Dateline: Asia - wine industry in Macau

When the Macau Wine Museum opened in December, 1995, there were only about 160 different labels offered in the grocery stores, wine shops and restaurants of macau. Today, there are 600 different Portuguese wines on ale, and those bottles are being bought and drunk.

"The Museum has sparked a revolution in wine drinking in the province," proclaims Francisco Esteves Goncalves, one of Portugal's leading wine gurus. The Lisbon wine consultant called in to advise the Macau Tourist Office about the subterranean landmark to the grape is a former president of the International Association of Somelliers. He headed the association for three years and for another decade was technical director, organizing the worldwide somelliers' competition.

Through his role in the Macau museum he is active in spearheading Portugal's wine thrust into China. "There are many secrets about Portuguese wine," he muses. "We try to explain them. There is nothing like this in Portugal. It is strictly a Macanese success story."

The museum is a major tourist attraction, as well as an important trade office, acting as a platform for Portuguese wine imports into the region. It also serves as a site for seminars, conferences and trade discussions.

More than 900 wines are stored in the locked alcoves and glass display cases, the oldest a Madeira from 1815.

The director, Jose Braga Goncalves, says staff work closely with wine importers, to tell the story of Portuguese wine and to awaken interest in wine culture. This is a program that certainly seems to have borne a ripe harvest for importers and restaurateurs; go into Chinese restaurants and coffee shops and you see a good selection of bottles on sale, and, more importantly, people drinking good wine. It is also a major prop for the tourism industry.

"We've got more to offer than gambling," contends the deputy director of Macau's Government Tourist Office, Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes. The wine museum has not only become an stand-alone attraction for visitors, but has also boosted restaurant business, a core Macanese tourist staple.

The museum was focal point for the first Macau Wine Festival, held last December. With stalls of 10 importers selling dozens of wines set up in the scenic restored glory of the Leal Senado, the main cobblestoned square in the center of town, Macau spent three weeks talking about wine and drinking it. "There is no doubt there is a wine resurgence in Macau," says Goncalves. "Wine appreciation and knowledge are growing constantly. people are drinking more, and they are drinking a lot better."

Just a few years ago, that green-tinged, slightly effervescent Vinho Verde was the ubiquitous white wine in Macanese restaurants. Now, there are Portuguese Sauvignon blancs and lean Chardonnays. On restaurant shelves there are now scores of distinguished Portuguese wines which before the opening of the museum never made their way to the Far East. Because of good sales in Macau, these are now being sold in Hong Kong and China.

Much of the reason for this new interest in quality wines can be traced directly to the museum, which has helped in the wine education of Macanese, Portuguese and international tourists.

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