Tasting 'presidential' wine and 2 'warriors' worth sipping

[Photo provided to China Daily]

Silver Heights, one of several terrific wineries in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, has introduced an "entry-level" wine brand, The Last Warrior, with a white blend and a red blend each priced at 158 yuan, about half the cost of its popular Family Reserve label.

The white, an easy-to-drink blend of almost equal parts of chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc, is touted as having "an array of tropical fruit aromas with a crisp, dry and refreshing acidity". Drinking it outside recently on a warm afternoon, we found the nose and palate of this wine changed a good bit as we drank.

The red is a 60-40 blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot that has a bit more oomph than the white: The nose is all dark berry and earthy. We found it to be a good match with roast duck, and suspect it would pair with a steak just as nicely.

Hong Kong master of wine Debra Meiburg says her MWM Wine School, "a longtime dream", will launch on May 26. The Wine & Spirit Education Trust-approved program provider will be located in Hong Kong's hot Wong Chuk Hang area. Meiburg promises "dynamo teachers, a fully-customized curriculum of fun, inspiring and interactive learning experiences."