Andrew Caillard Maroma, real, in front of competitors shown on the iPad wine list
Simply Sunday. If you have nothing better to do, study wine lists wherever and whenever you can. A dinner at Four Seasons Chaoyang, Beijing, is a case in point. I would have ordered something simple but Andrew de Bito – a law graduate who shocked his father something horrid, back in Kuala Lumpur, when he told him he wanted to be a waiter (he is now the Hotel Manager) – said no, let us try an Andrew Caillard Mataro. That started off a whole tangent of interest. Andrew Caillard MW is wine guy of Australia’s Woolworths Group, plus founder of the Langton’s Fine Wine Classification of Australian Wine, plus he is a winemaker. Hence this Mataro, from a grape introduced, from Mataro, in the 1830s – and Caillard himself describes it as a fragrant, pure wine, sinuous with pristine fruit and lacy textures and ideal for drinking at just one year old.
But of course wine is best with food – no unusual luxury travel tip there. To do justice to the wine, go for the Italian fare at this luxury hotel’s open-kitchen, ever-popular Mio (‘my’). Eat Mama Style, dishes to share, and be prepared for surprises. Luca Piscazzi, cooking that night, sent out an entre-acte, twixt starter and main, thinnest slices of scallop topped with shaved frozen horseradish. Taste buds whetted, dear reader?
