Ian and I made a rather impromptu decision last November to ring in 2017 in Tokyo, thinking that it would be nice to get away from the strange heatwave overtaking our city during what is supposedly winter.

Our first mistake was not checking what was open over the three-day period that included New Year’s Eve and the subsequent two days of 2017, because all of the natural wine bars we wanted to check out most certainly weren’t.

In case anyone is fortunate enough to be heading there soon and wants some places to check out, we were planning to visit: Le Verre Vole a Tokyo, Wine Stand Waltz, Organ, Salon des Saluts, Bunon, or Ahiru Store. Sadly, all of them were closed well into 2017.

On the bright side, after a bit of Googling and guesswork, we ended up at Chatei Hatou: a hobbit hole in Shibuya filled with tenants that all sort of looked like variations of Yubaba from Spirited Away. Nope, no wine here – just supposedly Tokyo’s best cup of joe.

There’s a lot of hype behind Chatei Hatou of course. It’s frequently written as “the coffee shop that inspired Blue Bottle” and is one of most famous Japanese traditional coffeeshops (kissatens) in Tokyo. If anything, the experience was a charming one. The coffee is freshly roasted and the beans are ground every day. As the baristas specialize in pour over coffee, each cup is a meditative spectacle for those seated along the high bar. The wall is lined with cups and saucers of varying shapes and colours straight from a picnic in Wonderland, selected to match the perceived character of the customer. For the record, Ian’s cup was green, while mine was red. We didn’t read into it too much (maybe we should have).

The original Hatou Blend that Ian got was smooth with hints of chocolate and cherry, pairing nicely with a very fluffy piece of Earl Grey chiffon cake. I opted for the “cappuccino”, a pour over topped with fresh cream, orange zest, and cinnamon – a spicy pick-me-up to combat the frosty temperatures of Tokyo’s streets. Both were delicately unique, and well worth the trip.

Most people in Hong Kong don't have the luxury of having a wine fridge, but as we've mentioned before, it's one of the most important things for a wine lover to buy. 

It's more important than buying good glassware, more important than knowing which vintage of Bordeaux is the "best", or which obscure indigenous grape is the most popular right now on Instagram.

And while that may seem like a rather large digression from, "When your cheapest wines are the best wines", the two actually have quite a lot in relation. When you have the luxury of choosing amongst 150 well stored wines in your apartment, you don't have to only age your most expensive wines. It's as simple as that.

But hold on a second there. First I ask you to buy a fridge, and now I'm asking you to buy one that can hold around 150 bottles of wine? Well, then you better get one that can at least hold 48 bottles. That's not too large, not too expensive, but it's still sizeable enough to start building a healthy selection.

The most important thing about building a decent selection is that you don't have to get forced into drinking that hot red wine that you've kept in the closet, that overly chilled bottle of Champagne in the fridge, or that super expensive young Burgundy when friends come over.

Instead, you have the option to pick an appropriately priced bottle of wine that is at a great level of maturity. We'll get into what kind of wines you can pick up to start building an affordable collection in another post, but first I'd like to share a little about what inspired this post.

Right now I'm drinking a six-year-old Cabernet Franc from Thierry Germain of Domaine des Roches Neuves that I've owned for around three years. It's his simplest bottling, and cost me around $100 HKD when I first got it. It's probably not available in any stores right now, especially since it's been aged for so long, and also because it's just not really a wine that people expect to drink after six years.

Most Cabernet Franc like this is consumed within 3 years, even though they can be wonderfully expressive with even more age. Right before I started making dinner I wanted to drink something that reminded me of autumn. I was thinking falling leaves, the smell of wet earth, and freshness. Those immediately call for Cabernet Franc, and luckily I still had two bottles of his basic domaine wine in my fridge. I wouldn't feel compelled to have to finish the whole thing (even in a week), and neither did I have any expectations for the wine. It was good two years ago. But would it still be okay now? There was only one way to find out.

To put it simply the wine was beautiful, and everything I wanted. Crunchy minerality, just that kind of capsicum and fresh blackcurrant that I wanted, along with a gentle earthiness. And all this for $100? Why do we need to buy something more expensive when a well aged, affordable wine brings so much joy?

That's pretty much one of our core beliefs, and every wine that we import can probably benefit from an extra one, two, or even five years of age. A basic wine that tastes good in youth can also taste even better if it's stored well. Obviously this doesn't apply to all simple wines, but maybe later we can go through our selection to pick out a few cellarable favourites.

To give some examples, white wines like Muscadet or Chenin Blanc may not be very expensive, but they are still wines that require at least some ageing to reveal their best traits. Young Muscadet is refreshing and simple, but even a basic Muscadet by a good producer can be stunning after 4-5 years. 

Until then, keep drinking, buy a fridge, and don't worry about how much a wine costs. Because it's often the cheapest wines that surprise us the most.

We consider ourselves pretty lucky when we get the chance to rub elbows with other like-minded people in Hong Kong's F&B scene. Recently, I got the chance to chat with Janice Leung Hayes, founder of Tong Chong Street Markets and writer of the well-read and well-loved e_ting.

We added our favourite snippets here and the rest can be seen on Ponytail Journal - a blog about slow food, slow fashion, passionate people, and most of all – the hidden wonders of our wild universe.

On the relationship between growing produce and taste ...

"So, I started eating out a lot and it got me asking things like, 'why does this tomato salad taste better than that tomato salad?' That’s when you get into growing.

Around that time, I also visited Noma. It was very new and people were really excited about eating locally – it wasn’t such a cliché yet, which got me thinking about Hong Kong.  I wanted to do a story on it and started researching. That’s how I found the farmers for the market and it showed me that people were returning to older ways and, basically, were trying to rebuild an ecosystem"

On starting to write her own restaurant reviews ...

"I got into [reading] restaurant reviews but thought, 'you know … I don’t know if I really believe this guy. I’m going to go to that restaurant and see if I agree!' And I started writing about it. It eventually became what’s on my blog and the blog became what I was eating, what I was cooking, where I was going…"

On Hong Kongers and sustainability ... 

"I think what people forget is that you can change a small habit every day. Like taking public transport, or taking more passengers in your car. It’s actually economical."

On shaping the funnest life possible ... 

"I just feel like if you are heading in a certain direction and if people recognise that, it will just happen."

On the meaning of the word "goodness" ...

"Goodness is selflessness for everyone’s benefit." 

The summer air in Hong Kong is as sticky as a treacle in the days before a looming tropical storm, and on the eve of our first big typhoon of the year I took the chance to cool down and meet up with James Ling to find how he manages to keep his business sleeves rolled up, while getting elbow-deep into the malts and hops of beer-geekery with curious customers.

We also got a peek behind the scenes of the beautiful restaurant and bar that he keeps ticking called Second Draft—a collaborative project between the creators of Little Bao (now in HK and BKK) and The Ale Project. Their wine list is full of gems from the Cork Culture portfolio, and features some of our favourites from vignerons such as Franck Peillot, Gar 'o' vin, Château Cassini, Etienne et Sébastien Riffault, Madelin-Petit, and Yann Bertrand. 

Describe what you do?

I run two beer pubs (The Ale Project and Second Draft), and I try to bring craft beer culture to Hong Kong. It’s all about appreciating the craftsmanship of the brewer to keep improving and redefining beer by breaking standards.

What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Nothing. If I could have anything … hmmm … satay beef noodles would be nice, with a runny egg on top. Hot Horlicks too!

Tell us how you slipped into F&B in Hong Kong?

It was really random. I graduated from college and had no “lifetime experience”. I was into wine and liked drinking. My brother came back to Hong Kong from the UK and started telling me about the craft beer culture there, while sharing a couple of samples he has shipped over too. It was the first time I tried craft beer. He then brought me to The Globe (an old Hong Kong pub, and the first to stock a large selection of craft beer) – and I just tried out being a server there! And that’s how I got in. My manager thought I would quit in two weeks, but I stuck around for much longer.

I think after a while people found that I was genuinely interested in beer and had a talent for tasting beer – and I got to try different positions around the pub. Later on I interned at Young Master Ales (one of Hong Kong’s first local breweries) for a few months and I learned about the basics of brewing.

Eventually I joined The Ale Project (TAP), which at first was kind of a DIY project. We were poor when we opened, and had to paint all the walls ourselves and do all the hands-on work ourselves. We couldn’t hire a designer, but we had a basic idea of what we wanted – “organic style”!

We are still seeing how it fits into the F&B scene – but it’s doing quite well! It’s the first time a craft beer bar and restaurant have come together to create something unique. We (the TAP team at the bar, and the Little Bao team in the kitchen) have two totally different perspectives, but in a good way.

What makes 2nd Draft an unique project in the F&B scene?

We are also the first bar to try to push everything to the top in terms of serving quality. For example, Second Draft has three temperature systems for beer. If you serve it too cold the flavours are “locked”. These principles apply to wine, and we believe the same should apply to beer.

What’s the biggest hurdle for F&B?

It’s always the education of the customer when you try something new. Hong Kong island side is harder compared to Kowloon side. [The customers] on the island side believe they are more experienced – and in truth they are – but are often not open to new ways of looking at food and drink. It’s a balance you have to strike every day - to try and guide people through a positive experience while maintaining true to your mission.

What’s the most gratifying part of your work?

When you succeed and gain a strong following. I once convinced one customer to drink a super sour IPA, and they liked it – it’s very, very rewarding.

What does the word goodness mean to you?

Anything good to me always has a compelling story behind it, be it good food, a good venue, and good people of course.

What distracts you a lot these days?

Pokémon GO and politics. Actually, I’m really focused on the Beer Judge Certificate Program right now – I just really want to learn more about beer. I want to master it. I also have a dream to open a heavy metal craft beer bar, but have it be the most welcoming place in the world.

Just recently Yasmin, Anne, and I were a little stunned to see that a large wine distributor in Hong Kong had pretty much copied our web design for their own online store. We are sure it wasn't purposeful from the owner of the company, who we've met before and is quite personable, but it's still a rather disingenuous move from whichever staffer was hired to revamp their e-commerce store. They not only borrowed heavily from our design, but also our copy, and stylistic tone.

That in itself hasn't really bothered us. Ever since we launched our website in 2013 we've seen many other wine merchants in the market adapt similarly with improved e-commerce stores, which is inevitable, and also better for local wine lovers in general. 

But what does bother us is how ever since a few other like-minded wine importers and Cork Culture started working exclusively with organic, biodynamic, and natural wines, many of the big importers in Hong Kong have started to stock one or two wineries that fit this "category", after their bosses started noticing that customers in Hong Kong are actually receptive to buying organic wine.

We imported just a few cases of @cassini_vigneron_ #stemilion because we were worried about the readiness of 2014. But we just crack and poured this and it's brilliant and sensually textured. It opens up well aromatically over an hour, but the transparency is almost Burgundian. A seeming paradox I know, but Cassini makes it happen. #hkfoodies #winegeek #winelover #naturalwine

A photo posted by Cork Culture (@corkculturehk) on May 14, 2016 at 5:42am PDT

While many may see this as something positive, I find it rather cynical. It's the equivalent of how a macro beer producer/distributor like Anheuser-Busch InBev is swallowing up as many craft breweries as it can, purely in order to secure a larger cut of the pie. If all the big players eventually start distributing the most famous natural winemakers alongside their more conventional large estates, then there's little room for distinction in the market. 

That's why more often nowadays you see a large wine importer with a portfolio that is all over the place stylistically—they choose what works and what sells, but it's a decision made in the boardroom, not in the heart.

If consumers don't care where their wine is from as long as it is good, then the same few companies that already dominate the local market will continue to grow unchecked, at the cost of small, dedicated importers. Less competition amongst merchants is terrible for consumers, and Hong Kong's wine industry is vibrant because of how many different kinds of wine are available in the city.

Watching #chefstable with an orange Pinot Gris from NZ. It's the colour of the sunset, and equally enthralling.

A photo posted by Cork Culture (@corkculturehk) on Jun 4, 2016 at 4:55am PDT

From the very start of our company in 2013 we've focused on wines that are made strictly by low intervention methods. We don't stock wines that aren't made either sustainably, organically, biodynamically, or naturally because that's our humble belief. And neither are we absolute natural wine fanatics—we recognise that SO2 (which distinguishes natural and biodynamic wines) is essential in wine to a certain degree. 

But we'd be lying to ourselves and to our customers if we sold Grand Cru Classe Bordeaux out of one hand, calling it fine wine, and then sold natural wine out the other hand, all while maintaining our stance on pushing low-intervention wine.

For us, it's simple, since our belief has always been that great wine is grown, not made. Biodynamic, organic, and sustainable winemaking isn't a trend that we suddenly support just because it's starting to become popular in Hong Kong.

Exclusive import of this quiet grower that is relatively unknown even in France. They favour a low dosage style, which means more scrutiny on the quality of the grapes. Verdict? Naturally rich, rustic texture of bubbles, but minimal carbonation. Nicely balanced acidity, chalky, and more on the salty side than floral. Apples on the end, but more berries due to the higher presence of PN. Not bad for a basic cuvée.

A photo posted by Cork Culture (@corkculturehk) on May 30, 2016 at 6:23am PDT

While we are glad to see that more and more importers, and hence their customers, are exposed to sustainable wine, it's frustrating to hear merchants proclaim their love of good winegrowing, when for years all they've done is push plonk upon their customers. 

Our apologies for writing what may have come off as a little defensive. But we find it necessary to establish that what we are seeking to do with Cork Culture isn't a marketing gimmick or a simple business opportunity formulated from recognising a hole in the market. From the very beginning we've never been in this for the quick buck, and more than anything we value the support we get from customers who believe in what we do.