Word: honge
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...Hong Kong may be better known for its char siu bao than its chardonnay, but the wealthy city is making a surprising bid to become one of the world's most important markets for fine wines. Last weekend marked another milestone: In the second of its two major wine auctions held this year in Hong Kong, Sotheby's on Oct. 3 and 4 sold $7.9 million worth of vintage wines, taking the house's total wines sales in Hong Kong to $14.3 million in 2009 - eclipsing its sales totals of $10.5 million in New York and $8 million in London...
...There's an obvious explanation why Hong Kong is suddenly terroir cognito in the wine world. The global recession has gutted the portfolios of wealthy Western investors who are cutting back on their lavish purchases, including spending on vintage wine. Not so for Chinese investors. China's economy has suffered less and bounced back faster from the financial crisis than the economies of the U.S and U.K. At the Sotheby's auction, a six-Liter bottle of 1982 Chateau Petrus Imperial - described as having a sweet leather taste and a pruney finish - was gaveled off to a mainland Chinese bidder...
...fact, Hong Kong, a former British colony that has long been a major Asian trading and financial hub, has for several years aspired to become Asia's premier wine hub. Hong Kong collectors already own 17% of the world's stock of fine wines. But most of that stash - the largest in the world on a per capita basis - has been stored abroad because the city charged an onerous duty on imported wines that at one point reached as high as 80%. Then, two years ago, the market really began to flourish when the government scrapped all wine and spirits...
...measures, implemented in February, 2008, had a marked effect: the value of wine imported into the city in 2008 surged by more than 80%. As wine shops, tasting seminars and cellars proliferated, more Hong Kong residents began taking an interest in drinking wine, not just investing in it. Said noted wine critic Jancis Robinson, editor of The Oxford Companion to Wine: "I have never before, in my 30-plus years in wine, witnessed a government so consciously targeting the fine-wine market." (Watch Joel Stein drink his way through wine from ten different U.S. states...
...There's a major commercial prize at stake. Hong Kong would like to become a wine center for Asia. With half the world's population, Asia accounts for only 7% of total wine consumption, so the market has plenty of room to grow. With zero tariffs and world-class logistics, Hong Kong hopes to become the main entrepot for Asia's wine trade and headquarters for the region's wine experts and merchants...