04.30.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 4:21 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
Upcoming Beijing wine-related events
Friday, May 2, 6:30 PM, Sequoia Cafe (Sanlitun), RMB 100
Sparkling wine tasting; RSVP with Frank at 13701-178-073.
Tuesday, May 6, 7:30 PM, SALT (RMB488)
Altano Reserva wine tasting, with oenologist Jorge Nunes and a degustation menu, by Torres China; RSVP with Sophie at 5165-5519, x208 or sophie@torres.com.cn.
Thursday, May 8, 7-9 PM, Block 8’s Med, RMB100
Ladies Wine Club, featuring Italian wines and five-course meal; contact Kristen at lum.kristen@gmail.com
Thursday, May 8, 7-8:30 PM, Amigo (Central Park), free
Chilean wine festival, with 16 wines, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514
Friday, May 16, 7-8:30 PM, Bento & Berries (Kerry Centre Hotel), free
Henry Bourgeois wine tasting, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514
Saturday, May 24, Great Wall of China (RMB15888)
Robert Parker wine dinner, with menu by Blu Lobster; 8 wines rated 94 points or higher by Parker; RSVP with Adam Steinberg at adamsteinberg@asc-wines.com
Tuesday, May 28, 7 PM, Blu Lobster (RMB988)
Alain Chabanon wine dinner, with winery owner Alain Chabanon, by East Meets West; RSVP with Blu Lobster (8882-6727) or EMW (6445-5797).
Friday, May 30, 7-8:30 PM, Bento & Berries (Kerry Centre Hotel), free
Deutz Champagne tasting, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514
Note: To get a wine event listed, send event information, preferably in text format, to beijingboyce@yahoo.com.
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04.28.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 5:13 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
I joined Marc Curtis of China Wine Tours on March 24 for a visit to Chateau Bolongbao, just outside of Beijing. Curtis will bring his first tour group from the United States to China in October, with the planned itinerary including Beijing, Xian, Shanxi, Xinjiang, and Shanghai. Here are some photos from the visit, led by the winery’s Tang Jie.
A view of Chateau Bolongbao from the gate.
Given that Beijing winters can be quite cold, these vines are buried beneath 35-40 centimeters of soil in the fall and then uncovered in the spring.
A hilltop view of Bolongbao, which we were told produced its first Bordeaux-style wine in 2003.
This facility is being built next door to Bolongbao by a farmers collective and, from what I gathered, will make non-grape fruit wines.
Professor of Agriculture Zou Fulin (second left), with (from left) China Wine Tour’s Judy Zhao and Marc Curtis, and the winery’s Tang Jie. Zou says he knows Italian, French, Australian and American wine styles, and prefers Bordeaux.
Production for 2005, 2006, and 2007 was 110,000, 88,000, and 110,000 bottles respectively, says Zou.
Bolongbao uses oak barrels from France and the United States.
This wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (75%), Merlot (20%), and Cabernet Franc (5%). We tried it decanted for 40 minutes. The body was clean, with some cherry and clove aromas, though I found it a bit oak-y.
“There is nothing in the flavor that turns me off,” said Curtis. “I’d be happy to serve it to people.”
The 2005 vintage is available for RMB198. Bolongbao wines are not available via retail shops, but can be ordered via the winery.
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Posted in Jim Boyce at 12:31 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
If you hear the words “wine humidor” and think of oak barrel displays, wooden shelves, and row upon row of top-end wine, you might be a tad disappointed by the Metro hypermarket on Beijing’s outskirts. This is a storage facility, plain and 
simple, with fluorescent lights, fabricated steel shelving, and a warehouse feel.
While I spotted wine such as Napa Valley Shafer and Barossa Valley Penfold’s Grange alongside ice wine and the usual Champagne suspects - a three-liter bottle of Veuve Clicquot is RMB2190 - the selection is lighter than I expected.
In terms of Chinese wine, options include Dragon Seal and Grace Vineyard Chairman’s Reserve 2005 (RMB388). But unlike the imported wines they are kept standing rather than on their sides. Why put them in storage if you’re not going to lay them down?
The constantly opening and closing sliding door also made me wonder how well the temperature and humidity is maintained.
Note: Spirits are also available at Metro, including Macallan 30-year-old single malt (RMB3999) and Remy Martin’s Louis XIII Grande Champagne Cognac (RMB12999 kuai), which the sales staff told me is a popular item. A ceramic bottle of 1955 baijiu goes for around RMB50000. German beer fans will find about about 10 brands in the store proper. To shop at Metro, you need to be a member.
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04.26.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 2:07 am by admin
By Jim Boyce
Wine writer Robert Parker makes his first trip to China next month and the price tag for the two dinners that ASC Fine Wines is organizing for him is nothing to sniff at: RMB15888 (USD2270) per head.
The Beijing dinner will be held on May 24 the Great Wall and catered by Brian McKenna, chef at Shangri-la Hotel restaurant Blu Lobster. The dinner, limited to 40 people, will include eight wines Parker rated 94 points or higher, with three at 100 points, including Chateau Haut Brion 1989 and Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon 2002.
The Parker dinner in Shanghai will be held on May 23 at Noble Seafood, carry the same price tag, and include eight other wines Parker has rated 94 points or higher.
Oh, and each attendee gets a copy of an autographed book by Parker, if you are looking for that little extra to make you plonk down your cash.
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04.23.08
Posted in Huiqin Ma at 11:21 am by admin
By Huiqin Ma
Campbell Thompson of The Wine Republic was a recent guest lecturer in my Wine Culture and Appreciation course at China Agricultural University, on the outskirts of Beijing near the Summer Palace. He presented on China’s wine market to about 120 students from universities throughout the city.
None of the students are in majors related to the wine business. They venture to the school every Saturday afternoon because they find wines attractive, mysterious and romantic - and want to know more about it. My course is an elective that started in 1999 and is open to university students in Beijing every spring semester. The same course is held in the fall every year for students from my university.
My philosophy on wine is accessibility, not exclusivity, so I ask people from different areas of the wine business to give presentations and thus expose my students to many voices. Along with businesspeople like Campbell Thompson, they include wine maker Li Demei, wine writer Frankie Zhao and Grace Vineyard CEO Judy Leissner. By listening to wine industry people, the students gain confidence and are encouraged to try different wines and different food and wine pairings. Enjoyment of wine arises from an individual’s own taste preferences, rather than a reliance on big names and famous regions.
International wines represent 50 percent or more of those included in each tasting. One reason is that the varieties and styles of Chinese wines are still very limited. The other reason is that for many students, the course is their first chance to taste foreign wines – this is a good opportunity to compare wines and talk about them with their peers.
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04.22.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 4:14 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
Upcoming Beijing wine-related events
Tuesday, April 22, 7 PM, Barolo (Ritz-Carlton Beijing), RMB488+15%
Giovanni Rosso wine dinner, with wine maker David Rosso; by East Meets West; RSVP with 6445-5797 (EMW), 5908-8151 (Ritz-Carlton)
Thursday, April 24, 7:30 PM, Cafe Europa, RMB180
Yering Station tasting with 4 wine-food pairings; by The Wine Republic; RSVP at 5869-5663 or 13910-097-621.
Thursday, April 24, 7 PM, CRU Steakhouse (JW Marriott), RMB888 + 15%
“Best of Bordeaux” wine dinner, with Saint Julien, Saint Emilion, Pessac Leognan, Pauillac and Pomerol, by ASC, RSVP with Helen Lu at 6418-1598, x226
Friday, April 25, 6:30 PM, Sequoia Cafe (Sanlitun), RMB 100
TerraMater tasting with 6 wines, with export manager Jose Montes; RSVP with Frank at 13701-178-073.
Thursday, May 8, 7-9 PM, Block 8’s Med, RMB100
Ladies Wine Club, featuring Italian wines and five-course meal; contact Kristen at lum.kristen@gmail.com
Thursday, May 8, 7-8:30 PM, Amigo (Central Park), free
Raminara (Chile) wine festival, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514
Thursday, May 16, 7-8:30 PM, Bento & Berries (Kerry Centre Hotel), free
Henry Bourgeois wine tasting, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514
Thursday, May 30, 7-8:30 PM, Bento & Berries (Kerry Centre Hotel), free
Deutz Champagne tasting, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514
Note: To get a wine event listed, send the event information, preferably in text format, to beijingboyce@yahoo.com.
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04.21.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 3:02 am by admin
By Jim Boyce
“If you hated mowing the grass as a youth, you might just hate Sauvignon Blanc.”
“There is so much stress on luxury goods that we would rather people not drink wine if it’s the ‘wrong’ brand.”
“Imagine you are trying to sell shoes and you don’t realize people have differently sized feet. If a shoe doesn’t fit someone, you wouldn’t tell them, ‘Well, your foot isn’t mature.’”
These are some of the intriguing comments made by Tim Hanni when he spoke to a small group of China wine industry people in JW Marriott’s Pinot Brasserie in Beijing on April 8. Hanni is a wine researcher and educator, one of the first two Americans to become a Master of Wine, a founder of Napa Seasoning and training company WineQuest, and director of the Lodi International Wine Awards.
I first read about Hanni in this Wall Street Journal piece and then interviewed him for Grape Wall of China last month. I 
looked forward to getting his take on the wine scene and he didn’t disappoint. Over nearly four hours, he covered everything from his experiences with the Master of Wine exam to chemistry, biology and etymology (What do we mean by ‘palate’?) to the history of wine and food to his rock band (that’s a whole other story).
Hanni took the Master of Wine test in 1989 and “failed it miserably.” He knew he had the technical expertise, but was poor at essays, so he signed up for a three-day writing course. The course ended up being for engineers, he took it anyway, and this led to an epiphany.
“It was brilliant. We learned to take words that we think we all know, and to then agree on what they mean,” he says. “It occurred to me that with much of the language of wine, we think we know what we mean, but deep down there is a lack of agreement.”
Forget about notes of gooseberries and hints of cloves: Hanni says he has been talking to wine makers, sensory specialists and others for 20 years just to discover what we mean by “flavor” and “taste.”
“You have all this wine education going on and nobody’s taken time to answer the harder questions, such as “What’s a palate?” Or about the biggest piece of the puzzle, “How do senses work with the brain?”
He speaks of scientists who do brain scans to gauge the impact of our senses on it, of how atmosphere, color and music can affect wine drinkers, or of the power of suggestion (he says one study found that people gave different evaluations of a white wine and then the same wine - unbeknown to them - dyed red).
He goes so far as to make wine sound like therapy. Take Sauvignon Blanc, a wine often associated with a grassy smell. “We find that people who dislike Sauvignon Blanc have grass allergies; have bad memories of childhood summers; have bad experiences with lawn mowing and lawn moving equipment.”
Which is all to say that why we like or dislike a particular wine is individual, a product of our senses, of our memories and preconceptions, and of a myriad of other factors that argue against a “one size fits all” philosophy.
“People are anatomically different - one size does not fit all. And the size that is being pushed on people is dry wine,” he says.
“Imagine you are trying to sell shoes and you don’t realize people have differently sized feet,” he says. “You wouldn’t say, well, your foot isn’t mature.”
On Friday, I will have part two of the Tim Hanni talk, which covers how he categorizes wine drinkers as well as the food and wine demonstration he gave us.
(Thanks to Arcy Y. for the photo.)
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04.18.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 4:24 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
Expect a steady flow of posts over the next two weeks. Along with articles by Ma Huiqin and Campbell Thompson, we will introduce a new contributor to the blog. I will also include write-ups of my meeting with Tim Hanni, the Crown Wine Cellar opening, some new “great value” French wines in Beijing, a visit to Chateau Bolongbao just outside the city, an update on the Time Out China Wine Guide, and my first experience as a panelist in a blind tasting of wines. We will be posting some Chinese translations of Grape Wall posts, too. Busy, busy…
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Posted in Jim Boyce at 4:16 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
Decanter is reporting that China Customs is fining ASC Fine Wines USD350,000 for under-declaring its wine imports over the past two years. ASC Managing Partner Don St. Pierre Jr. was recently released from three weeks of detention.
ASC and other wine importers have been subjected to a China-wide inspection by customs focussing [sic] on potential discrepancies between the declared value and ‘real value’ of imported wines.
St Pierre and his colleague Carrie Xuan were held – along with the legal representatives of other wine importers – from 11 March to 8 April in a detention centre. St Pierre was released on April 8, free to return to work, along with all other ASC staff.
Decanter had earlier repeated speculation by Simon Tam on Jancis Robinson’s Web site (members-only section) that ASC faced “a fine rumoured to be in the neighbourhood of €5m, and the potential deportation of some of its top executives…”
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04.17.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 5:55 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
Napa Valley Vintners held a trade tasting on Monday, April 7 at Central Party Institute for Foreign Affairs in Beijing. Most of the 11 producers on hand provided a sample each of a red and a white wine. I stuck to the latter, my favorites being Buehler Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 2005 (dark fruit, slight bitterness and tingle at the end that reminded me of coffee), Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 (toast, blackberries), Saintsbury Pinot Noir 2006 (red cherries, touch of savoriness - sea salt?) and, most interesting, Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Single Cellar 2001 (with mint on the nose and in the body).
The producers were Buehler Vineyards, Cain Vineyard & Winery, Cakebread Cellars, Chappellet Winery & Vineyard, Heitz Wine Cellars, Helena View Johnston Vineyards, Oakville Ranch Vineyards, Page Wine Cellars, Saintsbury, St. Supery Vineyards & Winery, and Viader Vineyards & Winery.
Besides Beijing, the tour takes in four other Asian cities, each of which will receive larger delegations: Shanghai (one day, 14 producers, trade and public tastings), Hong Kong (one day, 16 producers, trade tasting), Tokyo (three days, 20 producers, trade and public tastings) and Osaka (one day, 18 producers, trade tasting).
The Napa Valley Vintners is involved in wine education, auctions, and sustainable farming. It aims to protect Napa Valley as a place name. In others, if a bottle doesn’t include wine from Napa, it shouldn’t use the name on the label. Given the valley’s reputation and small production, these wines tend to be pricey.
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Posted in Jim Boyce at 3:32 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
The Shuang Jing branch of Carrefour in Beijing launched its 2008 April Wine Fair last Thursday. The event drew a sizable crowd as the opening day included at least a 20 percent discount on all wine.
I arrived around 9 PM, unaware of the scale of the fair or that many distributors would be on hand with samples of their wines.
A mix of locals and foreigners toured more than a dozen tasting stations. Most wines were entry-level, or slightly above, and it was a good opportunity to “try before you buy.” Many shoppers had carts loaded with individual bottles or cases. I ended up going for the “two bottles of Domaine Ste. Michelle and one bottle of Columbia Crest Two Vines for RMB282″ deal.
Here are a few photos from the event. Apologies for the quality - while my K-Touch B922 phone offers good features, an excellent built-in camera is not among them.
Wine guy Badr (left) tastes some wine with Torres China’s Hugo (right).
These guys are stocking up, with a full few carts behind them…
… and one in front.
Even at 9:30 PM, there were plenty of wine lovers.
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Posted in Huiqin Ma at 10:17 am by admin
By Ma Huiqin
Here is a Chinese translation of the article “Taste test: Uncorking nine Chinese wines in Beijing“, which saw Lawrence Osborne and James Fallows as well as fellow contributors Campbell Thompson and Jim Boyce try local vino. It first appeared on my personal blog.
四个外国人对9款中国葡萄酒的品评
爱酒的我们常常会品尝葡萄酒，写下自己的评语，也会看葡萄酒专栏作家对葡萄酒的品评。外国人对中国葡萄酒的品尝总体上非常有限，有些人是抱着先入为主的看法对中国葡萄酒持不懈一顾的态度，即使有偶尔的品尝也是一两个出名的酒园而已。
Jim Boyce是我遇到过的对中国葡萄酒持非常开放态度的外国人，他和他的几个朋友前些天搞了一些小小的中国葡萄酒的品尝活动，并把这次活动记录在他的博客上。古话讲：开卷有益，我想有不少葡萄酒消费者和业界的同仁愿意了解一下这些来自国外的葡萄酒爱好者和专业人士是如何评价这些我们常见或不常见的葡萄酒，从另一个角度，听听不同的声音。
参加品酒的四个人是来自纽约的葡萄酒记者Lawrence Osborne、太平洋月刊的记者James Fallows，曾任ASC精品葡萄酒市场总监的Campbell Thompson和Jim本人。
因为时间的关系，我无法把Jim写得美丽而精确的英文完美地翻译给读者，尽管在我阅读他的文字的时候，得到了极大的享受，再一次感受语言的美好。有兴趣的读者请访问他的博客http://www.grapewallofchina.com/
以下为英文的译文
长城赤霞珠2003
有一定的果香，尽管香气较为微弱并带有一丝止咳糖浆的感觉，不坚实的酒体带有轻微的浆果/樱桃的香气，收结很类似于葡萄汁。
餐桌评语：“口感尚可，但并不宜人，果香已经松弛消退。”
新天红葡萄酒（无年份，人民币 28元）
色泽为沉郁的红色，带有一点黄色的色调，能感受到橡木和一点（相当微弱的）黑色水果的香气，没有回味（原作者注：因为曾经从我的读者那里听到对新天的积极评价，所以很快我会尝试更贵的新天葡萄酒。）
餐桌评语：“我很高兴这款酒的定价没有超过28元。”
撒拉莫世家赤霞珠2004（人民币45元）
闻起来有淡淡的水果味儿（黑樱桃），酒体蕴含着一些深色水果的芬芳，果酱感和一丝的香料味儿。
餐桌评语： “有一定的品种特征，但还是有些单薄。”
怡园赤霞珠2005 （人民币60元）
闻香带有轻盈宜人的水果风格，果香和单宁相当协调，但葡萄酒的色泽让人觉得它仿佛来自一个更老的年份。
餐桌评语： “尝起来象一款完美的美国葡萄酒”，“显然比撒拉莫世家高了一个层次”，“他们想达到某种不容易达到的境界。”
波龙堡2005珍藏（人民币195）
闻起来有很多的橡木（锯木屑？）味，对随后的黑果酱味来它说太浓了，在酒体上是同样的特征。
餐桌评语： “橡木味奇怪而且重” ，“象进了木匠店”，“象松脂”，我个人喜欢这一条评语:“带有果实风味的有趣的木头味儿”，“既会有人喜欢这款酒，也有人会讨厌这款酒”
太阳桃红2005 （人民币60）
桔－粉红色，闻起来有蘑菇感，底层是果实的味道（桃？淡红色的水果？），入口有类似的水果味，如果你想尝试这款酒，宜早不宜迟。
餐桌评语：“它在逆境中挣扎，所做的努力令人尊敬”
华东干白（雷司令） 2002 （人民币76）
非常成熟，几乎发酵了，闻香中有苹果味，稍微有点酸，带有热带水果（菠萝）的感觉，但缺乏足够的酸度和收结。
餐桌评语：“这款酒没有酸度，没有核心，雷司令不能酿成这样”，“它已经过了最佳饮用期”，“收结不够干净”。
怡园夏多丽 2006（人民币60）
闻起来有烤面包的香气，酒体中有橡木和绿苹果的感觉，尽管酒尝起来有轻微的不成熟感”。
餐桌评语：“它连贯性不好”，“它的酸度不平衡”, “它没有优雅感”。
中法农场霞多丽2005 （访问时得到的样品）
轻盈的，奶油般的，带有新鲜感，酒体上呈现柔和轻盈的水果香气，尽管收结并不悠长。
餐桌评语：“It doesn’t have that buttery angle,” “它不是过度商业化的作品”，“是目前为止唯一一款可以和外国葡萄酒相抗衡的产品”。
总体上，怡园赤霞珠、波龙堡和中法农场的霞多丽得到的评价最高。
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04.16.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 5:29 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
After Australian Embassy staff checked my bag, passed me through a metal detector, and gave me a cavity search (OK, scratch the last part), I joined four local wine journalists in Beijing last Tuesday for a video conference with iconic wine maker Wolf Blass and Foster’s Global Wine Ambassador George Samios. The event - jointly hosted by Austrade and ASC, which distributes Blass’ wine in China - focused on the use of screw caps on wine bottles.
I like screw caps. Some people say they prevent wine from maturing, but most wine is meant to be drunk right away. For newcomers to wine, screw caps eliminate the intimidation of pulling a cork. And the bottles are easy to store. Blass and Samios have additional reasons for favoring screw caps and further cite a study that finds Chinese consumers to be very open-minded to these closures. I will get to this shortly, but first a little history.
Blass said screw caps are fairly new to the wine sector, but have been used for over 100 years, particularly for spirits. In his winery’s case, they were used in the 1970s for a shipment of wine to Japan, where the bottles met with disapproval and were sent back. In the 1990s, he opened some of those returned bottles, under screw cap for more than 15 years. He found the wine fresh and fruity. “It was unbelievable,” he says, and “switched on a motor.” At the crossroads of corks and screw caps, he drove down the latter.
Blass and Samios cite problems with corks. Samios says wine makers originally found them useful to stop bottles from leaking, not because they were considered good for wine or its maturation. Cork is inconsistent in quality and easily attracts bacteria. It is elastic, making it useful as a stopper, but loses this quality from regular expansion and contraction, sometimes letting in too much air. And each cork affects wine differently, meaning 12 bottles in a single case can end up holding wine that ranges in quality from excellent to undrinkable.
Samios said that 8-10 percent of wines stopped by corks ends up spoiled - “no other beverage industry, such as beer or soda, would accept a 10 percent failure rate.”
The solution, they say, is screw caps. Here are some benefits they cite:
1) Bottles stopped with cork need horizontal storage to allow the wine to touch the wood and prevent it from drying out. Bottles with screw caps can be stored at any angle.
2) Bottles stopped with cork can vary greatly in quality. Those with screw caps provide more consistency when it comes to wine quality.
3) In the unfortunate case you have a partial bottle of wine left over, it can be more easily sealed by replacing a screw cap than by jamming the cork back in.
4) Cork adds woodiness. GS suggests that doubters put a cork into a glass water overnight and take a sip next morning.
5) Corks may evoke tradition and romance, but many consumers struggle to use corkscrews at home, while in many good restaurants, the sommelier opens and tastes the wine aside before bringing it to the table.
6) Although people associate corks with wine maturation, wine contains oxygen, and thus air is not needed via the cork.
The issue of whether wine can mature or not under screw cap drew the most questions. Simply put, have screw caps been around long enough to know their impact on the long-term storage of wine?
Samios cited a study that showed wine can mature in a sealed tube and noted that the Blass shipment of wine returned from Japan in the 1970s tasted fine when opened in the 1990s, while Blass said many airlines use screw cap mini-bottles and the wine within them tastes fine years later. “Screw tops have been around for ages,” he said. “But in our minds, it can only be used for cheap wines, for supermarket wines.”
They admit that the shift to screw caps meets resistance, especially from wine makers in places such as Bordeaux. Then again, they aim at the mass market and find openness in newer wine-producing countries. “We heard that no one in the U.S. and so on would buy screw tops; that no one would buy our Yellow Label,” said Samios. “But we’ve seen wine sales go up.”
Samios cited a commissioned study that asked consumers in a dozen countries whether a screw cap would make them more or less likely to buy the wine. China saw the highest proportion of respondents answer “more likely” - 59 percent, as opposed to 17 percent in Australia. Those stating “less likely” represented 17 percent and 20 percent respectively, while the remainder answered “no difference.” Interestingly, despite the apparent openness of Americans toward Yellow Label, the study finds that in the US, only 7 percent of respondents said they are “more likely” to buy wine with a screw top, as opposed to the 44 percent who said “less likely.” (Note: I am still waiting for more of the study details, such as the sample size.)
My question: If consumers in China are so open to screw caps, why do few local wineries use them?
Samios attributes it to French influence. Top-end wine buyers aspire to wines such as those of Bordeaux, where makers continue to focus on cork. But he notes that nations without a history of cork, such as Japan, are embracing screw caps.
He predicted Chinese makers would also move away from cork. “You’re going to find your own people are following the marketing trend,” he said. That doesn’t necessarily mean using screw tops, says Samios, as an even better innovation may be down the line.
We tried two pairs of Blass wines side by side - each pair including one sealed with cork and one sealed with screw cap. The Red Label Shiraz Cabernet 2006 screw cap was fruitier and fuller, with a more vibrant color, than its cork-closed counterpart. I found the difference less discernible with the Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. It would be interesting to try this taste test blind.
Look for Blass’ next adventure in closures next year – the winery plans to release its first screw cap Champagne. And he and Samios plan to visit China next year and, in the face of the concerns about wine maturing under screw caps, said they will bring some of those bottles from the 1970s for us to try.
Note: I have an interview in the pipeline with Ricardo Duarte, China representative of Amorim, among the largest cork producers.
The Beijing-Adelaide connection (ASC)
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Posted in Jim Boyce at 2:30 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
Some links to a bunch of news stories linked to China’s wine sector:
Chile and China signed a “free trade service trade pact” on April 13 that follows up on the free trade agreement signed in 2005. According to Xinhua, “bilateral trade soared 65 percent year on year to 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, up from the 23.9 annual growth of 2006. Last year, Chilean exports to China surged 79 percent to 10.3 billion U.S. dollars, boosted by copper and grape wine trade.” Let’s hope the service trade pact also sees some Chilean wine makers flowing over here.
“Bordeaux should not pin hopes on Asian market” is the sobering headline of a recent Decanter that suggests expectations that Asian buyers will snap up the 2007 vintage might be dampened by concerns about pricing, the global economy, and a “fatigued” market, among others factors.
To mark the tenth anniversary of its diplomatic ties with China, South Africa held an “SA Week” in Guangdong Province. “In a bid to promote SA’s growing wine industry, organisers have arranged a food and wine exhibition with wine-tasting to showcase SA’s leading brands and the country’s unique indigenous cuisine,” states Business Day. Similar events are planned from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing this year.
China and New Zealand signed a free trade deal on April 7. According to China Daily:
When the deal goes into effect October 1, New Zealand exports to China that now face tariffs of 5 percent or less will be cut to zero.
There will be a staggered time frame for cuts on New Zealand exports that face larger tariffs, with 31 percent of New Zealand’s exports to China tariff free by 2013.
Tariffs on dairy products, a primary New Zealand export, will be phased out over a longer time frame, taking until 2019 when almost all of the country’s current exports to China will be tariff free.
Let’s hope it lowers those Sauvignon Blanc prices. New Zealand’s Parliament must still formally ratify the agreement.
Finally, this CCTV piece might be considered by some as a nominee in the “stating the obvious” category - French wines becomes popular in China.
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04.14.08
Posted in Huiqin Ma at 3:10 pm by admin
By Huiqin Ma
My friend and wine maker Charles was stopped at Yantai airport in Shandong Province last week. The reason: security found more than two bottles of wine in his check-in luggage. He had to leave numerous bottles of expensive wine behind, including a special one meant for me!
Charles asked if there is a new law on how many bottles may be included in check-in baggage. The answer is no.
The original limit was two 750 ML bottles, but enforcement of this rule has become stricter since March. In addition, no bottles may be carried on as hand luggage.
For those working in the wine industry, carrying sample bottles in check-in luggage as they travel back and forth across the country is far more convenient than transporting them by other means, especially when delivery services sometimes are unable to keep up to the demands of customers. However, given the upcoming Olympics and upgraded security, I don’t expect any leniency on the two-bottle limit any time soon.
[Another person in the wine industry recently informed me had the same experience as described above, while flying from Beijing to Shanghai. - JB]
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04.10.08
Posted in Jim Boyce at 3:52 pm by admin
Kind of…
I added the “babelfish” application. Click one of the flags on the panel and “babelfish” will machine-translate this Web page into that country’s leading language. Whether it ends up making any sense… well, maybe someone out there can tell me (at beijingboyce@yahoo.com).
Here’s the panel:
(Jim Boyce)
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Posted in Jim Boyce at 3:47 pm by admin
By Jim Boyce
Carrefour kicks off its 2008 Beijing April Wine Fair today at its Shuang Jing store. From 6 PM to midnight, there is a 20 percent discount (coupons cannot used in conjunction with the discounts). The wine fair continues until April 27.
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