Wine critic to start world tour in Beijing

World-renowned wine critic Robert M. Parker Jr will kick off his "Grand World Tour", hosting a series of interactive wine events, in Beijing on Feb 26. He will then head to Shanghai on March 1 and 2 and Hong Kong from March 4 to 6.

According to Parker, the events have been designed to engage wine lovers at multiple levels. Each city on the tour will have a two-part program with a selection of wines tailored to the city.

"We do a master class, which is going to be on a particular topic," he said on a video on the website of Wine Advocate, a bi-monthly wine publication he set up in 1978. With his particular stylistic preferences and note-taking vocabulary, the magazine has become influential in American wine buying circles and is therefore a major factor in setting prices for newly released Bordeaux wines.

Parker said there would be "a lot of people at the master classes", noting the sessions will be a less expensive option on the tour. "(There will also be an) 'up close and personal dinner' with truly profound wines. I'm actually shipping over a number of very limited-production French wines as well as Italian wines and California cult wines."

For Beijing, the "Up Close and Personal" dinner on Feb 26 at The Courtyard, which will feature wines from Petrus and Lafleur, has sold out. A "Gala Hedonist's Dinner" on Feb 27 at Four Seasons includes wines from Pomerol and St. Emilion, and costs $1,100. No master class is yet listed.

After Hong Kong, the tour will head to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and extend to selected cities in the United States before finishing in London.