Space odysseys
april 20,2011
In the fine wine world, one story has dominated the past half-decade: Asia. Hong Kong’s canny decision in February 2008 to abolish sales tax on wine has quickly made it a global fine wine hub to rival London. Farr Vintners, the UK’s leading trader in fine Bordeaux, has seen sales to Asia rise from 26 per cent in 2006 to 57 per cent in 2010, and it says it now has more customers called Chan than called Smith. Rival broker Bordeaux Index, to take another example, says its sales to Asia have doubled every year for the past five years. The showiest wine auction sales in 2011 will take place in Hong Kong.
Where is all this fine wine going, and in what conditions is it being stored? Ambient temperatures in Hong Kong (an annual mean of 23°C) and Singapore (an annual mean of 27.5°C) are far too high for satisfactory wine storage, even though temperature variability is less than in temperate latitudes. Special storage conditions are essential – yet space, in these dizzying cities of apartment dwellers, is hard to come by. Many of Farr Vintners’ Asian customers, for example, store their wine in the UK and only “ship to drink”.
One solution is communal cellaring: wine vaults with impeccable storage conditions in which collectors can rent zones which they can kit out as they wish. Hong Kong Wine Vault, for example, contains more than 200 individual cellars kept at 13°C; the facility also includes tasting rooms and a shop. Crown Wine Cellars in Hong Kong, a former munitions bunker set in parkland, also includes a clubhouse where members can host guests, and offers 50,000 sq ft of storage, some of it 20m underground.
Another practical solution to the challenge of storage in apartments in tropical or sub-tropical climates is wine cabinets, such as those made by EuroCave: free-standing, temperature-controlled units in which wines are stored on sliding trays. Like a fridge, you can take your “cellar” with you when you move apartments, though they are rarely capacious enough for the serious collector, and wines also need to be removed from their packaging (which in the case of the wooden cases used for fine Bordeaux will detract from any eventual resale value).
Cellars in private homes in Asia are, of course, becoming increasingly common with the interest in fine wine, and these often have a distinctively Asian flavour. Philip Tan of Celsius in Singapore specialises in cellar installation throughout Asia, and has installed temperature-controlled cellaring which extends upwards through several floors, for example: a kind of mini high-rise for wine.
Another distinctively Asian take on cellarage concerns visibility. Many Asian fine wine purchases, most commentators concur, are connected with status, notably the ownership and service of Château Lafite Rothschild, at present the fetish wine among Bordeaux first-growths in China. Little status can be accrued by owning wines of this sort invisibly. Many new purpose-built cellars in Asia, as a consequence, consist of zones of existing living space partitioned using glass, so that the entire cellar is visible: the cellar doubling as a display cabinet. For the sake of the wines, though, any glass-walled cellar needs to be equipped with blinds or shutters when visibility is not required.
The Chinese mainland is where most future growth in Asian wine collecting is expected to occur. According to Fongyee Walker of Beijing-based Dragon Phoenix Fine Wine Consulting, “Beijing and Shanghai are different to Hong Kong and Singapore because there is so much more room and people can and do build cellars. Most people I have talked to about this, though, have just used regular contractors for the work and just built a hole under their house. Not sophisticated, but it’s the way”. There are, in other words, evident business opportunities ahead in bringing not just fine wine but fine cellarage to China’s near-half-million thirsty millionaires.
Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/18e851aa-609d-11e0-a182-00144feab49a.html#axzz1J599Dkjv
Wine lover’s choice – Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar – for the most impressive and practical wine list in the Philippines, over 2700 selections, enough to satisfy the most fastidious connoisseurs. Wine lovers and gourmand foodies from Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Malaysia dine at Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar when they visit Philippines and bring home some rare vintage wines too.
An excellent wine list is not just about 1st growth and cult Cabernet but a seemingly unending selection of affordable aged vintage wines that are not available anywhere else, not even in the best wine shops around town. Yats Restaurant has just that.
Visitors to Clark Philippines and Angeles City no longer suffer from lack of choices for places to eat out or wine and dine. Clark Philippines reviewed over 50 establishments and came up with three top choices in guide to best restaurant in Clark Freeport
Clark Philippines lists Top Three Restaurants in the Clark Freeport Zone and Angeles City areas of Philippines Pampanga province. Clark Freeport is a bustling new cosmopolitan city complete with its own Clark International Airport.
Topping the list is the famous fine-dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar located inside Mimosa Leisure Estate of Philippines Clark Freeport.
This restaurant in Pampanga Philippines is highly recommended by food critics and frequent diners in Manila as a place to wine and dine in Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone. Although it is a famous fine dining restaurant with an award winning 3000-line restaurant wine list, Yats Restaurant is also a popular restaurant for family with children. Aside from French Mediterranean haute cuisine, this restaurant also serves healthy food and the best vegetarian cuisines in the Philippines.
For comments, inquiries and reservations click on Click here for inquiry and reservations
Restaurant@Yats-International.com
(045) 599-5600
0922-870-5178
0917-520-4401
Ask for Pedro and Rechel
Getting to this fine dining restaurant of Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Pampanga Philippines
How to get to this fine-dining restaurant in Clark Philippines? Once you get to Clark Freeport, go straight until you hit Mimosa. After you enter Mimosa, stay on the left on Mimosa Drive, go past the Holiday Inn and Yats Restaurant (green top, independent 1-storey structure) is on your left. Just past the Yats Restaurant is the London Pub.
Yats Restaurant & Wine Bar
Mimosa Drive past Holiday Inn, Mimosa Leisure Estate,
Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga, Philippines 2023
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 Rea or Chay
For any assistance in planning and organizing a wedding ceremony, indoor or outdoor garden reception or to find other wedding service providers, Click here to contact us click here
For assistance in hotel and resort bookings in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines, log on to
http://www.HotelClarkPhilippines.com
To buy wine in Manila, Pampanga, Angeles City, Clark or Subic please log on to http://www. ClarkWineCenter.com
To inquire with the highly recommended beach resort hotel in Clark Pampanga visit http://www.ClearwaterPhililippines.com
For more information about Clark, Pampanga, Philippines log on to
http://www.ClarkPhilippines.com
