Flashback from France: A look at Vinexpo 2009

By Yvonne Chiong Life and wine move in tandem: When you have lots of money, you can find the best wines to drink, and when you are down on your luck, you can look for the best value. As a sommelier and a consultant, it has taken me more than 10 years of ups and [...]

Palette Vino in Beijing: Cozy confines, good wines, superb prices

By Jim Boyce As I am a fan of the Palette Wines portfolio and of enjoying a few bottles with friends in cozy hutong surroundings, the combination of the two is bound to be a winner. Since writing last October about the Dongsishitiao branch of Palette Vino, in Beijing, I have returned four times to [...]

Vintage tasting: City Weekend surveys Beijing’s wine scene… in 1998

By Jim Boyce A few weeks ago, I popped into Jenny Lou’s gourmet shop near Chaoyang Park and counted around 100 different sparkling wines. One hundred! Choice in Beijing, in terms of shops, tastings, and restaurant, bar, and hotel wine lists, is incredibly diverse when compared to a few years back. Case in point: this [...]

Lessons learned: Training 2,000 restaurant workers in China

By Yvonne Chiong   Since my last post, I have completed more than 30 two-hour training sessions with restaurant employees in China – all over Shanghai as well as in Beijing and Hong Kong. The idea was to give them a basic understanding of wine.   I find it interesting that even I, someone who [...]

New to town: Getting started as a Shanghai sommelier II

By Yvonne Chiong This is the second of two posts by Yvonne Chiong about her move to China to be a sommelier and her early experiences on the job. Last time, I explained about how I came to Shanghai from my native Singapore to become a restaurant sommelier on the Bund. What were the first [...]

New to town: Getting started as a Shanghai sommelier

By Yvonne Chiong This is the first of two posts by Yvonne Chiong about her move to China to be a sommelier and her early experiences on the job. I came to Shanghai in 2003 from my native Singapore for an interview to be a restaurant sommelier. I was unaware of and unprepared for what [...]

Joining the bunch: Yvonne Chiong

Yet another wine lover is joining our group of contributors at Grape Wall of China, a nonprofit site that provides info and opinions about the country’s growing wine scene. Yvonne Chiong, wine director, WHM Group Key focus: Sommelier insights “Yvonne Chiong was chief sommelier at Jean Georges restaurant (Three on the Bund) in Shanghai, 2003 to [...]