wines.

Reeze gave a thorough lecture on the up-and-coming wine region illustrated by a selection of six distinctive samples, including Japan’s signature grape Koshu and Muscat Bailey A. Although still considered niche at the moment, Japanese winemakers are showing their endeavours and constantly improving the wine quality and style.

Wine importer Evercohol hosted its annual ‘raw wine’ dinner this week. The dinner highlighted wines made in amphorae and other terracotta vessels from Bordeaux, the Loire, Italy, Georgia and Turkey, all paired with Vietnamese cuisine.

Cass Lam, founder of the company, shared her passion for unoaked wine and she especially invited Debra Meiburg MW (pictured), specialist on Georgian wines, to walk us through the fun facts of this ancient yet ‘new’ region.

We took part in the second edition of Degusto-Portfolio Tasting Hong Kong, an event organized by Inalca Food & Beverage Hong Kong / Bright View to introduce the latest European food and beverage trends in Hong Kong and Macau.

Sake Walk 2019, Hong Kong’s largest sake festival, successfully kicked off at the heritage hotel House 1881. The three-day event includes a sake pairing dinner, sake and food booths as well as sake masterclasses.

The tasting event displays a selection of 80 sakes from 14 breweries across Japan. The range includes: Juyondai, the highly coveted world-famous sake brand; Kikusaki, a sake carefully crafted at the Kyoto-based Toji temple; Senkin, a sake known for its high acidity and vintage variations; and Zankyo, a premium 350-hour yearly-brewed sake.