MANILA BULLETIN - Wine Appreciation

Valerie Tan (Event Host) and William Yao (Director, Wine Century Brothers Philippines)

Model with Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2010

Penfolds is an Australian wine company established in 1844, which offers high quality products for fair value. As an extension of the Chinese New Year celebration, Future Trade International, Inc., Penfolds’ local distributor together with Wine Century Brothers Philippines, hosted the Penfolds wine dinner at the Royal Sharksfin Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown, Manila. A full-course dinner was served for the Chinese community, who is beginning to appreciate pairing the flavorful rich cuisine with very good wine. As China becomes a superpower, more and more Chinese are beginning to look beyond the world for more interesting tastes and flavors to match their food. More Chinese buyers are buying rare auctions of Chateau Lafite or Chateau Margaux vintage wines, which would have been unheard of just decades ago. It was just right that Australian winemaker Penfolds taps the burgeoning Chinese market for some wine appreciation dinner.

As guests arrived promptly, they enjoyed cocktail food while drinking their favorite wine from the bar. The wine dinner started with Hong Kong lechon barbecued honey pork partnered with Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2011, followed by prawn in wintermelon box paired with Koonunga Hill Chardonnay 2011. Abalone with goose web and lemon chicken were both served with Penfolds Bin 2 Shiraz 2012. Salt and pepper spareribs was served with Penfolds Bin 138 GSM 2011. Pan-seared Angus prime beef cubes was joined with Penfolds Bin 28 Kalimna Shiraz 2010. Fujian fried rice was the finale dish and the mango pudding was served for dessert. To keep the full course dinner livelier, the hosts raffled off exciting premium Penfolds items and wines.

It was a successful event, well-attended by many Filipino-Chinese guests. Seen enjoying the wine dinner was the director of Wine Century Brothers Philippines William Yao with his wife  Imee Yao. Also present to support the event was Future Trade International, Inc. chief marketing officer Yogi Ringler.

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Yogi Ringler (Chief Marketing Officer, Future Trade International, Inc.) presenting the grand raffle winner of Penfolds wine

Kharl Ocampo (Trade Marketing Manager, Future Trade International, Inc.)

Peter Lim , Stella Lim, and Cynthia Chua

Michelle Saique, William Co, Anne Yongco, and Aldrin Loyola of Wine Century Brothers Philippines