Man O' War visits Åland Islands

The Åland Island's archipelago.

Man O’ War recently arrived in the Åland Islands to visit the family home on Järsö. The old place might need a lick of paint but it is still bloody solid. Which is no surprise given it was built with the red granite stones of Bomarsund , a nineteenth century fortress on Sund in the Åland Islands, which was destroyed during the Crimean War in 1854 by a combined British-French fleet.

Man O' War visits the ruins of Bomarsund.

Although the main theater of the war was the Crimean Peninsula, as Britain and France battled Russia over the fate of the declining Ottoman Empire, it was also fought on a Northern Front in the Baltic Sea. In a peripheral action so beoved by British Commanders over the centuries, a joint Anglo-French fleet sought to blockade the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Gulf of Finland and attack Russian coastal defences.

After general marauding along the Finnish coast and with the Russian fleet unwilling to come out and play the taskforce decided to have a crack at the large Russian fortress at Bomarsund which guarded the entry to the Gulf of Bothnia. And as such, on the evening of June 21 1854, the H.M.S Hecla, Odin and Valorous steamed up to and began to bombard Bomarsund. At the height of the action, which lasted most of the night, a live shell landed on the Hecla’s upper deck with the fuse still hissing. All hands were ordered to fling themselves flat on the deck, but Mr. Charles Lucas (a 20 year old mate) with great presence of mind ran forward and hurled the shell into the sea, where it exploded with a tremendous roar before it hit the water. Thanks to Mr. Lucas's action no one was killed or seriously wounded and he was immediately promoted to Lieutenant by his Commanding Officer.

The red granite of Åland used to build Bomarsund.

Mr. Lucas' action, together with other individual acts of bravery during the action, prompted the British government to create "an Order of Merit to persons serving in the army or navy for distinguished and prominent personal gallantry to which every grade should be admissible". As a result on 26 June 1857, at the inaugural ceremony, the first ever Victoria Cross was personally awarded to Lieutenant Lucas by Queen Victoria herself, for his act of bravery at Bomarsund.

While in Åland Man O’ War visited Bomarsund, and in honour of Mr. Lucas’ selfless act of valour there we decided we will celebrate him with our 2011 vintage shirt. Bit of wait but it will be a minter when it comes out. Cheers, B

Memorial at Bomarsund to Mr. Lucas the recipient of the first ever VC.

Man O' War supports the Wine Wall Auction

Man O’ War Vineyards supports the great initiative from The Pindrop Foundation and The Hearing House this July, to fundraise and increase awareness of these organisations; two charities transforming the lives of the deaf and hearing impaired.

On July 29^th at Gow Langsford Gallery, an evening for the aficionado of fine art and fine wine will be held. Limited edition prints from some of New Zealand¹s most celebrated artists, and a wine wall, literally, made from donated cases of premium wine, will be available to purchase, with all proceeds going to charity.

The most exclusive cases of wine will be auctioned on the night by Webb's including a mixed dozen of Gravestone Sauvignon Blanc, Valhalla Chardonnay, Dreadnought Syrah & Ironclad Bordeaux Blend will be auctioned from Man O’ War Vineyards.

The contributing artists to the Art of Hearing collection are Shane Cotton, Robert Ellis, Dick Frizzell, Jacqueline Fahey, Sara Hughes, Judy Millar, Denys Watkins, Kate Small and John Pule.

All proceeds from the evening will go to the Pindrop Foundation and The Hearing House.

For more information visit: http://www.winewall.co.nz and if you would like to attend the event email elena@pindrop.org.nz

Man O' War supports the Wine Wall Auction

Man O’ War Vineyards supports the great initiative from The Pindrop Foundation and The Hearing House this July, to fundraise and increase awareness of these organisations; two charities transforming the lives of the deaf and hearing impaired.

On July 30^th at Gow Langsford Gallery, an evening for the aficionado of fine art and fine wine will be held. Limited edition prints from some of New Zealand¹s most celebrated artists, and a wine wall, literally, made from donated cases of premium wine, will be available to purchase, with all proceeds going to charity.

The most exclusive cases of wine will be auctioned on the night by Webb's including a mixed dozen of Gravestone Sauvignon Blanc, Valhalla Chardonnay, Dreadnought Syrah & Ironclad Bordeaux Blend will be auctioned from Man O’ War Vineyards.

The contributing artists to the Art of Hearing collection are Shane Cotton, Robert Ellis, Dick Frizzell, Jacqueline Fahey, Sara Hughes, Judy Millar, Denys Watkins, Kate Small and John Pule.

All proceeds from the evening will go to the Pindrop Foundation and The Hearing House.

For more information visit: http://www.winewall.co.nz and if you would like to attend the event email elena@pindrop.org.nz

Kapalua Fine Wine and Food Festival Hawaii

Aloha

Kapalua Wine & Food Festival on June 11, 2009, the longest-running and most prestigious festival of its kind in Hawaii, celebrates 28 years of fine food and wine with a four-day culinary extravaganza!
Festival Host, Master Sommelier Fred Dame brings together world-renowned winemakers, top Master Sommeliers, celebrated chefs and industry insiders for a long-weekend of daily culinary exhibitions, interactive wine tastings and evening gala events. The Grand Tasting, Kapalua Seafood Festival, In the Kitchen and Fred Dame's Rare Wines Dinner are but a few of the highlights of this trendsetting event.
I was lucky enough to be there in Maui representing Man O’ War Vineyards and Man O’ War wines were featured both at the Grand Tasting and the Seafood Festival.
The Kapalua Ritz Carlton were the hosts for the event, with Kimberly McKeon spear heading the festival and everything flowing like clockwork.

During the Welcome Party I bumped into some familiar faces of whom I met in Walla Walla, Washington a few weeks back, JF from Pepper Bridge and Chris Figgins and Heidi from Leonetti. After the function a group of us went to dinner at Merriman’s Restaurant where Cass, Merriman’s sommelier (right) filled us up with exceptional wine and we feasted on gorgeous food. Merriman’s is right on the water’s edge, a magical spot and a must visit if you are ever in Maui! Joining us for dinner were Justin Wylie and Ryan the talented wine makers from Va Piano and Catherine JF’s lovely wife - and partner in crime I later learnt!

The following day was the famous Grand Tasting down on the beach below the Ritz. Picture hundreds of lanterns hanging from the sky and tents spotted around a large area of beach front, I felt like I was in some sort of fairytale, it was a true carnival! With the sun setting over the Pacific, over 100 famed wines from around the world (including Man O' War's 'flagship' Valhalla Chardonnay, Ironclad Bordeaux Blend and Dreadnought Syrah) were poured by a collection of acclaimed Master Sommeliers from all over the USA.
Master Sommeliers included, Fred Dame Icon Cru, Constellations Wines US, San Francisco, CA. Shayn Bjornholm, Washington Wine Commission, Seattle, WA. Jay Fletcher, Southern Wine & Spirits of Colorado, Aspen, CO. Greg Harrington, Gramercy Cellars, Walla Walla, WA. We are hosting a friend of Greg’s over on Waiheke Island in July which we are looking forward to! Michael Jordon (not the hoop sinking one, the vino sinking one!), Walt Disney Parks & Resorts® Worldwide, Anaheim, CA and last but not least Emily Wines from Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, San Francisco, CA.

In the Southern Hemisphere tent two Ritz staff we’re frantically promoting Man O’ War as they filled up many empty glasses of eagerly awaiting wine lovers!
I met Tim Garrard from Wine Merchants of Hawaii, which is a division of Johnson Brothers a massive distributor in Hawaii, it was interesting to hear about the Hawaiian Wine Industry. I also had the pleasure of meeting Alan Suzuki (above right) from Constellation Wines Hawaii, who I later learnt doubled as the Sheriff of Hawaii! I lost him in the crown heading to the local Karaoke Bar as I was swept away by the Walla Walla crew for drinks at one of the hotel rooms! I had a fabulous night and met Jamie Brown the wine maker for Waters winery, sampling a few of his favourite wines and got to chat more to Greg from Gramercy Cellars.

‘Psycho Pinots’ with Fred Dame and a panel of masters, wow this was a master class not to miss! A master class to make an everlasting impression on both palate and psyche with one of the oldest varieties of grapes to be cultivated for the purpose of making wines. Pinot Noir has a reputation of being a “difficult” grape for winemakers, but when perfected it has the potential to blow your mind…and taste buds!

Featured Wines: Estancia Reserve Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands
Lachini Family Estate Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley
Patz & Hall Pinot Noir, Hyde Vineyard, Carneros
Peay Vineyards Pomarium Estate Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
Pisoni Estate Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands
Sapphire Hill Pinot Noir, Sapphire Hill Vineyard, Russian River Valley
Scherrer "Big Brother" Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast
Wild Horse Unbridled Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara County Williams Selyem Litton Estate Vineyard Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley.

And then.. time to go home.. a quick stop off in LA to drop some Man O' War wine off to Jonathan from Vintage Point and then the long flight home to a cold 2 degrees!

Aloha,

See you soon,

Bronny

Man O' War visits Vasa museum

Before leaving Stockholm Man O’ War visited the harbor-front Vasa museum which contains the world’s only surviving 17^th century warship. The Vasa was among a series of new warships ordered by King Gustavus Adolphus in 1625 to establish a strong navy for the burgeoning Swedish Empire.

The Vasa was built to be the jewel in the crown of the Swedish Navy and be the mightiest warship in the world, armed with 64 guns on two gundecks. On Sunday the 10^th of August 1628 the Vasa was ready for her maiden voyage. She set sail and fired a salute, but after only a few minutes of sailing she began to heel over and ship water. And then in a disaster of epic proportions the glorious and mighty Vasa suddenly sank having never enjoyed the heat of battle nor the taste of an enemy’s hot lead!

In 1956 after many years of effort shipwreck-specialist Anders Franzén finally found the Vasa and quickly found support to raise and salvage her. Five years later on the 24^th of April 1961, the royal warship Vasa broke the surface of Stockholm’s harbor after 333 years on the sea bottom. Initially housed in a temporary museum, the Vasa was moved to her purpose specially built museum in 1990 to preserve her properly. To this day she remains the largest single object in the world that has ever been preserved.

Man O’ War raises a glass of sublime 2008 Valhalla Chardonnay to the Vasa as we leave Stockholm on a beautiful summer’s day. Next stop Åland Islands. Skål, B

Man O' War arrives in Stokholm

Man O’ War recently arrived in Stockholm after a great sail across the North Sea from the UK. While in town we wanted to catch up with Simon and Calle of Concealed Wines (www.concealedwines.com ) who are bringing Man O’ War wine to Sweden.

With impeccable timing we arrived in Stockholm just in time for the biggest party of the year…Midsommers. By chance Simon invited us to stop by a Midsommers party on the island of Ljusterö in the Stockholm Archipelago. Never one to turn down a good invitation we decided to drop in while exploring the Archipelago. Luckily we had a couple of bottles of 2007 Ironclad and the recently bottled 2008 Valhalla rolling around in the boot; and so bearing appropriate gifts we touched down at the party in a field at the water’s edge. What an amazing location, we have some great islands in NZ but Sweden has so many.

We had a great afternoon stop with some spectacular herring, good coffee and great people. Given that we still had to “get behind the wheel” we had to avoid the schnapps…flying can be such a cruel and unforgiving mistress! It looked like it was turning into a great party, and we are really looking forward to coming back to Stockholm soon. Skål, B

Not All Work At Man O' War

Saturday and time to put the secateurs down and pick the fishing rod up. Man O' War Farm hosts some of the best fishing grounds in the Hauraki Gulf and this one caught off the rocks in a very secret spot this morning is living proof. These girls reckon this one is going to taste pretty good beside some fries for dinner....their Dad reckons it's going to taste pretty good beside a bottle of Valhalla Chardonnay. Lets hope the All Blacks can redeem themselves against the French tonight to make them both all the more enjoyable.

Cheers from the team at HQ.

Waiheke Wine Centre & Viva on Tour at Man O’ War

The crew from Waiheke Wine Centre with Amanda Linnell from Viva, NZ Herald toured Man O’ War on Tuesday. Avoiding the rain we ventured around the property visiting several of our amazing vineyards and seeing how the vines were doing.

A tasting with Dunc, Matt & Rach of the current releases before a quick bite to eat, the team fell in love with Ironclad 2007, Man O’ War Cabernet Franc Merlot 07 and the Man O’ War Sauvignon Blanc 08.

Promotion all booked in for July with Waiheke Wine Centre, will see the team promoting Man O’ War Cabernet Franc Merlot 07, Man O’ War Syrah 07 and Man O’ War Chardonnay 07. Make sure you pop in and enter the draw to win a Man O’ War gift basket full of produce from Man O’ War Vineyards.

California
I just love St Helena, it is truly a special place, a pretty little town with fabulous wine and some really outstanding restaurants. I managed to drag myself out to sample a few and was blown away!
Tokyo trained sushi master Ken Tominaga has put together the menu at “Go Fish” http://www.gofishrestaurant.net/ and the food is just amazing, they also have an extensive wine list, so I thought best I investigate the local Pinot’s trying one from Russian River (Dutton Estate) and one from Oregon (Domaine Serene). I was well looked after by Tony and Scotty.

Martini House http://www.martinihouse.com/ a cool quirky restaurant with an amazing wine list. Wine from all over the globe including many from New Zealand as the wine director, worked with NZ Wine in San Fran. The food here was to die for, as I sat and nibbled and sipped on a local Wicker Cabernet – a tap on the shoulder. It was Mr Wicker himself who I enjoyed a conversation with. What a friendly place, I will definitely be back there!

Ghost fleet of retired Ships
I visited Benicia in California to catch up with Peter and Larry from Henry Wine Group, which is a large distribution company in Western America and couldn’t believe my eyes when I arrived. Called the “ghost fleet” or “mothball fleet”, a large flotilla of retired WW11 and Vietnam-era ships reside in the Suisun Bay directly in front of Henry Wine Groups offices. Although the original intent was to have them capable of becoming battle-ready within a month, thus the official name of “reserve fleet”, most of the ships have been quietly rusting away for years and are beyond repair.

On to San fran - I caught up with David Strada from NZ Wine Growers who took me for a drink up to “Fifth Floor” a restaurant, wine bar in the Kimpton Hotel.

San Fran to Arizona to meet Mary Melton from PF Chang’s. PF Chang’s is a large chain of American style Chinese Restaurants, I was lucky enough to eat at a couple and I have to say delicious!

Arizona to Portland, Oregon.
I was lucky enough to be invited by Andy, Mary and Jasper (the bug) Lytle to Wala Wala (sounds like somewhere in outback Australia) to be part of several special events. The Wala Wala Wine Festival in which I tried wine from all over the region. Stand outs for me were Abeja, Corliss, definitely Double Back, Lionetti and Waters.
And I thought the Napa Valley was good! Wala Wala is in Washington about 3-4 hours drive up from Portland, Oregon and geeze it is worth the drive, not only is it an incredible wine producing region, the restaurants are top gear! Wala Wala ladies of Wine

We ate at Whitehouse Crawford Restaurant and Saffron (twice) amongst several others.
Saturday brunch at Double Back http://www.doubleback.com/ co owned by Chris Figgin’s (winemaker for Leonetti/son) and American football star Drew Bledsoe followed by a launch for family and friends of DoubleBack, we were lucky enough to try DoubleBack's first release, which was incredible now and not due to be released for another year!

Leonetti barrel hall (right) Chris showed us around his families gorgeous winery and we tasted many fabulous wines.

Chris Figgins and his father from Leonetti and Drew Bledsoe at the DoubleBack launch (left).

We visited Ken and Ginger at Abeja http://www.abeja.net/ This place is amazing and so is the wine! (Ken and Ginger right).

Saturday afternoon tour and tasting at Corliss http://www.corlissestates.com/ followed by a dinner where I met four other people attending the Kapalua Food and wine Festival in Hawaii.

Portland-Los Angels
Caught up with Jim “Hollywood” Malloy, went to Chateau Marmont with the gorgeous Stuart Robertson for dinner where we spotted Courtney love and Russell brand (actor/comedian) on the tables next to us.
Gotta love LA.

I am currently in the air, heading south, about to land in Hawaii (Maui) for the Kapalua Fine Wine and Food Festival, of which will be just terrible..

Aloha,

Bronny

The blue skies of Tokyo

Another airport, another bus, another hotel… but many amazing people! Welcome to the blue skies of Tokyo, after 10 days of haze arriving in Tokyo was a blessing. Kicking around with Christian & Eric (long time supporters of Man O’ War and brilliant brand ambassadors in Japan) we meet some of Japan’s hospitality elite. First up a cheeky little Italian dinner, complete with a bottle of vintage Man O' War Merlot stored lovingly at the Caraggio.

Thursday brought on the NZ Wine show. It was huge! 500 people came through for a trade tasting, many media and sommeliers. Thankfully the gods were looking after me and Yoshito Shichiji to help for the day. His palate was amazing and very quickly he understood what we were all about and helped to tell the Man O’ War story to everyone who came by.
With an hour break we had another 400 consumers come through hosted by Air NZ, they were thirsty for both knowledge & great NZ wine. Many expats (including a few lawyers) enjoyed a touch of home and some good old kiwi slang.

Ready for a beer, Mike from Prophets Rock, John from Vinoptima and I headed to Murase Wine & Cheese

www.wine-murase.com a Mecca for New Zealand wines. Kenichi Murase the owner has fallen in love with NZ and has an extraordinary wine list, many pictures and maps from NZ, including one of Man O’ War! So look out as soon as we have stock landed in Japan.

My remaining time in this amazing city was meeting and tasting with some of Christian & Eric’s friends and restaurant owner clients. Had an amazing tasting with the T.Y. Express group, almost Tokyo’s equivalent of the Nourish Group but much nicer. Shimpei Terada the President, Kazuaki Takanari the Wine Director, and David Chiddo Vice President slurped their way through our range and were particularly impressed with Ironclad, Valhalla & Dreadnought. So we are hoping to have a home on their amazing wine list soon.

We also attended the opening of Factory, a new bakery opened by Sei & Aki Matsuura

www.factory-kudan.com who also own some great restaurants in the heart of Tokyo. My last supper in Tokyo was surrounded by new friends at a brilliant Spanish tapas restaurant, Bikini (yes I did eat some traditional Japanese food) which is part of the Four Seeds group www.four-seeds.co.jp Talking through Man O’ War and planning the next trip (including a cup of tea with David). It is a beautiful city, with charming people and great hospitality!

One must go home, it’s been a great trip and we have met some wonderful people and made so many new friends for Man O’ War. I am looking forward to seeing the team back at HQ, my own bed, cheese on toast, and ‘vegging out’ in front of the TV, plus not having to lug around 7 pieces of luggage! But we will be back and we very much look forward to it.
Sara

HMS New Zealand sails into a new vintage

Man O’ War has just left Dear Old Blighty and is heading across the North Sea for the Baltic. Where we are looking forward to catching up with Simon and Calle of Concealed Wines (www.concealedwines.com) in Stockholm. En route we will sail past the sites of the three major North Sea naval battles of WWI - Heligoland Bight, Dogger Bank, and the epic Battle of Jutland. One of the few big British ships of the Grand Fleet to be involved in all three of these battles was the battle cruiser HMS New Zealand, which had been gifted to a grateful Royal Navy by the people of New Zealand in the lead up to the Great War. Prior to the commencement of hostilities she had undertaken a visit to NZ under the command of Captain(later Sir Admiral) Lionel Halsey where a Maori Chief handed Halsey a Maori piu-piu and greenstone tiki, advising him to wear it in battle, as it would bring good luck to his ship. In all three battles, with the captain suitably attired, HMS New Zealand was in the thick of the fray but emerged unscathed each time with no loss of life. Getting amongst it during the Battle of Jutland she fired 420 twelve inch shells, the most of any vessel in the battle, following that old Kiwi maxim of “when there is lead in the air, there is hope!”. In honour of the HMS New Zealand and her wartime efforts we have recently released our 2009 vintage t-shirts with Sir Admiral Halsey as this year’s Man O’ War. B

Pruning Starts Tomorrow

It feels like just 10 minutes ago we drove the last of our Cabernet down the winding metal road to the Man O' War winery and signaled the end of vintage 2009 for the vineyard staff. A challenging yet exciting vintage ended as it always does, a big sense of relief combined uncomfortably with an empty hollow feeling hat it was all over for another year. All that you have worked for for the last 12 months was now over and out of your hands; adopted by the winery until such time they feel it right to give your babies back in a glass.

After a time of rest, reflection and a post mortem of what we've just been through, it's time to swap the T-shirts for swandries, the baseball caps for beanies, the picking snips for loppers, the lager for stout, the Rose for Cabernet and the Bar B for the crock pot and look forward to the start of vintage 2010, pruning.

Waiheke Island doesn't normally experience very cold winters but a couple of weeks ago a large anticyclone and southerly airflow saw temperatures plummet on the island leading to series of spectacular frosts (well, spectacular for Waiheke) and crisp clear days.

We welcome any cold chilling for the vines to help put them to rest properly, in fact, it would be nice if it snowed a couple of times a year to also suppress overwintering insects and disease but beggars can't be choosers. For now we'll take what we can get.

Pruning is a great time of year, a chance to make some changes, manipulate the vines into various forms to achieve goals and transform the vineyards back to a manageable state in readiness for bud burst in early September.

I'll let you know how we're getting on and be sure to add some images of our Ethiopian friends who sometimes resemble the marshmallow guy in Ghostbuster's, often needing to wear their entire winter wardrobe to stay warm.

Until then....from the Man O' War team at HQ

Cheers.

Man O’ War recently arrived in Southampton

Man O’ War recently arrived in Southampton and headed up to Stokes Fine Wines (www.stokesfinewines.com) near Andover in Hampshire to present our wines. We met with Tim, Justin and Nick in their office which is a converted barn in the corner of Apsley Estate. Really cool office and even cooler guys. Had a great visit and the wines showed well; so we are hopefully looking forward to Stokes and Man O’ War forging a great and successful partnership in the UK.

Unfortunately I left my pen (a pretty rare Bic!!!) at their offices and Justin emailed me and offered to mail it back to me. Fearing that without appropriate writing instruments all would be lost, we made alternative arrangements…..so today as Man O’ War was flying from Southampton to Dartmouth (where our Grandfather attended the Britannia Royal Naval College in WWI to train for the Royal Navy) via Oxford we dropped in at Lears Farm in Somerset to pick up the aforementioned wayward pen.

Lear Farm Air Traffic Control Director Jack.

Lears Farm is owned by Melody and John, who cut a landing strip in their field for us and had Jack direct us in as Air Traffic Control with great aplomb. The Somerset scenery was magnificent as was the hospitality at Lears Farm. We had a great cuppa and greatly enjoyed shooting the breeze with Justin, Margo, John, Melody and all the kids. Great pit stop… thank you. We are looking forward to heading back to Somerset soon to hang out and share some great wine and food with everyone we met. Cheers, B

Dartmouth with Britannia Royal Naval College in foreground.

“Where the sun meets the sea” Kevin Zhang,

Ni Hao
Back up to 80kgs of luggage, managed not to get charged excess luggage in Macau, the flight to Shanghai was very quick after all of the long haul, although we were stuck on the tarmac for 1 ½ hours while they tested us all for swine flu. They tested my 5 times, and after the 3rd I was starting to get worried! After the all clear, I met Mr Pan, who was my guide while in Shanghai and my saviour in more than many ways over the course of 3 days.
It is amazing with all of that traffic and little regard to road lanes that there are not many accidents. There is no stopping for pedestrians or other cars. None of the taxi’s have seatbelts, thank fully as I had so much luggage I couldn’t move around too much in the back seat.

China was in a state of lock down, I couldn’t access the blog, gmail or facebook and often the BBC reports would stop as they were censoring anything on the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square. The newspapers had strangely up beat feel to them with little bad news. Reminded me of how lucky we are in NZ.

The NZ Wine Show was a huge success, a room full of very interested wine people. They were very knowledgeable about wines and very keen to share their stories about New Zealand. Mr Pan did an amazing job translating for me. Met Kevin Zhang & Sherry Wang from China Wine Platform, Kevin’s comment on us was that we look like the place ‘Where the sun meets the sea’. We had a great tasting with them. There was also a wonderful group of Internet wine buyers from www.winekee.com who named us the best winery at the show!
Valhalla, Ironclad and the Man O’ War Sauvignon Blanc were main favourites.
Mr Pan took me to a local restaurant and had Peking Duck which was delicious!

Third day in Shanghai I visited some wine stores, and followed up with some people from the Wine Fair. Definitely a great opportunity here, the Chinese are very interested and want to learn as much as they can, I think the market will grow here quite rapidly into a very sophisticated wine market.

Ventured to a goods market in town, thank goodness Mr Pan was with me when we had to go into the ‘secret rooms’ and barter quite a lot. Amazing what you can pick up for $20 NZD. Always a “special price for a pretty lady”. Perhaps we should employ these sorts of tactics at home when selling wine.

For dinner, Mike (from Prophets Rock) & I ended up in a very unique Chinese restaurant overlooking the Bund in little cabooses, with incredible food; we were slightly worried in the beginning, with dishes named “Frog Saliva fries the tofu”. We also checked out the view (and a couple of beers) from the top of the hotel which was phenomenal.

Next stop Tokyo Japan.
Sara