Making A Scene

Master of Wine Richard Hemming gives Augustman the low down on one of Singapore’s latest upscale members-only wine clubs, 67 Pall Mall

5,000 WINES, 1,000 BY THE GLASS, 15 SOMMELIERS, 67 Pall Mall is a convivial private members’ club by wine lovers, for wine lovers. Located at the Shaw Centre Penthouse formerly belonging to Singapore magnate Run Me Shaw, it is now home to the biggest and most diverse wine list in Southeast Asia. Though the interiors and clientele of the private club are upscale, the underlying premise of the founders was to make wine more affordable; after all, the idea for 67 Pall Mall was conceived when ex-Barclays banker and oenophile Grant Ashton decided he was done paying through the nose for overpriced wines at restaurants.

The Orchard Road outpost brings the ethos of the members-only hideout which began in the historic Sir Edwin Lutyens-designed building in London to Southeast Asia. Heading the club’s wine programme is Master of Wine Richard Hemming. Less than 500 people have passed the Master of Wine exams since 1953 and Hemming counts himself among the 420 Masters in the world to bear that title.

13 years as a wine writer, occasional judge in international wine competitions, including stints as a cellar hand and viticultural assistant, Hemming eventually relocated to Singapore in 2019 where he was later appointed as the Singapore club’s resident Master of Wine, a role that will see him look after the club’s wine portfolio. Every detail was considered, “Wines are served in hand-blown Zalto glasses designed to bring out the aromas and nuances in every wine, elevating the drinking experience,” explained Hemming.

Indeed, however well appointed the Main Club Room was, it was the unmistakable six-metre floor-to-ceiling wine tower housing thousands of bottles in an environmentally controlled atmosphere that occupied our attention.

The food is no slouch either. Boasting an extensive menu for members to explore, the culinary staff is led by Head Chef Alex Zhu. Zhu honed his French and British culinary sensibilities from stints at Marco Pierre White’s The English House, Daniel Boulud’s DB Bistro, and Les Amis group’s Au Jardin, producing suitable accompaniment to the bottles we sampled. Among our favourites was the pan-fried foie gras and veal sweetbread, served atop a homemade crumpet with pickled onions and poultry jus. In between bites of deep fried youtiao (dough fritters) dipped in burrata marinated with black vinegar dressing accented with Sichuan peppers and crushed peanuts, it was a combination of luck and duty that we had the presence of mind to ask Hemming a few pertinent questions.

Was replicating the atmosphere from London one of the considerations?

There are some differences but the decor and design is very similar. It was designed by Geila Daughtrey, founder and creative director of local agency Rockett Studio. They also did Burger and Lobster at Raffles Hotel and Bistecca Tuscan Steakhouse. Geila actually worked for the firm that designed the London club. It was totally serendipitous, it’s funny how wine connects us all. She knew the look and feel of the club and everything you see, including the wine tower is bespoke. Obviously the food and wine are very similar but we have different dishes here. That said, it is the members who make the club and all of them are through recommendations, which I think is the best way to create a large yet intimate network. We don’t have to advertise or recruit, it’s all wine lovers where the main attraction is the incredible selection. Ultimately, we wanted to feel like this outpost belonged in Singapore rather than recreate a slice London we dropped on top of a Penthouse.

Are you still taking members?

We have moved to a waiting list now. We basically do one in, one out. The natural cycle is a little hard to fathom for the moment as the world begins to re-open post pandemic. In normal times, we would expect people to move on for work or relocation, these number up to 50 a month but very few people are travelling at the moment and more people are leaving Hong Kong for Singapore. The waiting list is probably growing significantly longer.

Can membership be sold?

Not for regular members but there’s a life membership that can be sold and that comes with a share of equity in the company.

The starting point for those memberships are $250,000 and that value may go up. The normal joining fee is $2400 but you can only buy from us and hopefully we will keep turning these over. We don’t want to overcrowd membership because then people can’t get in.

What’s the percentage of lifetime members?

It’s about 190, slightly less than 10% of total membership. All with different backgrounds, some with more equity, some with less. We allow five guests per member but there’s a limit to how many times a particular guest can return. If a couple brings the same friends every weekend, those friends need to become members because they take up two spots from proper members. You can bring your spouse but typically they join under a spouse membership which is half your fee. It’s a very deliberate tactic because most wine lovers tend to be 30 to 50 and male, so when wives bring their girlfriends, it changes the demographic a little bit because we don’t want the club to become a load of guys showing off their wine.

It’s our version of ladies night.

Is membership transferable between the countries? Yes and it’s fully reciprocal also. So if you were to transfer to London or in fact to Verbier Switzerland, then you would take your membership with you. There would be a changeover so you would start paying in

sterling pounds or francs or whatever but if you’re just traveling, then you still get full access to the club.

Asia currently just means Singapore but we have our eyes on a few places. None of these are official yet but we’re going to Tokyo next month and we’ve been speaking to people in Shanghai and we would love to be in places like Melbourne and Sydney and perhaps Shenzhen or Taipei.

Why was Singapore chosen to be the first club outside of Europe?

The founder, Grant, had Singapore at the top of his list. Previously working in finance, he came to Singapore and Hong Kong a lot and he just likes it here. After plonking all the figures in a spreadsheet listing the pros and cons like cost of living, rule of law and even to the shape of the power plugs, Singapore beat Hong Kong on all his metrics.

But Hong Kong has zero tax on wine…

Yes, you can get wine more cheaply but is that a good thing? Arguably yes for the consumer I suppose but for the professional, it actually makes things very competitive. There are guys in Hong Kong selling fine wine for 5% margin and its killing them because everyone is selling the same stuff

A WINE INSIDER’S SECRET: CHAMPAGNE DELAMOTTE It’s a bit of an insider champagne because it’s not sold retail normally and it’s not the kind of thing you would find in a Fairprice or Cold Storage. They also make this champagne called Salon which is my favourite Blanc de Blanc and they only make it when the vintages are pe ect. In the 21st century, they’ve only made it 20 times out of 100 vintages and when they don’t make it, the grapes go into Champagne Delamo e. Don’t tell anyone. The Maison doesn’t have a second label but Delamo e the sister company have a Blanc de Blanc and a Blanc de Blanc vintage. Every time I ask them what happens to the Salon grapes, they tell me it goes into the Delamo e because they’re not just going to throw it away, they just don’t think it’s good enough to be bo led by itself, that’s not uncommon in winemaking.