Celebrating our Return to Hong Kong

Misha reports on our wonderful visit to Hong Kong in October.

We arrived into Hong Kong on a Sunday just in time to catch the last day of the 5-day Wine & Dine Festival, with our hotel handing us a special complimentary visitor pass. The festival was located on the Central Harbourfront Event Space, and featured over 300 wine and food booths and 155,000 people. It felt like a great welcome back to a vibrant and busy Hong Kong!

When we first launched the range of Misha’s Vineyard wines in 2010, we announced 4 distribution markets – our own domestic market joining the Negociants portfolio and also announced distribution partners in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. This really signified from the outset that our focus was, and always has been, the Asia Pacific region. We developed a strong connection to Asia having been based in Singapore for 17 years and have travelled the region extensively. Over recent years with the impact of COVID, things had changed so it was time to seek a new distributor.

We were fortunate to find the perfect partner in Hong Kong – Amorosso Wines, and so in September on our return trip to New Zealand from a 30th Wedding anniversary trip to Europe to cruise the Moselle and Rhine, we had a 10-hour stopover in Hong Kong which enabled us to host a trade lunch as a pre-launch event with Amorosso. Some six weeks later, after our week in China, we returned to Hong Kong, to spend a few days to start work with our distributor and officially re-launch our range of wines in the market.

As with all sales trips, we did lots of customer visits spending a wonderful first day with one of the Amorosso sales team members – Alessio Lo Monaco (from Milano). We met with Didier Yang at the wonderful Michelin starred Arcane restaurant, Eric from The Victuals and also Honjo – a restaurant who are pouring our wines! In the evening, we were honoured to have been invited to host our official launch back into the Hong Kong market by way of a Reception at the New Zealand Consulate General of Hong Kong & Macao.

We were welcomed by the New Zealand Consul-General Peter Lund who made the opening remarks at the Reception and also had Luca Luise, the founder of Amorosso Fine Wines who made a short impromptu speech. Guests comprised those with strong New Zealand links or who represented New Zealand companies like Air New Zealand, BNZ Bank etc. We really felt some great support from the Consul-General and his team as well as NZTE who share the wonderful office space which is located on the 65th floor of Central Plaza, on Harbour Road with the most wonderful views over Hong Kong. Not every country has their Consul-General offering to host a Reception to welcome one into the market. This is something that really sets New Zealand apart and in Asia, a welcome like this has a lot of impact and benefit and it was highly appreciated.

The next day we took a journey of trains, busses and cabs to the Sai Kung peninsula far out in New Territories of Hong Kong – known for its quaint fishing villages, beautiful marina and hiking trails. In contrast to the densely populated areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, this coastal area has beautiful scenery, small villages and remains only partly urbanised. It’s known as the “last back garden” of Hong Kong. We had a great time meeting various accounts including Hebe Haven Yacht Club overlooking the marina, and the Bottle Shop where we did a tasting through our wines with Danny & Mimi. It was great have visited another part of Hong Kong and to spend time with another of the amazing Amorosso Fine Wines team – Isaac Han.

We then headed back to Hong Kong Island to visit a new customer – Foxglove – located in Central district. It’s a Hong Kong institution that’s known for incredible food, elevated mixology along with an incredibly cool vibe with an interior designed like the dining room of an old steamer cruise liner, and with hidden doors and a “speak-easy” bar behind a secret panel. Foxglove has won a long list of awards for hospitality. Alex runs the bar and is a guru in cocktails! Foxglove has live music most nights with a range of artists and is very popular. We love this place and especially love that they are pouring ‘The Starlet’, our Central Otago Sauvignon Blanc by the glass which is getting fantastic feedback!

Teppanichi was the venue for a consumer Wine Dinner in Tsim Sha Tsui on our last evening. This well-regarded Teppanyaki restaurant provided a little theatricality with the Chefs showcasing their skills on the two teppans which operated in side by side rooms. Jacky and his talented team provided seamless service as we went through many courses of food with wines all perfectly paired. We were explaining the meaning of our wine names (based on my early life in the theatre) to Isaac and found out he also had a musical theatre background. With a little convincing we had Isaac perform O Sole Mio as we announced ‘The High Note’ Pinot Noir. In fact he had to sing it twice as there were two teppan rooms! What a great sport he was and it certainly made for a fun evening.

We really look forward to a return to Hong Kong next year and are already talking about possible events and activities in this dynamic and exciting market.