Dear Fellow Members,

Since I last wrote to you, we have had five events in the last 13 weeks – The President’s Table I, The American Independence Day Dinner, The 2008 National Day Dinner, The Evening of Chateau Clinet with Ronan Laborde and the Italian Night with Masi. Once again, the Committee would like to express their gratitude for the excellent support that we have been receiving from you, our members, to these events.


Time to update you on the latest developments within the Society, so here goes:-


1. Wine Auction in Singapore

One project that former President Mike Hadley and Vice-President Graham Hayward have worked on for well over a year was the intention to co-operate with Langtons, Australia's largest wine auction house, to set up a series of wine auctions in Singapore, which would be coordinated by the Society, with technical input & expertise coming from Langtons. The idea was to put S'pore on the map as a centre for wine buying in S.E. Asia. We consulted the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board and they responded very positively to the idea and thus the first auction was planned for November this year.

However, as I am sure you have read, some months ago, Hong Kong removed all duties & taxes on wine with the avowed intention of becoming the wine centre for Asia. At almost the same time, Singapore changed its rules so that duty on wine is now paid on an alcohol strength basis, rather that on a flat basis, as in the past.

Subsequently, at the end of March, a very successful wine auction was held in Hong Kong, in co-operation with an American auction house. Naturally this rather worried us and on top of this, recently Macau has abolished duties as well. As a result of all these developments, Langtons felt it would not be viable to proceed with our auction plans at this time, a point of view with which we have to sympathise.

The Society will review its position regarding running auctions if and when the climate on duties and taxes on wines changes in Singapore.


2. Overseas Wine Tour to South Africa (24th-31st Jan. 2009)

A draft itinerary was recently circulated to members and so far, 8 people have indicated they would like to participate. This is good news as the Travel Agent feels the ideal number is 8-10. Naturally, higher numbers can be accommodated, so please e-mail me at livecds@starhub.net.sg if you want more information or if you would like to have your name(s) added to the list of interested members. However, since we have obtained the pre-requisite number of interested members for this wine tour, I will proceed to finalise the itinerary and the price for circulation to you subsequently.


3. Wine purchases

So far, $14,200 has been spent this year on the purchase of 80 bottles of wines. Joyce Chang, our cellarmaster, has purchased a case each of Chateau Raymond Lafon 1989, Chateau Haut Brion 1988 and Chateau Pichon Baron 1988. Our cellars have also seen purchases of beautiful Burgundy Grand Crus like the Nicholas Potel Bonne Mares 2000, JM Boillot Puligny Montrachet les Referts 2006 and Jacques Cacheaux Echezeaux 2005, just to name a few. All of these can either be drunk immediately or cellared for a long time to come.

Although the Committee has approved a budget of $30,000 to the cellarmaster for the purchase of wines for 2008, with the recent financial crisis, the cellarmaster is not in a hurry to spend the entire budget. Joyce has recommended that we should now be on the look out to make opportunistic purchases of investment grade Bordeaux......if the price is right, which will definitely further enhance the quality and value of our cellar to the benefit of each and every of our members.

The Committee has agreed to adopt the following cellar strategy for the year 2008:-
· To boost the quantities and quality of Sauternes for immediate consumption;
· To boost the quantities and quality of Burgundy wines, both red and white, for immediate consumption as well as for cellaring;
· To purchase and invest in good value Bordeaux (1st and 2nd Growths) which are of good investment grade wines as a hedge against inflation and which can also be used for future President’s / Vice-President’s Dinner.


4. New Committee Member

As a vacancy exists on the Committee, the Committee has decided to co-opt Toh Hsien Min to same, to which he has kindly accepted the appointment and responsibility. He is an active member of the Society and well-known to many of you. He also has the unique distinction in Singapore of having been part of the Oxford University team in their annual wine-tasting battle with Cambridge University. Oxford won, he assures me! The Committee would like to extend a very warm welcome to Hsien Min in coming on board the Committee.


5. Forthcoming events

Friday Oct. 31st – SPANISH EVENT - an array of the best of Spanish wines paired with the best of Spanish cuisine specially prepared by the Executive Chef of American Club, Mr. Esmeraldo Oteruelo, who specializes in Spanish cuisine.
Nov Event – Details will be announced once available.
Saturday Dec 13th - PRESIDENT'S DINNER – This year’s dinner has been booked at Grand Hyatt, Singapore. An evening of exquisite cuisine and equally astonishing wines will be featured. Mark your diary.

6. Reinstatement of members to the Society

We have reinstated the membership of 2 former members of the Society:
· Mr. Derrick Lum
· Dr. Marlar Tun

Welcome back to the folds of this fine family of wine and food lovers.


7. Web-site Upgrade

The Committee has decided that it is time to revamp and improve our official web-site. We will like to invite comments from you, our members, as to what you would like to see and have in our official web-site. All suggestions will be welcomed and our President will be happy to take all these suggestions through his email at ctchen@acieslaw.com


That's all for now, folks. Look forward to seeing you soon at our forthcoming events.


Graham Hayward
Vice-President,
IWFS of Singapore