What Singapore has taught us about wine...

We didn't come to Singapore expecting to be as surprised as we eventually were. We'd sold wine in France, and all across Europe. We thought we understood our buyers.

Singapore changed that fairly quickly.

The first thing we noticed was the questions. European customers tend to ask about vintages, about terroir, about how a particular year compared to the last. Singapore customers ask about food. Not in a casual way — in a very specific, considered way. What does this pair with? Would it work with Cantonese roast duck? What about something spicy? The meal is the starting point, and the wine has to earn its place at the table. We found that clarifying, actually. It strips away a certain kind of wine snobbery and gets straight to what wine is actually for.

The second surprise was how much relationships matter here. In Europe, a good wine sells itself through the right distributor, the right placement, the right press. In Singapore, people want to know who made it, why, what the estate looks like throughout the year. They want the story behind the label before they commit to a case.

We've had customers who tasted Château Canon Chaigneau at a pop-up, asked us questions for twenty minutes, went home and thought about it, and placing an order a week later.

That patience and that curiosity is something we've come to deeply respect!

The third thing, and perhaps the most personal, is how Singapore has made us articulate things we'd always taken for granted. When you grow up around wine, you stop noticing what's remarkable about it. A customer here once asked us what Lalande-de-Pomerol actually tastes like compared to a Pomerol — not technically, but in feeling. We had to stop and really think. That question, and the many like it we've received since, has made us better at talking about our own wine. Which, in a way, has made us better at making it too.

We're still learning from all of you, but Singapore has been a generous teacher!