Hong Kong's first urban winery opens

Hong Kong’s 8th Estate Winery opened its doors on Saturday 29 November 2008 selling white, red and dessert wine varietals. Only months after the local government abolished taxes on imported wine, Hong Kong now has a fully functional wine production facility that imports grapes specially selected from some of the best growing regions of the world.

Upon arrival in Hong Kong, the production begins the traditional way: pressing, fermenting, ageing and overall gentle development of each wine.

As a boutique winery (it will have a limited run of 8,300 cases per year), the 8th Estate aims to present consistent, high quality wines with the unique attributes and tastes that only hand-made, locally produced wines can offer.

Each bottle produced will be labelled as a product of Hong Kong and will specify where the grapes were grown. For the 2007 reserve, the majority of the grapes were sourced from the high desert country of eastern Washington State, USA; in 2008, the 8th Estate has paired its selections, combining extraordinary Italian grapes with several stunning Washington varietals.

The 8th Estate will also be hosting public tours, with its Italian winemaker personally conducting tastings and answering questions.

Hong Kong is now set to become the third wine trading hub globally, after London and New York. Since the abolition of import duty in February 2008, the price of wine in Hong Kong has fallen by 20 per cent and imports of wine have soared by 78 per cent, according to government sources.

For further information on the 8th Estate visit The8estatewinery.com. For more information on visiting Hong Kong see Discoverhongkong.com.