Provenance

 The original idea was to get out to Tokyo a few days early - check out the Burgundy trade, find out if that wine bar "Monopole" from comic series "Kami no Shizuku" really exists. But with Sotheby's pulling off a major wine auction next weekend - the last one before Chinese New Year, it seems like I will be staying for a few extra days. The last time Sotheby's came to town, they directly represented Chateau Lafite-Rothschild in what many have called "the height of the bubble." In that auction, Chinese buyers paid over triple the market value for cases of 2009 Lafite because the bottles would be coming directly from the chateau. If this already sounds outrageous, consider the following fun piece of trivia: 2009 Lafite is released in 2012. This means that ALL cases of 2009 Lafite will be coming directly from the chateau.

If you ask the Chinese to define a good wine, the answer will be, "one that comes from Lafite." Asking a French person the same question, you will get, "one that comes from France." An American response usually begins with, "well, like, I'm not really into brands but there's this small producer in [insert city you hope your friends have never heard of here] and it was started by a young couple who still harvest the grapes using organic..."

But winemakers from any country will say that a good wine comes from the fruit of "fighting vines," ones that didn't get water as an entitlement but have had to fight every step of the way to survive. Then, they become wines of the highest quality.

"But of course some don't make it."
"And some do make it," I add, "but don't exactly turn out the way the prescription had intended."
"Oh, you mean phantom wine? Phantom wine can be delicious too, but it just can't make it into the main label. You see, society expects a certain consistency."
"So, what happens to this phantom wine?"
"We may try to blend it. Or if it's too stubborn, it gets shipped off somewhere - another country, another continent. Eventually it finds a home."

I'm not sure how long I'll be in Hong Kong, but you can find me at the Mandarin Oriental on January 22nd, at the Sotheby's auction of the Wine Collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber.