Grape Wall of China

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

Words get in the way: The China sommelier contest and the challenge of wine vocabulary

Posted on | October 21, 2008 | 3 Comments


By Chantal Chi

Everything related to wine is chic in China and that goes for sommeliers.

I remember three years ago when sommelier was just a simple French word, but now it has become a symbol of high class in the wine world of China. Well, I am not surprised. Chinese learn quickly once they decide to engage a subject as they have with wine.

In late September in Shanghai, Penfolds and its local agent ASC Fine Wines co-organized the first sommelier competition in China. I helped “give birth” to this event by participating on the four-member judging panel as the sole person who speaks Mandarin as a mother tongue. (My fellow panelists were Andy Tan from ASC, Marcus Ford from M on the Bund, and Kym Schroeter from Penfolds.)

“A sommelier is the bridge between wine makers and consumers. They are ambassadors, the messengers of wines. People feel terroir and passion through the sommeliers.”

These are the words I used to insist that candidates describe wine in Mandarin, apart from English as the organizer demanded. After all, we were choosing a “made in China” sommelier, weren’t we?

Three finalists stood out from the more than 100 candidates, of whom 90 percent were Chinese and 10 percent were Westerners working in China. (Interestingly, consumers were keen to participate, with some “clients” of ASC taking the challenge.)

Two finalists are working in China and one is working in Canada. The English fluency of the two “home-made” sommeliers’ naturally is poorer than the one who works overseas. So I presumed that they would be better able to express themselves in Mandarin. But after almost five hours of tests, including on service, decanting, and blind tasting, I found a bothersome issue – wine vocabulary!

These candidates are not at ease at all in describing wines with Mandarin! I found it sad that they blended English words such as “full-bodied”, “blackberries”, “tannic” and “oaky” into their Mandarin sentences. As well, their references to things such as blackberries have no meaning to a Chinese who has never tasted these flavors.

I asked one finalist why she could not find the proper word in Mandarin while describing wines. The answer: she is used to English, not Mandarin, terminology. I further asked, how do you recommend wines to guests? The answer: most clients are Westerners and overseas Chinese who understand English. Finally, I asked, how do you deal with local Chinese who are uncomfortable using English? The answer: she had none.

This inability to connect with the majority of the market is regretful. It is as though the market is an iceberg and the great mass of local consumers is that part hidden beneath the waves.

I believe this situation will change and hope that sooner, rather than later, we have sommeliers who can properly serve wines to their Chinese clients in Mandarin, and that we are all charmed by their passion and professionalism.

Category: Uncategorized

Comments

3 Responses to “Words get in the way: The China sommelier contest and the challenge of wine vocabulary”

  1. Nicolas Carre
    October 22nd, 2008 @ 12:13 am

    Totally agree with you Chantal. I hope one day Chinese sommeliers will be able to find their own language to express their feeling about wines.
    Hopefully, chinese government is willing to consider the diploma of “sommelier” in china. That’s a good start !… Maybe also people like you and very few real sommelier in China should gather to establish a vocabulary which can be used by all chinese, because it seems you still don’t all agree about chinese terms for wine industry….

  2. Chantal CHI
    October 26th, 2008 @ 11:26 am

    Thanks for your confirmed support. It is a big head-heck even for the grapes’ name. I did try to unify them but none wants to compromise. Therefore in my French wine book, I listed common used translation from HK, Taiwan and Mainland. Now I am working on references more related to Chinese culture. Hope our readers at least can feel the taste that we are talking about…

  3. Alain Westbere
    May 3rd, 2009 @ 12:45 pm

    Maybe in future you can send the winning Chinese Sommelier to Europe say London or Paris perhaps and to shadow some of the top Sommeliers there. I did have the pleasure of meeting a Australian Chinese Sommelier who was working for Harvey Nichols.

Leave a Reply





  • About Grape Wall of China


    beijing-boyce-grape-wall-of-china-logo

    A nonprofit blog by wine professionals and consumers.


    Follow: On Twitter and Facebook.
    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


    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