Danilo Nicoletti, General Manager of 8 1/2 (Otto e Mezzo) photo courtesy of: otto-e-mezzo.com

Danilo Nicoletti is General Manager of 8 1/2 (Otto e Mezzo, one of Hong Kong’s premier Italian restaurants.  Originally from Ventimiglia in Liguria, Italy, Danilo’s prior engagements at Domani and Ritz Carlton’s Toscana have made him an institution in Hong Kong fine dining. Moreover, Danilo has been instrumental in bringing wines from iconic Italian producers like Radikon, Gravner and Bea to his wine list. Danilo is without a doubt a leader in the HK Italian wine community.

What turned you on to a career in food and wine?

My father and uncle ran a small family restaurant in Ventimiglia, so it has always been a part of my life.  I attended school for maitre d’ training and service management, which also helped me to learn English and French.

What do you love about your job?

I love the opportunity to “change the weather.”  We can always manipulate our space and offerings so that every experience at 8 1/2 is a new and memorable experience.  It can be a new dish, artisan wine or serve—or we may add new art to the décor.  I love being on the scene every day

What to your thinking makes a wine program great?

It’s like making a great salad.  You always need your greens and can add interesting varieties of tomatoes and unique surprises like papaya.  Having the right selection in the best price points—for me it’s $600 – $1500 HKD ($75 – $200 USD)—will make the program most attractive.

How would you describe the Hong Kong wine scene to readers abroad?

Hong Kong is the door of Asia and it has taught me to have an open mind.  We have food and wine choices without constraint.  When I began in HK, my vision as a GM had to change from selling only food and wine.  I see how we have to find other sources, like ambiance, service, furnishings and artwork to wow our guests.  In HK it’s very important particularly, for many guests prefer to bring their own wines to restaurants.

What’s your ultimate food and wine pairing?

I have a French culinary background, so simple fresh bread, beef Bourgogne and Burgundy is best for me.  I recently have been enjoying Domaine de la Vougeraie.  If I go white, I will favor something Italian, like a Ribolla from Friuli’s Collio region.  Radikon is a personal favorite.

What advice would you offer for someone considering a career similar to yours?

Do it with heart and common sense.  You cannot learn passion.  Be friendly to everyone, and on Sundays be sure you’re wearing tee shirt, shorts and sandals to relax

The eyes of the wine world remain on Hong Kong because of the city’s staggering auction results, but that phenomenon is not quite an accurate picture of the wine scene on a day-to-day basis.   Upon my arrival, many clients here told me of how they saw many wine merchants open businesses in hopes of capitalizing on the spending frenzy frequently reported by Bloomberg and other major media, only to close their shops just as quickly as that frenzy ended.  The newspapers would have had me believe that a throng of local collectors would greet me at the airport with blank checks and ask me to fill their cellars unto bursting with Italy’s best wines.  What I’ve found is less a mania for collection and more a profound love of wine, and I like it.

Hong Kong’s passion for enjoying life’s finer things manifests itself in an obsession to understand wine, and not simply to bid wildly on Lafite at auction.  The wine lovers of Hong Kong move beyond first growths and Parker scores and search for the story in each bottle, and they appreciate the way a farmer can put his heart in a bottle, just as art lovers appreciate how Van Gogh put his heart onto a canvas. (Would Ales Kristancic cut off his ear?  Would you be surprised if he did?)  When you think about it, the deep appreciation felt by Hong Kong wine aficionados makes sense; a culture largely influenced by principles of Feng Shui is naturally adept at feeling what lies beyond plain sight.

Today I met a friend for lunch who has recently taken classes in Italian wine, Champagne and Burgundy, who is preparing to take her Level 3 WSET exam for fun, and who will travel to Piedmont and Bordeaux this year.  The joy she gets from the education in wine makes the journey itself a destination. This attitude is inspiring, and this attitude drives me and my peers in the Hong Kong wine community.

When I arrived in Hong Kong bearing the strange gifts of Italian wines—like Ales’ biodynamic beauties that call for you to open underwater and decant overhead—I wondered how both I and my wines would be received.  I was fully confident in IWM and our ability to contribute to the wine community’s thirst for the world’s very best wine, and I felt sure I could serve both the people and the wines properly.  But would anyone care to understand what was in these bottles? I was fortunate to meet some of the leaders in the HK restaurant scene early on, and on meeting them, I knew we had found the right place, and the right partners, to share our passion.

Mark’s designs for Dakota Prime’s enhanced wine program will offer HK foodies countless opportunities to discover what’s beautiful about wine—and not merely what’s most familiar. And his innovations are evocative of the Hong Kong restaurant scene in general. When Giovanni Perna at Domani recommends a new Italian wine to me, I don’t think twice about trying it, even if I experience only a fraction of the passion he feels for this wine.  When I dine at Tuscany by H, I don’t open the menu; Chef Harlan tells me what he thinks and I trust him completely.  (If you’re a fan of great service, watch him operate on any night and you’ll see how much he genuinely cares about every guest’s experience that night.)  At the new Otto e Mezzo, GM Danilo Nicoletti’s face lights up like a Roman candle when he talks about the art of Italian wine and his own culinary artist, Chef Bombana, and the collection of fine art in the restaurant itself is an ode to a time and place in Italian culture.  Make no mistake: Hong Kong is an awesome place to be a wine lover.

If you’re reading this with a glass of wine in hand, as I have been while writing this post (I’ve been drinking Movia 2006 Pinot Grigio—I usually don’t love Pinot Grigio, but this is art, my friends), I hope you’ll drink to Mark’s success in guiding us wine lovers to profound wine discoveries. May I suggest the San Guilano Barbaresco paired thoughtfully with Macaroni and Cheese and perhaps a side of Porterhouse?