Two years ago we held a wine dinner for Room to Read here in Hong Kong and it raised over US$500,000. I'm just back from the second such dinner at which David Elswood and Anthony Hanson MW of Christie's managed to boost the total raised for John Wood's extraordinary enterprise bringing schools and libraries and books to the third world (now in southern Africa as well as Asia) to US$940,000, beating the Seattle chapter's recent total of over US$700,000.
A great evening during which we insisted that the hundreds of diners went without their favourite red bordeaux and drank dry white Grace Winery Koshu 2005 Yamanashi from Japan, Grace Vineyard Chairman's Selection Special Edition 2005 Shanxi red from China and some fine Pinot Noirs – including burgundy, funnily enough.
The crowd coped, and bid, well.
