I jet off to China in just five hours to judge in Shanghai at the 2010 Shanghai Wine Challenge, and am so very excited. Not just because there's wine involved but because there's a new culture to be experienced and Asian food to be consumed. Friend (and one of the most influential men in wine in the East) Simon Tam has emailed me a short list - because my visit is just five days and I shall be judging for three of those - of food markets and restaurants I should not miss. I have photocopied it three times and plan to tuck it away in three different pieces of luggage just in case.

As have all judges, I have been asked to bring along a couple of wines to share at a dinner or two ... and have snuck from the cellar a 1990 Nuy Muskadel and 2003 Etienne le Riche Auction Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. The Nuy has earned its berth because I think it will so very different to anything the other judges will tuck into their luggage, but the Le Riche is there courtesy of a recent marvellous vinous occasion.

Last week, six of us cosy-ed up to two dozen 'old' Cape Winemakers Guild auction wines and found that these wines had - in the main - held up beautifully. While the vintages we tasted spanned 1996 to 2007 (a white wine), most of the reds were from the 2002, 2003 and 2004 vintages. Our unanimous wine of the tasting was a 2003 Le Riche Auction Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. At seven years old, it was still opaque and youthful in the glass, and had a spicy berry fruit nose, with hints of forest floor bottle age. Most impressive, though, was its palate - there was considerable fruit concentration, refreshing acidity, taut but integrated tannin and a savoury, dry finish. I was delighted to find a bottle of Etienne's Limited Release cabernet from the same vintage in our cellar, and can't wait for the dinner at which we gently draw the cork!