Last Days: A Pop-Up Wine Store With A Hong Kong Retro Theme

Just when we think wine pop-up stores may be taking a summer break, there comes another, and this one with a Hong Kong retro theme.

WineNow Pop-Up Fair 2022 is organised by Wine Now Monthly, a Chinese wine magazine founded in 1998. It adopted the Hong Kong 80s décor that strikes a chord with the magazine’s readers. It’s a cool way to travel back in time especially for those who haven’t experienced that golden era of Hong Kong first hand.

In terms of wine, it is like a market place where each vendor has his own table. When I was there, there were wines from China, France, Italy and Hungary, and some of them will change in the second half of the fair. For spirit lovers, there is a spirit table with gin and whiskies, including the limited edition of Hong Kong Whisky using the famous Hong Kong comics as label. Whisky lovers can join the workshops to learn more.

I was pleasantly surprised to spot a wine made by my winemaker friend Ian Dai from China. Last time we met was at his very boutique winery, Xaio Pu (小圃酿造) in Yunnan back in January 2020 when we could still travel without any restriction, and I remember we tasted the wine from barrel. Ian makes what people called 'natural wine' that uses no synthetic products and with minimal intervention. This wine, a blend of Chardonnay, Riesling and Petit Manseng has extended skin contact therefore the colour is darker than white wine. It is fresh, fragrant, pure with tea-like tannin, a far cry from the sometimes funky, off-putting natural wine.

Visitors are welcome to browse and shop wine, or they can buy a one-day tasting pass to try all the wine and spirits on offer. There are also games and of course lots of photo-op. Immerse yourself in the golden 80s of Hong Kong with your favourite glass of wine!