Grape Wall of China

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

New cellar dweller at TRIO

TRIO opened in May of 2006 and included: a reincarnation of Beijing’s oldest non-hotel bar, Frank’s Place, at ground level; a seventy-seat New York grill and piano bar, Park Grill, up top; and the high-end wine-centric The Cellar in, no surprise, the basement. Frank’s Place is doing fine, with improvements to the deck helping, but [...]

Grape finds: Lufthansa Centre

I popped into the basement supermarket of the Lufthansa Center in Beijing and found a bonanza of booze. In addition to solid imported wine, vodka, gin, sake and whisky selections, the latter including the rarely found (in Beijing) Woodford Reserve Bourbon (561 kuai), it also offered a decent selection of Chinese wines. Alongside the Great [...]

Grace (again): Face, FT, and feedback on five wines

I spotted yet another place selling Grace wines in Beijing – upscale Face has the entry-level Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon for 220 per bottle (about four times retail) and the Tasya’s Reserve (I think it was the Cabernet Sauvignon) for 350 kuai. Face also has Catai Chardonnay at 220 per bottle. Praise from England as the most recent [...]

Variety is the wine of life

A heads up for those in Beijing and looking for some wine education. Fongyee Walker and Edward Ragg will hold their second seminar on varietals tonight at the Park Plaza Grand Salon — tasting starts at 7 PM, followed by buffet dinner. These seminars are in conjunction with Oxford & Cambridge Club Beijing. Price: 250RMB. [...]

A bunch of changes at Grapewallofchina

Just a heads up to readers to expect some changes to this blog in the next month or so. Rather than having one writer (that would be me), grapewallofchina will soon have ten people in the wine industry – whether as makers, distributors, educators, writers or consumers – as contributors. This will give a more comprehensive [...]

Taste test: Bolongbao and Le Champs D’or

Last Friday’s wine tasting at Sequoia Cafe here in Beijing was a bring-your-own-bottle affair. In addition to assorted bottles from France, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, there were two from China. Here are some notes: Le Champs D’or: Le Vin Desert de Gobi, 2003 No varietal indicated, but it smelled like a typical [...]

  • About Grape Wall of China

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    A nonprofit collaborative blog


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    Email: beijingboyce at yahoo.com

  • Grape Wall Contributors


    In alphabetical order (see full list)


    Nicolas Carre
    Sommelier


    Chantal Chi
    Writer


    Yvonne Chiong
    Sommelier, consultant


    Judy Leissner
    Grace Vineyard CEO


    Li Demei
    Wine maker


    Huiqin Ma
    Professor


    Campbell Thompson
    The Wine Republic co-owner


    Frankie Zhao
    Pro-Wine Training & Consultancy owner


    Jim Boyce
    Consumer, blog administrator