TMG Blog

Two identical grape clusters rest on a weathered fence post splitting the frame diagonally, soil texture shifting across it — Same grape, triple the price
Burgundy

Same grape, same grower, triple the price: what the gap is

Two bottles are sitting next to each other on the shelf. Same grape, same producer,...
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An ornate old bottle with a wax sealed cork sits untouched on velvet cloth beside a plain everyday glass — Some nights waste the good bottle
Buying Guide

Nine occasions when the expensive bottle is wasted

Spending more feels like the generous choice, and sometimes it is. Often it is a...
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A wine glass sits on a small balance beam beside a stack of numbered wooden blocks on a dark surface — A score records a moment only
Buying Guide

What a 94-point score records, and what it does not

A shelf talker says 94 points. The bottle next to it says 89. The 94...
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Five identical wine glasses stand in ascending height on a wooden riser, each holding a different depth of red wine — Each rung buys something specific
Buying Guide

What each step up the wine price ladder actually buys

The gap between a HK$300 bottle and a HK$600 bottle is usually easy to taste....
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A wine bottle wrapped in plain brown paper with twine sits in an open gift box beside crumpled tissue — A safe gift still carries risk
Buying Guide

Buying wine for someone whose taste you do not know

You need a bottle for someone by Friday. You know their name, roughly their seniority,...
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A wine glass sits beside a small notebook with a pencil across an open blank page, dried lavender and citrus peel nearby — Describe wine so it can be found
Buying Guide

How to describe the wine you like so someone can find it

Someone asks what kind of wine you like and you hear yourself say "something smooth,...
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An unlabelled bottle lies on its side, back facing up with a blank paper label and a loupe propped against it — The back label tells half a story
Buying Guide

What a back label must tell you, and what it never will

Back labels get read in shops by people hoping to find out whether the wine...
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An Italian wine bottle stands beside a torn rulebook page and scattered dried rosemary sprigs on terracotta tile — One rule made Super Tuscans
Buying Guide

How one rule created Super Tuscans and reordered Tuscan prices

Tuscan wine lists price four things in an order that looks arbitrary: Chianti Classico at...
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Three worn oak barrel staves lean against a stone wall, each paired with a small glass of wine showing a different hue — Rioja tiers are age, not quality
Buying Guide

Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva measure time, not quality

Crianza, Reserva, Gran Reserva. One word changes on the label, the price climbs at every...
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A glass of pale gold wine sits on black volcanic stone beside a small cluster of green grapes in soft coastal light — NZ goes past Marlborough
Buying Guide

New Zealand after Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc is in almost every fridge in Hong Kong, and there is no...
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A small wine glass sits beside a narrow stack of gold coins and a tiny fenced patch of vineyard soil in a terracotta tray — Scarcity sets the Burgundy price
Burgundy

Why Burgundy costs what it does, and where the value hides

You looked up a Burgundy someone poured at dinner, found it costs more than your...
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A dense cluster of dark Shiraz grapes rests on cracked red earth beside a small glass of deep purple wine — Shiraz is not just jammy here
Australia

Australian Shiraz beyond the jammy reputation

Polite refusals of Australian Shiraz tend to arrive with a description attached — big, sweet,...
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Recent Post

Macallan TIME : SPACE Sherry Cask and Mastery
Glass Notes
Glass Notes: Macallan's yellow case is out. Why is the red one selling for half? 黃盒上市，紅盒點解跌咗一半？
Neat rows of dark oak whisky casks stacked beneath a wooden warehouse roof, a single dram glass resting on a barrel head — One distillery, its own casks
Producer Guide
Yamazaki and why Japanese distilleries do not swap casks
Fossil flecked grey limestone fragments with tiny oyster shell imprints scattered on dark soil beside a pale tinted glass of white wine — Kimmeridgian rock shapes Chablis
Burgundy
William Fevre, Chablis and what Kimmeridgian rock does