Asia Tatling Dining

To any restaurant, a house wine means a lot as it represents the style and character of the restaurant. To recognise the time and efforts that local restaurants have taken to select its house wines, the 2011 Restaurant and Bar Hong Kong food exhibit and the Hong Kong Wine Judges Association have joined hands to create the Hong Kong House Wine Awards.

The criteria used to judge the best house wines were universal appeal, value for money and relative obscurity. The panel included Debra Meiburg, Master of Wine; Nelson Chow, chairman of the HK Sommelier Association; and Ricky Cheung, chef of Le Mieux Bistro in Wan Chai.

Divided into three categories – white, red and sparkling wine, winners are divided into gold, silver and bronze awards with a champion in each of the categories. The awards were presented last week during the 3-day exhibition where 68 awards were given in the red wine category and 11 awards were given in both the white and sparkling wine categories.

The champion for each of the categories is:

Red Wine:
Blackbilly GSM 2009 from McLaren Vale, served at Drawing Room

White Wine:
Mount Riley, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand served at the Four Seasons

Sparkling Wine:
Champagne Henriot, Souverain Blanc de Blancs from Gecko lounge