27-29 MAY, 2008

Asia-Pacific Vinexpo at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center in the sporting area of  Wan Chai. http://www.winexpo.com/. I would actually expect this event to be more interesting than London`s equivalent.

20-22 MAY, 2008

London International Wine Fair and Distil, at ExCeL, Victoria Docks, E16 1XL, arrive via the Docklands Light Railway. London`s big three day event, that grew out of the racy liberty of the Bristol Wine Fair of the 1970s. Now it is a largely branded goods event, so that a bumbling scribbler covering 4 to 40-hectare domaines finds little of genuine relevance. A highlight from my last visit two years ago was the Brazilian girl, in national football strip, walking around this enormous show hangar playing keepy uppy with a football, the ball never touching the ground as she glided it from one foot to the other. Cosa boa, gente.

Last year, I was in Moscow, and the highlight was the text received at 11 pm Moscow time (8 pm in London), as I was finishing my home-cooked spaghetti washed down by some Chapoutier Rasteau in my client company`s apartment, from a desperate Scandinavian importer seeking a restaurant in London. Talk about forward planning. After 90 minutes of texts, including his requests to me in Mosco