Grape Wall of China

A China Wine Blog: The Scene in the World’s Largest Market

Lucky charm? New wine from Grace Vineyard features screw cap

Posted on | January 17, 2012 | No Comments

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Grace Vineyard has a new wine and it features the rare use, at least in China, of screw caps — see here for another example in Treaty Port.

First, the wine: it is called Tao Fu and, says CEO Judy Leissner, “refers to the peach wood charms hung on doors during the New Year” and that are thought to repel evil spirits. It is also a family affair: the script on the bottle’s side was written by Leissner’s daughter.

Made solely from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, Tao Fu is light and fruity, with the spirit of a Beaujolais Nouveau to it. I found aromas of candy apple and sponge toffee; other comments ranged from cherry to banana. It is a bit of an experiment, with only 2,000 bottles, and may ultimately join the portfolio. I was lucky enough to be a dinner where a bottle was opened.

As for the screw cap, I have talked to Leissner several times over the past few years about this closure and she says it is much harder to use than people might imagine. As examples, she cites the difficulty of proper calibration, that most screw cap knowledge in China relates to beverages other than wine and might not fully apply, and the sourcing of material – in this case, the bottles are from China and the screw caps are imported. And that doesn’t even include cost.

Anyway, it was fun to not only try a new label but also to see some scrap caps on a wine made in China. What I’m really looking forward is to being able to pick up such wines in a shop or supermarket. Hopefully, that day isn’t too far off…

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Category: Uncategorized

China Wine Press: Baijiu, smugglers, China vs Britain, wine auctions

Posted on | January 15, 2012 | No Comments

All the wine world’s a stage and China keeps getting bigger roles. China Wine Press looks at media coverage of that drama, with each item preceded by an inane comment from me — just to keep things real. By J. Boyce

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(So much for Lafite in my Chinese New Year stocking)

Hurun Research Institute has released the results of its interviews with over 500 Chinese millionaires and when it comes to giving gifts, only one beverage brand ranks in the top 10 — Moutai. The report, in its eighth year, says that domestic spirit trails only Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Hermes and Chanel. In terms of value, Hurun listed Moutai in fourth and fellow spirit brand Wuliangye in seventh:

Moutai and Wuliangye, the two most famous Chinese baijiu brands, make the Top Ten of the World’s Most Valuable Luxury Brands for the first time with brand values of US$12 billion and US$7 billion respectively. The Moutai brand is now worth more than household names in the West such as Mercedes-Benz and Chanel. A bottle of its best-selling liquor ‘53 Degrees Feitian Moutai’ now retails at over RMB 2000 (equivalent to USD 320 / Euro 240 / GBP 200).

See: Chinese baijiu brand Moutai now world’s fourth most valuable luxury brand

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(Guess who’s teaching the prison’s wine appreciation class?)

Li Qian of Shanghai Daily reports that a man has received a life term for “illegally bringing 70,000 bottles worth 45 million yuan (US$7.128 million) to China’s mainland.”

Sun Xitai was convicted of forging invoices and import contracts to evade import duties of 20.3 million yuan between January 2004 and December 2009, the Beijing Times reported yesterday….

Sun, aged 62, altered the name, details and price of luxury wines transported from France, Britain and Hong Kong, stating they were cheap alcohol, the court said.

Meanwhile, Clifford Lo at South China Morning Post writes about 44 people arrested for smuggling goods between Hong Kong and mainland China (story here; registration required). According to the article, “Officers seized goods, such as mobile phones, tablet computers and bottles of wine, worth 2.3 million Hong Kong dollars.”

See: Life sentence in biggest wine smuggling case. Also check out this post by Bordeaux watcher Nick Stephens.

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(If only they had clinged to Hong Kong longer, they’d still be fifth)

News agency AFP reports that China has nudged Britain out of fifth place in terms of wine consumption, according to data from Vinexpo and International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR). Obviously, we are talking about total volume, not per capita. The China figure includes Hong Kong, a substantial market in and of itself. From the report:

US consumers were the world’s top wine drinkers in 2011, while China displaced Britain to become the fifth largest wine consumer, according to new research released on Thursday.

US consumers downed the equivalent of 3.7 billion bottles of wine, while China including Hong Kong drank 1.9 billion bottles, according to data released by trade show Vinexpo and International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR).

Old World wine drinkers in Italy, France and Germany clung to second, third and fourth places respectively but the New World and the Far East caught the limelight, showed the study of 114 consumer markets and 28 producer countries.

See: US is biggest wine consumer, China joins top five

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(I’m generally happy with a tie)

In article about a recent wine Hong Kong wine auction, Stephen Quinn of China Daily explains how sometimes you win:

For example, I bought 19 bottles of Chateau de Fargues sauternes for $1,029 ($54 a bottle). Some of these wines were made in the mid 1970s and are rare. Over the past few years the average price per bottle of the 1975 Chateau de Fargues sauternes was $149, though it has just peaked and it will be the first I drink.

And sometimes you lose:

[In 2010] I bought cases of 20-year-old Hunter Valley semillon and 18-year-old chardonnay. Wines like these with pedigree can last for generations, but only if they have been stored well. This wine had not. Because it was an old wine, the auction house would not refund my money. The wine went down the sink.

See: Wine auctions a bit like gambling — The house usually wins

Category: Jim Boyce

Pútáo people: Who’s Who in the China wine scene, part 1

Posted on | January 7, 2012 | No Comments

Great Wall: The 8 million-pound panda in the room.

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By Jim Boyce

Last year, I wrote a “who’s who in China” piece for magazine Wine Business International. There were ten categories — such as distributor, wine maker and sommelier — with a pick for each and mentions of other notable people. It wasn’t so much a “top ten” as it was a list of some key players here that those outside of China should know about. Below is a brief summary of each category: you can get detailed info on topics such as this by subscribing to Wine Business International here.

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Big wine company

Wu Fei, COFCO Wines & Spirits

COFCO produces more than 100 million bottles of wine, imports bottled wine from at least a half-dozen countries, bought wineries in Chile and France last year, and has substantial political connections and marketing clout — it was a sponsor of both the Beijing Olympics and Shanghai Expo. And that’s just for starters.

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Small-medium wine company

Judy Leissner, Grace Vineyard

Grace in Shanxi is the success story of the millennium when it comes to quality wine here. It has produced a decent portfolio for a decade, made wine lists in top hotels and restaurants, experimented with vineyards in Shaanxi and Ningxia, and been willing to take risks, including this year, when it bucked industry trends to put its entry-level red under screw caps.

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Wine distributor

Alberto Fernandez, Torres China

Not the biggest distributor, but what Torres does, it does well. It has a good portfolio of wines from 15 countries, a growing retail presence with its Everwines website and shops, and high staff retention. It also distributes two of China’s best wine brands — Grace and Silver Heights.

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Wine consultant

Li Demei, Beijng University of Agriculture

Many outside China first heard of Li last year when Decanter awarded an “international trophy” to Chinese winery Helan Qing Xue, where he is chief consultant. But in China, he is a fixture: a professor at Beijing University of Agriculture, a writer, commentator and social media enthusiast, and a consultant to numerous wineries, all with stints at University of Bordeaux and Chateau Palmer under his belt.

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Government Agency

China Customs

The issue with China Customs is not high tariffs — those are fixed — but how rules might be interpreted differently in Tianjin, Yantai and Xiamen.That can mean headaches for importers, from how wine stuck in customs is stored to the need to dedicate resources to paperwork. To be fair, Customs has seen a huge increase in wine and has to deal with many other products.

I’ll have part 2 on Monday.

Category: Jim Boyce

China repeat? Entries for 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards open

Posted on | January 6, 2012 | No Comments

By Jim Boyce

Like getting a good score from Robert Parker, doing well in the Decanter World Wine Awards can be a useful marketing tool, and that includes for wineries in China. Witness Ningxia’s Helan Qing Xue — when its Jia Bei Lan pulled a stunner last year and became the first Chinese wine to win an “international trophy“, in a Bordeaux category no less, it raised this operation’s profile overnight. In fact, a total of 11 wines from six operations in China won some kind of recognition last year  — see here for a list of those and others wines getting recognition over the past five years.

Decanter has just announced that entries are open for this year’s contest:

Wines can be entered online or by post from 3 January 2012 to 1 March 2012. Judging takes place in London from 23 April to 4 May 2012. Results are announced at the London International Wine Fair and on Decanter.com on 22 May.

Given last year’s result, it will be interesting not only to see how wines from China do, but also if we see an increase in entries from this country. More details on the contest are available here.

(Hat tip to The Cellar Rat)

Category: Uncategorized

Double up: China Wine & Spirits acquires DT Asia

Posted on | December 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

By Jim Boyce

China Wines & Spirits (CWS) acquired fellow distributor DT Asia last month and while the news is a bit dated I thought I would post it anyway. From the press release:

“[The move] reinforces CWS position on the market, with a larger and stronger portfolio of Icon brands such as Champagne Deutz, Delas Frères from Rhône, Domaine Schlumberger from Alsace, Rocca Delle Macie from Chianti Classico, Trapiche from Argentina, KWV from South Africa, Niepoort from Portugal and many others.

“CWS Team is also becoming stronger and larger and we are happy to Welcome Francisco Henriques as our new General Manager. Francisco, with a long experience in the wine trade, and having led successfully DT Asia for several years, was our logical choice to carry further the development of CWS.

“CWS is the youngest subsidiary from the Bordeaux based group Halley Wines & Spirits (HWS) which already operates through subsidiaries in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Kazakhstan and Russia.”

CWS also carries a range of Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados, aperitif and liqueur labels from France as well as spirits from elsewhere.

(Hat tip AC)

Category: Jim Boyce

Breathing room: China’s 1421 ‘traceable’ wine at Great Hall of The People

Posted on | December 22, 2011 | No Comments

We managed to fit 12 people in that room.

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By Jim Boyce

When Randy Lee Svendsen recently asked me to join a group of 12 at the Great Hall of The People to talk about the wine brand 1421, I figured I would be at one of dozens of tables. I wasn’t. There was only that one table in that huge hall — “great” is not a misnomer to describe the room size.

The brand 1421 was created by Hong Kong’s Johnny Chan, involved in the wine scene here for over a decade, and Chile’s Andronica Luksic. It bills itself as the first “traceable” wine in that you can use a smart phone to scan a bar code on the bottles and see where the grapes originated in Xinjiang (see starfarmcc.com/ for more). The company recently started to distribute two of its products, Admiral’s Reserve Chardonnay and Admiral’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, in Metro stores in China and has its “silver” level wine in numerous hotels and restaurants.

The brand is tied to claims that Chinese Admiral Zheng He set sail in 1421 and discovered most of the globe — a map in the promo kit has the fleet finding South America and North America,  a route around Greenland, a route over the Eurasian land mass, Australia, numerous South Pacific Islands, Atlantis, Narnia and Waldo. Kidding and controversy aside, let us focus on the wines at the dinner, which was hosted by Svendsen and Tony Chan.

Admiral’s Reserve Chardonnay 2010: I smelled green fruit, including peach and nectarine, and some citrus. This is a light and austere wine with a touch of bitterness at the end. It did well in the North by Northwest Challenge, where judges described it as being a “clean” expression of the fruit and found stone, tropical and citrus fruit aromas.

Admiral’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2010: I could smell some berries, and a touch of cassis and forest, but I found this one to have a slightly odd acidity and weak fruit. If I had to pick one, I would obviously go for the Chardonnay, but if you are going to Metro — and don’t complain about the distance since getting there is far easier than circling the Atlantic in search of landfall — why not buy both, given they retail for rmb105, and do your own taste test?

The entry-level Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon is available for rmb98 per bottle, cash on delivery, with a minimum six-bottle order (contact Sammie at sammie.liu (at) 1421wines.com), as well as in hotels and restaurants. Svendsen’s growing list for Beijing includes The Opposite House, Raffles, Hilton Beijing, Maison Boulud and Crowne Plaza Beijing.

(Photos: RL Svendsen)

Category: Jim Boyce

Bull shifts: Modo in Beijing switches to all-Spain wine lineup

Posted on | December 19, 2011 | 1 Comment

rmb9 per sample (pjwine.com)

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By Jim Boyce

Beijing restaurant Modo has taken the bull by the horns and stuck an all-Spanish lineup into its two enomatic machines. Modo will rotate about 50 wines through the 16 slots over the next few months. To the best of my knowledge, this Sanlitun-based restaurant was the first to use cash card-based machines.

I joined a group of samplers on Saturday night and tried about half of the wines. I liked the Emilio Moro Finca Resalso 2009, a medium-bodied slightly spicy wine with funky aromas and a ghetto edge — rmb9, rmb28 and rmb55 for 25ml, 75ml and 150ml pours respectively. Several people liked the Bernabe Navarro Casa Balaguer Alicante 2007 (too fragrant for me) and the Pagos del Moncayo Syrah 2009 (rmb15 / 50 / 95; nice body). Cedar fans might try the Pagos de Moncayo Grenache-Syrah 2010 (12 / 35 / 68).

(On the other hand, one wine — I can’t remember which — had lots of youthful fruit that was quickly overwhelmed by the tannins. It was like seeing a group of toddlers gaily playing in a sandbox and being in the way of a runaway dump truck. Someone stop that truck!)

Modo offers a daily discount of 20 percent discount daily from 6 PM to 8 PM.

Category: Uncategorized

Les vins Chinois meilleurs que Bordeaux?

Posted on | December 18, 2011 | 8 Comments

Carre (red shirt) at the Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge

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By Nicolas Carre

Depuis le jeudi 15 decembre, lendemain d’une dégustation banale, mais toute aussi sérieuse, organisée a Pékin, le consommateur s’interroge : « Les vins Chinois sont ils effectivement meilleurs que les Bordeaux ? ».

La dégustation était co-organisée par le blog grapewallofchina dans le seul but de permettre aux consommateurs et amateurs de vins en Chine de choisir en toute connaissance de cause les meilleurs vins au prix de vente compris entre 250 et 400RMB.

Ce n’est pas la première dégustation organisée par ce blog. Régulièrement, nous organisons ce genre de manifestation, et toujours dans un seul but : informer le consommateur sur la réalité du marche chinois…

Pourquoi un duel sino–francais ?
Les deux régions n’ont pas été choisies par hasard. Lors d’une recente dégustation a l’aveugle de vins chinois, les vins du Ningxia ont été les mieux notés. (nous entendons ici par « vin chinois » des vins dont l’origine des raisins est 100% chinoise). De plus, la région du Ningxia, dont les principaux vins sont également élaborés à partir de cabernets, est reconnue comme la plus prometteuse sur le plan de la viticulture. Les vins de bordeaux, quant à eux, représentent indiscutablement le summum du prestige pour les consommateurs Chinois.

La selection était elle juste ?
Les Bordeaux sélectionnés correspondaient tout simplement, en Chine, à la gamme de prix des vins du Ningxia impliqués dans la dégustation. Quel serait l’intérêt aujourd’hui pour le consommateur vivant en Chine d’apprendre que Grace Vineyard, Summit ou Jiabelan (prix de vente entre 250 et 400 RMB) sont moins qualitatif qu’un Lafite, Carbonnieux ou Bad boy a plus de 1000 RMB ? La sélection était donc tout a fait adaptée à la logique du marché et du consommateur en Chine.

Pourquoi tant de haine ?
A lire les commentaires qui font suite a cette dégustation, il y a inexorablement les pour et les anti Bordeaux, les pour et les anti Chinois. Bref, rien de nouveau!…
Quelques réactions sont cependant plus intéressantes… Certains prétendent que les vins francais sélectionnés ne sont pas des vins de qualité… Un chroniqueur gastronomique du magazine Marianne annonce même publiquement sur RTL que les Bordeaux choisis étaient des vins de négoce dans lesquels on ne sait meme pas ce qu’il y a dedans ? Voila une reponse terrifiante!… On nous vendrait de la « merde » sous un sigle « AOC » ? Des questions qui me viennent alors naturellement à l’esprit : Qu’est ce qu’un vin de qualité a Bordeaux, et Quel est la place du négoce ?

On nous rabache depuis des années, en Chine, comme partout dans le monde, que Bordeaux a les meilleurs terroirs et produit les meilleurs vins au monde, et voila qu’aujourd’hui certains spécialistes clament haut et fort que les Bordeaux sélectionnés sont de mauvaise qualité!…

Mes conclusions :

1) La dégustation prouve indéniablement qu’une nouvelle génération de vins chinois est de grande classe (Parker inclus Grace Vineyard et Summit dans sa sélection chinoise). Et j’ose ajouter, après cette dégustation, que ces vins surclassent la grande majorité des vins de Bordeaux présentés dans la même gamme de prix sur les rayons en Chine.

2) Si les dires des experts francais sur la qualité des vins sélectionnés sont vrais, cela veut dire que l’on ment régulièrement aux consommateurs sur la qualite AOC des vins de Bordeaux. Logique marketing… Peut être, mais n’y a t-il pas des dégustations régulières d’approbation ? Faut il perpétuellement comparer les meilleurs vins étrangers aux seuls grands Crus Bordelais aux tarifs parfois indécents ?

3) Enfin, sur le terrain en Chine depuis plus de 10 ans, croyez moi, les professionnels ne ménagent pas leur peine pour “expliquer” et vendre le “bon vin français”. Pour cela,nous ne pouvons pas nous permettre de tromper les consommateurs, pour “l’honneur” et la réputation de l’ensemble du vignole français ! Question de crédibilité !…

Ce genre de dégustations, quelqu’en soit l’impact, ne peut donc qu’être utile aux consommateurs qui restent à l’écoute de quelques professionnels encore soucieux de faire partager le vrai goût et la vérité…. même si elle fait parfois mal !

Sans rancune.

Je vous sers un verre de Ningxia ?…

(Nicolas Carre / frenchsommelier at gmail.com)

Category: Uncategorized

Where is the love? Ningxia and Bordeaux wines the judges actually *liked*

Posted on | December 16, 2011 | 1 Comment

Love -- or maybe like -- in the afternoon...

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We asked the judges in this week’s Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge to rank ten wines from first to last in terms of quality (see results here). But as in the Grape Wall Challenge, we also asked them how much they liked or disliked each wine.

The judges had four options: “love it”, “like it”, “don’t like it” or “hate it”. This methodology seems to bother some wine industry people but I don’t care. As a consumer, I wanted to know the wines judges think are best made and the wines judges most enjoy.

More than half of the judges “liked” or “loved” the following wines (out of nine votes as one judge did not fill in this part):

8 votes: Silver Heights The Summit 2009 / 3 loves, 5 likes
8 votes: Helan Qing Xue Jia Bei Lan 2009 / 2 loves, 6 likes
7 votes: Grace Vineyard Chairman’s Reserve 2009 / 3 loves, 4 likes
7 votes: Silver Heights Family Reserve 2009 / 7 likes
6 votes: Grace Vineyard Deep Blue 2009 / 3 loves, 3 likes
5 votes: Barons de Rothschild Saga Medoc 2009  / 1 love, 4 likes
5 votes: Cordier Prestige Rouge 2008 / 5 likes

Kressmann Grande Réserve St-Émilion AOC 2008 and Mouton Cadet Reserve Medoc 2009 each received one “love”.

For even more love, here are some of the more positive comments on each wine. I have put the wines in order of pouring.

Kressmann Grande Réserve St-Émilion AOC 2008

“A classic Cab. Fruity”, “Simple Bordeaux style with touch of oak”, “Fruit, fresh acidity, medium body, long finish”

Helan Qing Xue Jia Bei Lan Cabernet Dry Red 2009

“Nice nose, nice tannins, good ‘woody’ taste”, “Rich fruits on the nose. Elegant. Licorice”, “Spicy, full-bodied, finish is long and intensive”, “Mushroom. Chocolate”

Silver Heights Family Reserve 2009

“Nice structure but high acidity”, “Deep ruby, full-bodied and powerful, medium length”, “Truffle. Violet. Strawberry cake. Plum”, “Cooked vegetable. Nice acidity. A little smoky”

Grace Vineyard Chairman’s Reserve 2009

“Nice ‘wood’, good balance, fresh taste”, “Spicy, full-bodied and balanced”, “Delicate, classic. Gooseberry aroma. Smooth with long length”, “Nice noise, ripe fruit, with vegetal [character]. Very supple”

Calvet Reserve De L’Estey Medoc 2009

“Well-done, balanced, with potential. Not too expressive at present”, “Not big or complicated but balanced”, “Sweeter tannin. Good fruit, long aftertaste.”

Mouton Cadet Reserve Medoc 2009

“Fruit, very well-balanced, nice finish”, “Incense and lavender. Nose is better than palate”, “Delicate smooth tannins”

Cordier Prestige Rouge 2008

“Some expression of character”, “The best aroma. Weak in the middle but good skill behind the wine”, “Tobacco, forest. A bit thinner and less structured”

Silver Heights The Summit 2009

“Nice fruit, good tannins”, “Beautiful mouth feel”, “Quite oaky, with vanilla, spice, chocolate. Could stay longer in the barrel”, “Cedar, smoky intense balsamic. Structured with a good finish”

Barons de Rothschild Saga Medoc 2009 (rmb350)

“The most classic: fruity and balanced”, “Elegant and fresh; long and balanced”, “Round fruit, high alcohol, oaky finish”

Grace Vineyard Deep Blue 2008

“Fruity and lovely to drink now with meat”, “Spicy with fresh acidity”, “Very aromatic. Cherry and flowers with a hint of oak”, “Complex and old-fashioned”

See also:

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Category: Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge

Was the Ningxia-Bordeaux Challenge unfair to French wines? Non

Posted on | December 15, 2011 | 4 Comments

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It depends on your perspective. Different wine contests are designed to discover different things.

Our Grape Wall Challenge at Modo asked Chinese consumers to judge wines that retail for under rmb100 and to tell us what they liked.

The more recent North by Northwest Challenge at Hilton Beijing asked three groups — wine experts, reporters, and chefs and bartenders — what they thought of 24 wines from wineries in regions such as Shanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang.

Yesterday’s Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge, organized with TasteV at Zun Cellar, also had a purpose. It asked five Chinese and five French judges to blind taste five Ningxia and five Bordeaux wines. Ningxia took the top four spots in the challenge and there has since been criticism of the Bordeaux wines we used.

We never claimed this was the Beijing version of The Judgment of Paris. Or that we were pairing Ningxia wines with the best of Bordeaux. We used a price range to compare top Ningxia wines with bigger and better-known Bordeaux brands sold here by major distributors — brands consumers are more likely to know and have access to. That is the basis I used when working with Tony Wang of TasteV and sommelier Nicolas Carre to create the lineup of wines.

In China, a bottle of Grace Vineyard Deep Blue is rmb298, a bottle of Barons de Rothschild Collection Saga Medoc is rmb350 and a bottle of Silver Heights The Summit is rmb416. That is a price reality consumers face in China. To have the opinion of ten judges on these wines — to see whether they chose Deep Blue, Saga or Summit — is of interest.

Let me address two specific criticisms of the contest.

The first is that Bordeaux wines face 48% in taxes and this makes it unfair to compare them with Chinese wines of the same price.

Today I called Alberto Fernandez at Torres China re the ~50% in taxes on imported wines. Torres distributes three of the wines in the contest — one French (Mouton Cadet) and two Chinese (Grace, Silver Heights). Fernandez told me French wines face ~48% in taxes. But he said Chinese wines also face a consumption tax and a value-added tax. These reduce the gap from ~48% to just under 20%. This would significantly diminish the claim about pricing unfairness.

The second is that Bordeaux would have done better if we used estate wines.

Maybe. Yesterday’s tasting suggested Ningxia wines can hold their own against bigger Bordeaux brands, which are not only enjoyed the world over but also, in the case of our contest, retail for up to rmb350. I think that is of interest to consumers at large and hope it gets people opening some bottles. A nice follow up would be to compare those Ningxia wines against smaller hand-picked Bordeaux estates. I think that would be of more interest to those knowledgeable about wine. Someone should organize such an event and I would be willing to help out if needed. I can be reached by email at beijingboyce (at) yahoo.com or via my Weibo or Twitter accounts.

Category: Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge

Grace under pressure: Ningxia tops Bordeaux in Beijing wine challenge

Posted on | December 14, 2011 | 39 Comments

Which are from Ningxia and which from Bordeaux? Nobody knows...

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By Jim Boyce

Chinese wines took the top four spots in the Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge held this afternoon in Beijing. The event featured ten wines — five from Ningxia and five from Bordeaux. They were blind-tasted by ten judges — five from China and five from France. I helped organize the event with website TasteV, wine club Zun, and fellow Grape Wall contributors.

The judges were asked to rank the wines from first to tenth based on quality. First place was worth one point, second place worth two points, and so on. The wines with the lowest total scores were the winners. The top five:

1. Grace Vineyard Chairman’s Reserve 2009, 34 points (rmb488)

2. Silver Heights The Summit 2009, 42 points (rmb416)

3. Helan Qing Xue Jia Bei Lan Cabernet Dry Red 2009, 44 points (was rmb220, now pending)

4. Grace Vineyard Deep Blue 2009, 46 points (rmb288)

5. Barons de Rothschild Collection Saga Medoc 2009, 54 points (rmb350)

Top pick of the five French judges: Chairman’s Reserve. Top pick of the five Chinese judges: The Summit.

Other wines tasted (alphabetical order): Calvet Reserve De L’Estey Medoc 2009, Cordier Prestige Rouge 2008, Kressmann Grande Réserve St-Émilion AOC 2008, Mouton Cadet Reserve Medoc 2009 and Silver Heights Family Reserve 2009.

The judges were also asked to indicate whether they liked or disliked each wine. I will have those results soon.

The wines were opened, tested for quality, bagged and tagged, in the presence of several reporters, under the supervision of Philip Osenton, who works with distributor Globus and is former head sommelier at Ritz London and restaurant manager for the Savoy. He and others, including the media, witnessed computation of the scores.

The judges had 40 minutes to rank the ten wines, which were poured before they sat. They then had a 30-minute discussion about the wines, led by professor Ma Huiqin, after which the winners were announced.

The Chinese judges:

  • Ma Huiqin, professor at China University of Agriculture and wine marketing expert (head judge)
  • Frankie Zhao, owner of Pro-Wine Consultancy
  • Fiona Sun, senior editor at China edition of Revue du Vin
  • Jin Yang, wine teacher who spent five years studying in Bordeaux wine programs
  • John Gai, of wine distributor and bar operation Palatte

The French judges:

  • Nicolas Carre, sommelier and wine consultant (head judge)
  • Jerome Sabate, long involved as wine maker with Dragon Seal in Beijing
  • Nathalie Sibillet, oenologist, journalist and teacher
  • Thomas Briollet, seven years experience in China wine distribution
  • Edouard Kressman, wine maker with experience in Bordeaux, California and Argentina

I know there will be many questions about this tasting. For example, French wines face ~48% in tariffs which means they have a price disadvantage versus Chinese wines. That is true. On the other hand, the prices listed above are what Chinese consumers face. [Also, two distributors told me that when taxes in Chinese wine are taken into account, it is closer to a 20% difference. I'll get more on this tomorrow.] I can provide other examples but will save that for later.

For now, the big “takeaway” for me is that Chinese wines have again — not for the first time, not for second time, but again — shown they can compete on a global level. The reality check: these wines represent a sliver of the China market and the industry as a whole has a long way to go. Still, for those who ask, “Can China make good wine?”, the answer is yes.

I’ll have more — and correct typos, etc — tomorrow…

The judges in action...

The top five, from left to right...

Category: Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge

The Wine Republic to distribute Jia Bei Lan in China

Posted on | December 13, 2011 | 3 Comments

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By Jim Boyce

China-based importer and distributor The Wine Republic has reached a deal to handle the brand Jia Bei Lan from Ningxia-based winery Helan Qing Xue, says company CEO Campbell Thompson. Demand has been growing for Jia Bei Lan, particularly for its 2009 vintage, after strong performances in several wine contests, including Decanter’s World Wine Awards.

Helan Qing Xue is in the Ningxia region, just outside of the capital Yinchuan, and is a partnership between a local grape industry group and private investors. The operation is headed by Rong Jian, with Zhang Jing in charge of day-to-day wine operations and Li Demei, a professor at Beijing University of Agriculture, the chief wine consultant. The Wine Republic is a partnership between Thompson and the Rathbone Wine Group of Australia, and has a focus on cool-climate wines.

I hope to soon have more details on the wines involved (at the very least the deal should include the 2009) and the prices, and on when and where they will available.

Note: Thompson and Li are contributors to this blog.

Category: Jim Boyce

Tóu to tête: Bordeaux-Ningxia Wine Challenge set for Wednesday in Beijing

Posted on | December 12, 2011 | No Comments

It starts with a grape (photo from Ningxia).

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The Ningxia-Bordeaux Wine Challenge will be held on Wednesday, December 14, in Beijing. Bordeaux wines have long held the highest status in China. Ningxia wines are getting increasing praise at home and in international competitions and publications. And the Ningxia wines in the challenge tend to involve wine makers trained in Bordeaux and/or the styles common there. These factors should make for an interesting event.

The challenge will have ten judges: five from China, headed by professor Ma Huiqin*, and five from abroad, headed by wine consultant Nicolas Carre.*

They will blind-taste ten wines: five from Ningxia and five from Bordeaux. The wines will come from recent vintages and the same price range.

The judges will be asked to arrange the wines in terms of quality: from first place to tenth place. They will also be asked to indicate whether they like or dislike each wine. The goal is to find out which wines the judges think are made best and which wines they enjoyed most.

After the judges finish, we will immediately compile the scores and aim to release the results within one hour.

The Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge is organized in cooperation with TasteV, a soon-to-launch wine retail and info site, which is involved in logistics, media outreach, Bordeaux selection, and more for this event. It is not meant to be a Beijing version of the “Judgment of Paris” per se but a fun way to compare and contrast wines from two regions and to promote the wine scene in China.

It follows the Grape Wall Challenge with Modo restaurant on November 8, where Chinese consumers judged wines that retail for less than rmb100, and the North by Northwest Challenge with Hilton Beijing on November 12, where wine experts, journalists, and chefs and bartenders judged 24 Chinese wines from nine wineries.

Tomorrow, I will provide details about the judges and wines in the challenge. And during the challenge, I will do my best to post updates on Weibo and Twitter, with TasteV posting here, and to blog the full results within 24 hours.

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Grape Wall contributors Ma (seated) and Carre

Category: Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge

Top news: Grace to use screw caps on entry-level red

Posted on | December 8, 2011 | No Comments

Shanxi-based Grace Vineyard has been experimenting with screw caps for several years and has decided to use them for its entry-level red, says CEO Judy Leissner. Grace’s entry-level red retails for ~rmb60 and the first screw cap bottles should be out next February or March. The national distributor is Torres China.

Treaty Port, an operation — complete with castle — in Shandong that produces both its own wine and bottles imported bulk wine, is already using screw caps. Treaty Port owner Chris Ruffle was in Beijing last month and said there were some early challenges with screw caps but that these closures provided consistency.

No doubt there will be some market resistance, given the number of consumers who reflexively associate wine with cork and the hotels, restaurants, etc that serve them, but such moves could inspire more quality in the industry. I have already noted some issues here: Grace’s new twist on wine: Is China at its screw cap moment?

And we do see more and more screw caps in China. They just happen to be on imported wines, which make up a small minority of the market. Even so, these wines — and those from Treaty Port and, soon, Grace Vineyard — are making screw caps more familiar.

Category: Uncategorized

Hello Cabernet: Japan-based Enoteca expands presence in China

Posted on | December 7, 2011 | No Comments

The perfect tie-up for Enoteca? (seismologik.com)

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While in search of the new Hello Kitty restaurant late last week, I stumbled on what I believe is the first Beijing retail outlet  by Enoteca, the Japan-based wine importer and retailer. Enoteca, not to be confused with the Shanghai-Beijing wine bar chain that previously went by that name but now goes by Enoterra , already has a presence in Shanghai (two spots), Suzhou and Guangzhou.

The Beijing outlet is in the new Shimao Department Store, across from Workers Stadium, and is small though I imagine it will expand before the official launch. The lineup included Opus One 2007 (rmb2700) and Montes Alpha M 2007 (rmb1325) as well as more budget friendly items such as Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 (rmb275 per bottle). Kudos to the two staff members who were handing out samples — they were polite and professional.

See also: Hello Kitty Restaurant, Papa John’s pizza, Food Affaire & more

Category: Uncategorized

Penfolds Bin 620: Available in Beijing from this week at rmb6840 per bottle

Posted on | December 6, 2011 | No Comments

By Jim Boyce

When Penfolds chose Shanghai for the launch of its ”Bin 620″ Cabernet-Shiraz 2008 last month, the first wine under that label since 1966, it inspired plenty of comments, ranging from those who saw it as a respectful nod to the growing market for Australian fine wine in this country to those who saw it as an attempt to foist a status symbol on a niche of buyers driven by brand and high price. If all press is good press, Penfolds scored big on this one.

“Bin 620″ is now on its way to the Beijing market and should be available at The Wine Gallery in Sanlitun’s Swire North Village by the end of this week. It will carry a hefty price tag, rmb6840 per bottle, which includes a leather carrying case. I don’t expect the allotment will be big so those who wish to get a bottle might want to act fast. Big 620 should also make its way into several Beijing hotels and restaurants and I will provide an update when I get more info about this from ASC Fine Wines, which is the official distributor of Penfold’s in China and operates The Wine Gallery.

Category: Jim Boyce

Not-so-idle speculation: Wine, scarcity and China

Posted on | December 5, 2011 | No Comments

By Jim Boyce

Four people have asked me in the past few weeks for info about how to buy from ten to fifty cases of a specific wine. Is that wine from longstanding Bordeaux favorite Chateau Lafite Rothschild? No. Is it from new Burgundy darling DRC Romanee-Conti? No. How about the new and pricey Yao Ming wine that dribbled through last week? No. Then maybe the Penfold’s Bin 620 that launched in China a few weeks ago and aroused the skeptic in some people given it was the first release of this label in over 40 years and was priced at 1000 Australian dollars per bottle? No.

The wine is Chinese: Jia Bei Lan Cabernet Dry Red 2009. It is made by Helan Qing Xue, it comes from Ningxia, and it was the first Chinese wine to win an “international trophy” at the Decanter World Wine Awards. I’ve tried it over a dozen times and generally liked it. And it scored highest among the Chinese red wines, priced rmb150 to ~rmb300, in the recent North by Northwest China Wine Challenge, though it was not a unanimous winner (see results here).

On one hand, interest in Jia Bei Lan is skyrocketing — I get emails or calls about this wine almost every day. On the other, I am told production totals a modest 13,000 bottles. For the speculator, this is intriguing territory: There will only ever be one first Chinese wine to win that international trophy and there is a limited – and declining – amount of it. Thus, some people think it a good bet to put 10, 50 or more cases away as an investment. (We’ll ignore for now the possibility of counterfeiting, the possibility of production numbers being off, etc.)

The challenge at the moment is Helan Qing Xue has no China distributor. I have heard for weeks that a deal is on the verge of being signed but there has been no official announcement. And one can only guess what the price will be when a deal is done. During the past few years, I have heard the price of Jia Bei Lan is around rmb220. The most recent issue of Revue du Vin in China listed the 2009 at rmb498. And a friend told me he picked up a bottle of it at the Ningxia Provincial restaurant in Beijing a few weeks ago for over rmb700. Given this, the kudos for the wine, and that well-regarded Chinese wines like Grace Vineyard’s Chairman’s Reserve and Silver Heights’ The Summit are priced between rmb400 and rmb500, I’m guessing we won’t see rmb220 on the sticker. Then again, it is almost certainly guaranteed to be cheaper than this.

The bigger point is that we have a wine — a Chinese wine — that has investors interested. Arguably, it isn’t the first: for example, The Summit, with production of 3,000 bottles for its inaugural 2007 vintage, inspired some interest, too. But Jia Bei Lan has pushed it to a higher level….

Category: Jim Boyce
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  • Grape Wall Contributors


    In alphabetical order (see full list)


    Nicolas Carre
    Sommelier


    Chantal Chi
    Writer


    Yvonne Chiong
    Sommelier, consultant


    Judy Leissner
    Grace Vineyard CEO


    Alain Leroux
    Wine maker, consultant


    Li Demei
    Wine maker


    Huiqin Ma
    Professor


    Campbell Thompson
    The Wine Republic co-owner


    Brian Yao
    Consumer


    Frankie Zhao
    Pro-Wine Training & Consultancy owner


    Jim Boyce
    Consumer, blog administrator