As Singapore continues to become more of the wine enthusiast, it is always on the lookout for new, fresh and excellent wines from all over the world to tantalise its palette. With Asia’s lack of notable wine regions, it looks to its neighbour down under as the nearest region to provide some exquisite premium wine exports. The Margaret River region of Western Australia in particular is becoming increasingly recognised for its selection of fantastic wines from over two hundred vineyards, most of which are boutique-size wine producers.
Twenty of these award-winning winemakers have decided to visit the Red Dot and display their best wines to hopefully become a permanent fixture in many of Singapore’s wine outlets and fine dining and drinking establishments.
Last Tuesday saw the National Gallery’s ‘Yan’ and ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ bars host a campaign to invite Singapore to sample some of this region’s finest wines. Margaret River comprises 3% of Australia’s total wine production yet is responsible for 20% consumption of its premium wine market, so it is clear as to why many of its winemakers are keen to set their mark on Singapore and get their name out there.
While many of the hosts were sampling similar varieties of wine, I really enjoyed the fact that each had their own process of wine production, unique identity, story and most importantly, taste. With many of the wineries specifically blending Semillons with Sauvignon in a variety of ratios, it was an interesting combination that isn’t well known in Singapore, and in my opinion, was perhaps the biggest draw for potential buyers.
This media tasting, which is the first of many events across Singapore, provided a sneak peak of what to expect of the next few months of their ‘First Class in a glass’ campaign – which will run until 15th February 2017. These events include exclusive wine-matching dinners and light-hearted ‘wine battles’ hosted across a selection of venues including Bread Street Kitchen, Four Seasons Gourmet Market, Praelum Wine Bistro and The Padang just to name a few. To find out about many of the other events and their venues happening in the near future, be sure to check out www.margaretriver.com/first-class-glass-satellite-events/.
In addition to the events, this campaign is also holding a competition with some amazing prize packages to be won, including a luxury trip to the Margaret River region itself as well as event tickets, hotel stays and cases of award-winning boutique wines. To be in the running for these amazing prizes, all you have to do is submit a selfie of you enjoying Margaret River Wines either on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #margaretriverfirstclass. Each selfie is worth one entry and the competition closes at the end of the campaign. You can visit www.margaretriver.com/firstclass for more details.
The above article is written by our new writer, Matt (@theoldmesgone)who hails from Wales and livin’it up in the Lion City. Teacher by trade, aspiring writer/ adventurer by passion.
