Canne's prizes revive HK films
HONG KONG - By lifting the Golden Palm for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival this year, Tony Leung gave Hong Kong's drooping film industry a much needed boost.
Film-selling website to shut down
WASHINGTON - Reel.com, a website aimed at selling to film-goers, will shut down, the owners said on Monday, citing a cash crunch.
Chinese erhu meets Western jazz
IT was a slightly unusual marriage - the Chinese erhu, an ancient Chinese stringed instrument, and a six-piece Japanese jazz band - so it was difficult to know what to expect as we arrived at the crowded Shanghai Centre Theatre for a recital titled "Shanghai Dream."
'Some Like It Hot' - century's best comedy
LOS ANGELES - "Some Like It Hot" and "Tootsie" - films in which some of Hollywood's great male stars dress up as women, were named on Tuesday as the two funniest American films of all time.
Lucky meeting brings singwes together
THE soft 1970s songs of Filipino band "Infinite" sounded enchanting in the Lobby Bar of the Huating Hotel as drizzle fell on the streets outside.
Striking the right note for kids' future
CHILDREN play pianos while their parents wait outside. A common scene in local piano schools.
The aroma of Spanish wine
By Rousseau Chen
MIGUEL Torres, chief executive officer of the leading Spanish Torres Winery, was very enthusiastic introducing his wines in Shanghai two days ago despite the fact that his joint venture in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, is running in the red. Miguel Torres said he hoped the Chinese market would grow faster than the Japanese market, which witnessed per capita wine consumption from one glass a year in 1975 to more than 2 litres today. "In Japan, you are a modern woman if you drink wine. If you drink beer, you are outdated," he told local journalists at a wine-tasting on Tuesday. He said the grapes in Spain mature naturally. The climate is dry, soil is relatively poor and output of grapes is lower compared with some other countries. But it means more concentration of good ingredients such as sugar and tannins. Torres, who holds a national diploma in oenology, introduced several wines at the meeting, his first presentation in Shanghai. The Vina Esmeralda 1998 is a fresh wine with intensely fruity and floral aromas of passion fruit, peach blossoms, honeysuckle, ripe banana, rose and jasmine. Pale yellow with a green rim, the wine is fresh, crisp and elegant on the palate. It leaves an aftertaste reminiscent of green apple. Torres said this wine, which is not totally dry, is very easy to drink. It also fits very well with Chinese cooking. Mas La Plana "Black Label" 1990 is the best of Torres wines in Spain, according to Torres. It is produced in small quantity, about 90,000 to 100,000 cases a year, with 100 per cent sauvignon grapes. Dark and extremely intense cherry in colour, it shows rich hints of dark fruit jam, enriched with soft touches of smoke and spices, characteristic of ageing in French oak. On the palate, its voluptuous density is accentuated, as is its extraordinary structure and deliciously smooth tannins. The aftertaste is intense. Torres praised the wine as "very elegant, mature and has a fantastic character." The Moscatel Oro has the seductive floral scents of roses, geraniums, lemon and verbena. It is ideal both served cold as an apertif or as a dessert wine. Torres Winery, a family-owned business, was founded in 1870 and has become Spain's most progressive winemaker. It is now sold in 160 countries and regions in the world. In addition to Spain, the Torres family also owns wineries in Chile and California. The company first came to China in 1982 and its wines are now marketed by Montrose Food and Wine. Torres' joint venture in Zhangjiakou, in North China's Hebei Province, was set up in 1997.
Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.