This recent few weeks has found me (again) in Asia but this time not in Korea, rather Hong Kong followed by Singapore. As the MS ‘brand’ continues to grow, Hong Kong is a new market for us, the nightly table provided great fodder for recapping the day, planning for tomorrow and of course letting our proverbial hair down after being in classroom and/or examination mode all day.

While the jet lag is tough and the work load formidable, the local dining makes up in part for the wear and tear on the body. Impeccable Chinese food in Hong Kong (the whole roast pig was extraordinary) and a delightful mix of cuisine in Singapore (including my de rigeur share of Char Kway Teo, a sublime noodle dish), all washed down with tasty wines and non-stop great stories. On one of these occasions, with a bunch of folks in tow, I did what I so often do and asked the table about their memorable food and wine experiences. Continue reading »

I often joked in my former places of employment that they should have books of all the financial acronyms that were used to facilitate process and conversation. OND, which I for years confused with OMD (Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, remember them!?), is “October, November, December,” the critical back quarter of the sales year for wine.

EBITDA or “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization,” scared the hell out of me before I finally had the courage to ask a colleague, and BYTM (better you than me) was what was replied when I said that I didn’t know.

In the world of connoisseurship it seems that the more you explore, the more maddening acronyms, words and measurements there are. In wine law and country appellations we have GI’s (Geographical Indications), AVA’s (American Viticultural Areas) and the ab fab Spanish DOCa (Denominación de Origen Calificada) with that little ‘a’ at the end being muy cool. From TBA (Trockenbeerenauslese) in German wines to VSOP (Very Special Old Pale) in Cognac, these word puzzles are rampant. But this phenomenon is not unique to wine and spirits. Continue reading »

Hard to believe that only a matter of weeks after coming back from South Korea that I am back in Asia- this time in Hong Kong and then Singapore. No wine judging this time out, this trip is MS driven as the Court continues its courses and ‘brand building’ in Asia. Hong Kong is an amazing city with a growing interest in wine fueled by the elimination of tariff on imported wines this past year. A trip to most any premium wine store will leave you amazed at the availability here. Continue reading »

Do you like daylight savings time? While I like the long days, I find the getting up in pitch black to be somewhat discombobulating. It takes me a week or so to get my internal clock calibrated. And apparently I am not alone. I was listening to the Ronn Owens show on KGO radio in San Francisco recently and they had a call in segment on daylight savings. People were clearly polarized with some loving the extra hour and others, like me, feeling out of sorts. And I thought I was alone.

This twice annual occurrence, unless you reside in Arizona or Hawaii, requires the discipline of remembering to set the clock(s), mentally changing time zones without traveling, and otherwise adjusting for several days until it all becomes hard wired. Continue reading »

When I was a kid and something went wrong, like most of you, I sought out the unconditional loving support of my parents. A major “owee” was always soothed with a band aid and kiss from my Mom, a poor test score always found patient empathy from a compassionate Dad. Extracted tonsils required vanilla ice cream and a flu bug always managed to find me slurping on Chinese hot and sour soup to expedite the wellness factor. All are different actions and reactions, but all share the equation that something that caused pain was salved over by something that gave comfort.

Today’s tough economy (and tough would be a generous way to describe it) is seeing the need for major comforting all around. It’s said that insecurity supports comfort brands- whether they are Kleenex instead of the generic tissues, Oreos versus your generic cookie, or Tide as opposed to a supermarket detergent. Whether the hard dollars actually back this up is for the economists to say, not wine guys like me. That said, I can tell you that for food… and wine, tough economic times are fertile breeding grounds for comfort. From grocery store prepared meals to American restaurants, there are anecdotally tangible surges in classic comfort foods- meatloaf, burgers, pot roast and fried chicken. I find that you see bumps in these types of food when people are stressed.

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The 1980’s birthed the advent of so-called fusion cuisines, bringing together multiple cultures and traditions on a single plate. Asian fusion led the pack with intricate melding of Western and Eastern foods that are still with us (from the now-almost-pedestrian Chinese Chicken salad, to varying conjoining Asian noodle dishes with Italian stalwarts). Many of these efforts have become very successful as witnessed by my good friend Mourad Lahlou’s Aziza restaurant in San Francisco (Moroccan inspired but not your basic couscous house), Floyd Cardoz’s efforts at Indian inspired Tabla in NYC and Vikram Vij’s equally inspired Vij’s in Vancouver.

But Korean meets Mexican. Hmmm… hadn’t thought about that one. During the last week in Seoul I have been eating my weight in kimchi and kalbi (grilled beef short ribs, Korean style), and wondering why it is that Korean food hasn’t taken off in the US outside of Los Angeles. Continue reading »

It dawned on me as I was writing this blog that it’s been, in essence, a full year since we launched this site (and with it this blog) and here I am again… back in Korea and judging the now 5th Annual Korea Wine Challenge. It’s been a crazy year and it’s amazing what a difference twelve months can make… not the least of which is that the dollar has appreciated significantly against the Korean won (980’ish to the dollar last year and over 1500 per dollar this year… yikes!). New times, and (this year) new wines… Continue reading »