From our participants David and Sue, who hail from the UK, here is what they had to say about Palate Sensations and what brought them to Singapore. 

We are David and Sue whose lives are now focused on the production of Piemonte wines at our Tenuta Il Finale vineyards in Italy. We visited Singapore for seven weeks earlier this year. We love the incredible efficiency and cleanliness of Singapore. As food lovers we also appreciate that the kitchen of every Asian country is well represented in Singapore at both Michelin level and in their most humble form. In all instances the standards are uniformly high. However not only did we want to eat our way around Asia but also wanted to explore the recipes and learn some of the culinary skills that are essential to each of the region’s kitchens. That led to Palate Sensations which is a truly unique culinary school in Biopolis Road, Singapore. 

The team that the owner, Lynette has brought together at Palate Sensations is unique. We have had experience over the years of many Asian countries and their foods. With her help and that of her chef, Loreta, we were able to take courses that showcased classic dishes of Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia and Korea. Eating the results of your own work provides you with meals that frequently exceed the standard of local restaurants! Lynette was able to personalise courses tailored to our preferences, enhancing the experience. We also ensured that we booked for every demonstration dinner that was arranged by her chefs – a great way to be introduced to the dishes of India, Vietnam and other countries of the region. 

We have followed a lifelong interest in food, cooking and in understanding wines. Retirement allowed us to take the next step in that journey and acquire our vineyards in Italy. The Piemonte region showcases grape varieties that are particularly Piemontese – such as Barbera, Nebbiolo and Arneis. 2023 was our first year of production under the new brand of Tenuta Il Finale and resulted in some very well received Barbera D’Asti and Arneis. The vineyards have vines that are more than 30 years old. The house and cellar are even older and have required a lot of refurbishment for which Sue has worked with a team of local architects and craftsmen. We were also fortunate to gain the expertise necessary to produce great wines with the involvement of an experienced wine maker, Cesare. He, together Luigi, our qualified oenologist, are integral to the venture. 

As Tenuta Il Finale reaches its second anniversary, the second harvest has been gathered and crushed in our cellar. We have all the wines in stainless steel tanks to complete the second fermentation for 4 months. Bottling of some of the wines will be possible by April/May 2025. It is exciting and nerve racking at the same time, being one of the few industries that is totally at the mercy of the climate to produce wonderful results or destroy whole vintages. The strategy of the cellar is to take time before bringing wines to market so that they are in optimum condition before our buyers taste the results and enjoy them with the paired dishes. Barbera has pleasing acidity and relatively light tannins, we mature a portion of the crop in oak barrels to increase the tannins and give the wine long life. Additionally, we are bottle ageing some of the wines to gain further refinement in aromas and flavour. We will be making limited releases of our wines in the first quarter of 2025 and hope to see it well represented in the restaurants and at private tables in Singapore and Asia.        

Lynette visited David and Sue at Tenuta Il Finale in September 2024

We continue to travel in Asia and hope to be able to hold tasting dinners in Singapore, with the help of Palate Sensations, selecting and preparing dishes that are compatible with our Italian wines. We look forward to welcoming visitors from Asia to our Italian cellars and showcase the making of our wines as well as offering an introduction to both the food and wines of our region. We also hope to see some more of the team from Palate Sensations in Piemonte, seeing more of our Piemontese ingredients and taking our wonderful recipes back to Singapore!                         

We hope to share more about our developments at Tenuta Il Finale, our wines and our travels with Palate Sensations in 2025. You can also follow us directly on our website, at Youtube and Instagram.