Giving wine in Hong Kong.

A wine gift in Hong Kong can go wrong in three familiar ways. A young wine that needs fifteen years goes to someone who wanted to open it at the weekend. A famous label arrives after two days in a car boot. A set of four lands on the desk of a client who notices. A bigger budget fixes none of these. The right bottle starts from the person receiving it, comes with a word on when to drink it and reaches them cool.

The occasions come round every year: a client at Chinese New Year, a host at Mid-Autumn, a thank-you at Christmas. The details below make the difference in each.

Start from the recipient

Three questions settle most choices. Does this person collect, with a cellar and the patience to use it? Do they drink now, opening what they are given within weeks? Or do they keep bottles for an occasion without really cellaring them? A collector will value a wine with a long future and a clean history. Someone who drinks now wants a bottle that is ready tonight. Someone who keeps bottles at home needs one that is ready or nearly so, because a Hong Kong flat is no place to age fine wine. If you cannot tell, choose a wine that is good now and will hold for a few years.

Then taste. Notice what they order at dinner: red or white, Bordeaux or Burgundy, Champagne or nothing else. An assistant or a partner can often tell you more in one conversation than a year of guessing. Check, too, that they drink at all. Plenty of people do not, for reasons of health, faith or preference. For them, a beautiful bottle is simply the wrong gift.

Finally, weigh prestige against discovery. A famous name is easy to recognise and to value, which suits a client relationship where the gesture must read clearly. A thoughtful discovery, such as a great grower's wine or a mature bottle from a less fashionable region, shows that you chose rather than bought. For a host who knows wine, the discovery often lands better. For a first gift to a new client, the famous name is the safer choice. Either way, buy from a merchant who can say where the wine has been: famous labels are the ones most worth faking and old bottles the ones most damaged by poor storage.

Say when to drink it

A young classed Bordeaux, Barolo or vintage Port is a gift to the recipient's future self. That is generous if they have a cellar and a burden if they do not. Whatever you give, add a short handwritten note with the wine, the vintage, when to open it and whether to decant. Two lines turn a bottle into advice. They also stop a fine wine being opened ten years early out of politeness.

When you bring a bottle to someone's home, say whether it is for the table tonight or for their cellar. A host should never feel obliged to open a gift, nor to put away one you hoped to share.

Choose for the person rather than the label and say when to open it.

A bottle from a birth year or a company's founding year makes a memorable gift and a demanding one. Check the year first. In some regions vintages differ widely and a poor year may not have lasted; how much the vintage matters depends on where the wine comes from. Vintage Port is declared only in the best years, so a given year may have none.

Older bottles need care twice. Before you buy, check the fill, the label and the storage history, as buying mature wine explains. After you buy, deliver early so the bottle can rest. Tell the recipient to stand it upright for a day or longer before opening.

Festive wine gifts in Hong Kong

Customs vary from family to family and plenty of people pay them no attention. Those who do will notice.

• Red is auspicious. It is associated with good luck and prosperity, which makes red wine and red or gold wrapping natural choices at Chinese New Year. Avoid white or black wrapping, colours associated with funerals.
• Pairs are generous. Two bottles read as a fuller gesture than one.
• Eight is a lucky number. In Cantonese it sounds like the word for prosperity, which makes eight a good count for a larger gift.
• Sets of four. Four sounds like "death" in Cantonese and Mandarin, so a set of four is best avoided, however good the wine.
• Presentation matters. A proper box or case, clean wrapping and a card. Hand it over with both hands.

For Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn and Christmas alike, deliver a few days before the holiday rather than on the eve, while the recipient is still at the office.

Corporate gifts: check the policy first

Before choosing anything for a client, find out what their employer allows. Many organisations cap the value of gifts their staff may accept or forbid them outright. Under Hong Kong's Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, an employee of a private company should not accept an advantage, which can include a gift, in connection with the employer's business without the employer's permission. Public servants work under strict rules of their own. A gift that has to be declared, returned or refused is worse than no gift, so if you are unsure, ask the recipient's office what is allowed.

Two habits help. Avoid sending gifts while a tender or negotiation with that company is open. When in doubt, host instead: a fine bottle shared at a dinner you give is often the better gesture. Wine etiquette at a business dinner covers how to do that well.

For a list of clients, the same wine in quantity with the provenance checked is a sourcing job worth starting a month ahead. Keep a simple record of what went to whom and when. It helps if a compliance question ever comes up and it stops you sending the same wine twice.

Magnums and Champagne

Two choices please almost everyone. Champagne suits every festival and most occasions in between. A vintage or prestige cuvée lifts it for a special recipient and reading a Champagne label helps you choose.

A magnum looks generous, ages well and is made for a family dinner at New Year. It is a better fit for a household that entertains than for a couple who rarely do. Why big bottles age better explains why collectors prize them. A magnum of Champagne does both jobs at once.

Before you hand it over

Hong Kong's heat is hard on wine in transit. Never leave a gift for days in a car, a hot lobby or an office where the air conditioning goes off at night. Collect it from the merchant close to the day, keep it in an air-conditioned car and deliver it cool. If it will be opened soon, a day to settle after the drive helps, especially for an older red with sediment.

Then run through a short list:

• The bottle suits the person, not just the occasion.
• A note says when to open it.
• No sets of four and no white or black wrapping.
• The recipient's gift policy allows it.
• It travels cool and arrives a few days early.
• You keep the receipt, in case a bottle turns out to be faulty.