Auction...

Delicious!

...kind of.  Altruistic Wines decided to shut it's doors in pursuits of the technological sorts.  Rai, the owner, and his partners are working on a new app to create wine clubs that will also serve as a platform to sell wine.  Thisw means that his import business in Hong Kong will fall by the wayside, which is great for me.  Cheap wines, get em while they're hot!

Inside the big room in the cellar

So the auction was supposed to be for Rai's high end wines; the prize being an imperial (I'm talking 6 litres) of Lynch Bage. Reserve price $14,500 HKD.  Hmm, perhaps next time.  BUT, seeing as there were only 7 of us, including Rai, the auctioneer and his assistant, the auction turned more into a wine sale.  After drinking a lovely Grenache Blanc from Santa Barbara, we all went back to the cellar (that Rai also owns) to see what he has left.  Whatever he doesn't sell by Tuesday goes to auction by Acker.

We all stood around in the 15 degree dark cellar drinking lovely California wines; a Cab Franc that Paul loved, and a Bordeaux blend that was really really lovely.  Then Rai asked what he could do us for.  I made a few suggestions of what I like; Grenache, Zins, and anything interesting, and he went to work pulling out bottles left and right.  In the end we got 12:

Sauv Blanc from Lake County- 6 Sigma
Rose from 6 Sigma
Tempranillo 6 Sigma
Grenache from Santa Barbara- which we drank last night and was awesome!

2 Pinot Noirs from Oregon
Bordeaux blend that one of Rai's customers claims to be excellent
Zinfandel
And a couple more I can't remember off the top of my head.

We took the Sauv Blanc, Rose, and Grenache home and the remaining bottles will remain stored in the cellar until August free of charge.  I feel so grown up buying nice wines and cellaring them :)

Paul loves his Cabernet Franc

THEN today after I hit Sai Kung for some sales, I met Paul in Quarry Bay for some lunch.  We also popped into the local wine shop.  Turns out it's only 2 months old, has predominately German wines (although there are Canadian, Austrian, and Australian too), and the guy who runs it is a WSET approved tutor.  I think I will be spending a lot of time and money there.  I found my new Jimmy.

Cellar Fun

Delicious!