Jeannie Cho Lee, Asia's first Master of Wine as she calls herself, led a tasting of the Grandi Marchi at the Royal Meridien in Shanghai yesterday morning. She is purposely coy, always smiling…and takes her audience through a tasting in a very friendly way. Not surprisingly, she used descriptors from her book, Asian Palate, to portray the wines. Certainly such words touch a different chord when spoken to a Chinese public. Tell me, though, what wines you think she was portraying with the following terms: Water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, longan, jasmine tea, chrysanthemum, lily bulbs, yellow plums, rambutan, black jelly mushrooms, peonies, jasmine flowers, red beans, dried red dates and persimmon. If you draw a blank, think about how the Asians must feel when we speak about gooseberries, black currants and saddle leather. Comments