Here’s an excerpt:

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 66,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

The Christmas tree at the entrance to Capital M in Beijing

As some of you know already, one of my favourite restaurants in Beijing is Capital M at Qianmen with its terrace overlooking Tiananmen square.

During a trip in mid-December, I had the opportunity to dine their again. It was another one of these occasions when I was ready for a treat.

A Christmas tree in the hall welcomed me this time. The whole of Beijing was full of Christmas decoration and Christmas songs were blasted from every loudspeaker in town, so it seemed.

The interior of Capital M

December view of Tian an men

The enlightenment – Bread and butter

I had come from the Enlightenment exhibition at the National Museum of China, and craved for a meal in a nice location, so my natural choice was Capital M at the south end of Tiananmen square with its warm atmosphere and splendid surroundings.

The art of the enlightenment exhibition, by the way, is a wonderful display of one of the most significant times in European history, and I was glad that I had finally found the opportunity to attend the event which is basically celebrating human freedom.

I had even bought the catalogue and had ample time to browse through it while dining at Capital M.

The lunch menu

It was not difficult to choose my meal. Unfortunately, I was by myself and hesitated to order a bottle of wine. Instead I went for the house wine by the glass which allowed me to taste two wines. Naturally, I went for the house wine which I knew from my earlier visits.

The Capital M house wine comes from Angoves, a family-owned and run winery in South Australia has supplied Capital M for two decades already.

I love the wines made by Angoves Family Winemakers which celebrated its 125 year anniversary in 2011.

Capital M’s wine list is very impressive. There is a short list with about 300 wines to choose from and a long list which makes you faint in delight.

Beetroot tart with glazed shallots, mild goats’ cheese and candied walnuts

This is just an awesome dish, smooth and full of flavours. It dissolves in the mouth and the white wine was just the right counterpoint.

A white wine from Angoves Family Winemakers

Pumpkin and almond ravioli in a sage and butter sauce

I did not feel “meaty” and therefore went for the non conventional pasta (how can you put pumpkin in a pasta?).

This is a wonderful composition of different ingredients with distinct flavours. The sage and butter sauce blows you away. My taste-buds had a wild party. The spiciness of the Shiraz accentuated the experience.

A glass of red wine by Angoves

Capital M has been founded by Michelle Garnaut, the well-known Melbourne-born restaurateur, and is the recipient of an impressive list of awards. I also like the GM, Espen Harbitz, who is always present, greeting the guests and asking for feedback.

If you should visit Beijing in the water dragon year, a meal at Capital M should be part of your itinerary.

Address:
Capital M
3/F, No.2 Qianmen Pedestrian Street
(just south of Tian’anmen Square)
Beijing 100051 China
中国北京市前门步行街2号3层
邮编 100051
Tel.: +86-10-6702-2727
Fax: +86-10-6702-3737
www.m-restaurantgroup.com

Today I will share with you a secret. What could that be, you might ask? Well, there is not only good wine in Australia but also excellent beer. Beer what is the man talking about?

My lovely brother in law, Michael, surprised me again this year by filling (literally speaking) my fridge up with bottles of my favourite German beer: Bitburger Pils.

So whenever I needed to cleanse my pallate or felt homesick for my native land, the Mosel. I could open a bottle of Bitburger Pils and forget all the sorrow and be happy.

Thank you Michael!

The good news is, there is good beer in Ozz.

I found some attractive ads on a rotating billboard which I photographed. A glossy airline magazine had also a few ads which I found interesting.

Let us have a look at them.

The first four pictures below show caucasian men looking at wine bottles and/or seem to sample wine. The men are of a mature age and seem to know what they are doing. They emit the scent of experts, professionalism and sincerity suggesting that we the viewers can trust them.

I found the ad for icewine intriguing. The three others deal with red wine, the most appreciated grape wine in China.

The next Three pictures show specific wine brands promoted by the ad. Two of them are for Chinese brands, Chateau Junding and Niya, the thrid is for a French wine Chateau Marquis de Terme, Margaux? The price of 1600 Yuan is not insignificant, but many Chinese consumers go for the most expensive Frnech red wines. As almost everything in China wine consumption is booming. In 2012 China has overtaken the United Kingdom as the fifth largest wine consumer in the world.

The last two photos from an airline magazine cover a specific winery and wine region and invite people to visit the place. This is wine tourism in the making.

Given the fact that many prospective Chinese investors are visiting vineyards and wineries in Australia these days, and more and more buyers of Australian premium wines come from China, it is worthwhile to have closer look at the Chinese wine industry, wine consumption habits, change of tastes and many other issues related to the appreciation of fine wine.

Oakridge Winery

When we are on vacation in Australia, we are always trying to visit some of the many wineries in our vicinity. From Glenburn the Yarra Valley is just a “stone’s throw” away so to say; a 30 to 40 minutes drive will drop you at the doorsteps of most of the famous Yarra Valley wineries.

However, when it comes to the execution of our plans, we more often than not fail. The Christmas holidays in 2011 were no exception. But at the last minute, we dashed along the Maroondah highway to buy a couple of bottles of wine we could take back to Bangkok.

The Oakridge Winery was our destination. We knew through the grapevine that Oakridge had won the prestigious “winery of the year award 2012″. Moreover, the critics also praised the 2010 Chardonnay 864 of the Lusatia Park Vineyard.

The newly invented “twilight cellar door”, open until dark, made the visit possible, because it was already 18 h (most wineries close at 17 h) when we got there. We rocked up at the vineyard where a function took place but did not miss the “tent” with the mobile cellar door.

Well managed vineyards surround the winery

Oakridge has become an icon in the Yarra Valley. Since 1978 the family-owned winery produces premium and award winning wines on about 10 ha of land. Since 2002 David Bicknell is the chief wine-maker at Oakridge.

The winery and lots of green space around it

The Yarra Valley is considered to be a cool climate region. Its wines are often compared to the wines of Bordeaux, Cotes d’Or and the Northern Rhone.

Especially the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay wines of Oakridge are very remarkable, but also some of the other wines win top awards for instance the 864 Syrah (gold in 2011). From the Oakridge website you can find out more about the awards and the awards performance of the Oakridge wines.

The new crop on the vines

The twilight cellar door with the very friendly staff

Oakridge’s premium brand is the 864 series. Unfortunately, the Chardonnay we intended to buy was not available at the twilight cellar door that day. We were pressed for time but tasted another one of their premium wines, the ’2010 Oakridge Lieu-dit Chardonnay’ from the Duck’s Lane vineyard. Delicious.

According to the Age & Sydney Morning Herald 2012 Good wine Guide, this Chardonnay has 95 Parker points. As you know, I am not phased by the various point systems. I either like a wine or I don’t regardless of the points

By the way, it is scientifically proven that wine judges cannot replicate consistently the same rating in replicated test series. And ever since I red Daniel Kahneman’s book “Thinking fast and slow” I know the reasons which are neatly explained by “prospect theory”.

Anyway, we bought a bottle of this gorgeous drop. She was one of only four in our luggage to make the way to Bangkok. I will tell you how this ’2010 Oakridge Lieu-dit Chardonnay’ tasted when I open this treasure. For now it is safely stored in my wine fridge. Stay tuned.

Brochures and wines at the twilight cellar door

The other sure think is that we need to come back to Oakridge for a proper tasting. You are cordially invited to join us.

Address:
OAKRIDGE WINES PTY LTD
864 Maroondah Highway,
Coldstream, Victoria 3770 Australia
Tel.: +61 3 9738 9900
www.oakridgewines.com.au

The Yea butcher shop’s unassuming front

Summer in Australia is also the main barbecue season. We took the opportunity of the great meat supply to indulge in quite a few feasts. This also gave me the opportunity to train in one of the major male Australian skills: operating the barby in masterly fashion.

Where do we get the meat from, you might ask?

Well, the butcher shop in Yea (in the 19th century known as the Muddy Creek settlement) is our destination when shopping for first class meat. Two brothers are running the shop, and they are very friendly and helpful to find the right piece of meat for the planned occasion.

The shop from the inside

The quality of their produce is outstanding. We had a few big occasions for which we needed beef, lamb, pork, chicken and sausages. Whatever we took home was just super-jum. Juicy and fresh, tasty and nurishing.

Yea butcher shop: quality meats

That’s the place to stock up if you need quality Australian meats.Check it out when in Yea.

Address:
Yea Meat Supply Pty Ltd
Butchers–Retail – Yea, VIC
62 High St, Yea VIC 3717, Australia
Te.: +61-03- 5797 2501

I usually skip lunch when working in my office. Instead I eat a muesli bar or some fruit. Green mango is one of my favourites. Naturally that I was reminiscing about the recent past, the glorious days of our Christmas vacation on Two Hills Vineyard.

One very memorable meal was an Anglo-Saxon kind of food combination with roasted potatoes, silver beet, carrots and a leg of lamb. From the pictures you can see how delightful these dishes looked like. But can you also imagine the taste? Gorgeous food, awesome stuff.

The question what wine should we have with this meal was easy to answer. First of course our own 2004 Merlot. But we wanted also something else, something strong and refined, a wine with zest and character.

I selected a ’2008 Thousand Hills Shiraz’ by one of our neighbouring vintners from the Yea area, the Rees Miller Estate.

I have written a few blog entries about wines produced by Rees Miller Estate ( I also love their Merlot), and I do not want to repeat myself. Silke Rees and David Miller produce some of the best bio-dynamic wines in our region.

The ’2008 Thousand Hills Shiraz’ is just a wonderful wine, full bodied and spicy with lots of fruit and an intense finish. It was just the ideal accompaniment for the lamb, the potatoes and the veggies. Frankly speaking it was one of the best red wines I drank in 2011. Watch Rees Miller and their wines.

Address:
Rees Miller Estate
5355 Goulburn Valley Highway,
Yea, Victoria, 3717.
Tel.: +61-3-613 5797 2101
E-mail: info@reesmiller.com

The contrast between my life on the farm during the few weeks a year in Glenburn and my day-job as a “promoter of freedom”, as regional director for Southeast and East Asia in Bangkok could not be more striking.

There is a desk job with extensive travels in Asia on the one hand and a holiday “recreational program” on the farm, under the blue and at times not so blue sky in the fields, paddocks and the vineyard, on the other.

One day I study the Weekly Times, a local farm magazine, and read about farm gate prices, noxious weeds, cattle markets, vegetable growing, the newest farm machinery and the export projections for mutton and lambs. I talk to neighboring farmers about the weather, the hay harvest and beef prices. Vintners and wine-makers tell me about the last vintage and the prospects of the Australian grape and wine industry in the years to come. I learn about the current challenges, the successes and failures, the passions and sorrows of residents in our street, Two Hills Road, as well as the ups and downs of rural life in general.

The next day I am back on my desk in Bangkok and answer e-mails, make phone calls, study various progress reports, regional political analyses, accounts and financial documents. I read about parliaments, parties and policies, about the US influence in the Asia region, economic growth, the China factor and so on. I talk to project officers and partner personal, to political analysts and social activists, to Asian parliamentarians and business people.

My two realities could not be more different, I guess.

It takes some time to get used to either of them. I usually immerse myself in farm work the first few days after my arrival on Two Hills Vineyard, partly to forget the burdens and realities of my bread-winning work in Thailand- partly to experience myself what it means to sweat in the vineyard and concentrate on slashing the grass in the paddocks.

I very much enjoy the physical work, the exhaustion, the pleasure after the completion of a task. I can see the results of my efforts almost immediately. This is very satisfying and it is in stark contrast to my professional work about institutional, political and social change in complex transforming Asian societies in the region I am responsible for. These change processes take time (ages), in fact often much longer than our project planning permits and a very different kind of patience, persuasion and perseverance is required than in farm work.

In both I find conditions which I cannot change: the hail for instance which destroys my grapes or the change in global commodity prices, the fall of a government or the call for early elections. And in both I concentrate my efforts on the issues I can influence. I try to do “a good job”, try to be professional, diligent and hard working.

I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to experience these diverse realities; that I feel the pain and the joy which goes with them, and which reward my efforts – at times – or punish me for the lack of it and/or “bad” judgment.

The time on the farm together with family and friends is invaluable. It clears my mind as a beer clears a wine-makers palate. It refreshes me like a lime soda when I jump of the tractor. It connects me to people I love and treasure. It is proof that life is just beautiful.

Back to work now in Bangkok.

2012 is in full swing and I had not even time to write a single new post!

How could this happen?

Was I too busy? Did I have different priorities?

Yes.

But my motto for the New Year is: only the sky is the limit.

Let’s hope it works.

Welcome in 2012. Stay tuned to the Man from Mosel River.

Two Hills

The last day of 2011 was rather hot (32 Celsius). The best place to be during hot weather is our dam. So we prepared some food and drink for a pick nick at Brownies Landing, that is how we called our jetty from which we jump into the water.

I threw a few lamb chops on to my barbecue, the girls prepared some dips, salads, cheese and other stuff and we were set for an afternoon at our dam. The water was cold and refreshing, and we stayed until sunset.

My lamb chops

I had picked up a few bottles of bubbly for New Years evening. The dry sparkling of Yarra Burns is a fine bubbled wine made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which was very lovely.

Yarra Burns bubbly

Bring on 2012. We are ready for it.