The Grape Wall of China Wine Challenge: March 13, Maxim’s, Beijing

Posted on | February 9, 2009 | 5 Comments

The Grape Wall of China Wine Challenge

March 13, Maxim’s (Solana), Beijing

On March 13, eighteen judges will gather in Beijing for the first Grape Wall of China Challenge. The GWOC Challenge has three goals:

1. To judge 60 wines that retail in China for less than RMB100:

Since times are tough and the average wine purchase in China is below RMB100, we want to help consumers find wine that is inexpensive and good.

2. To involve wine consumers in the process:

The judges will include six professionals, who will taste all 60 wines, and two groups of six consumers, each of which will judge approximately 30 wines. No employees of wine distribution companies will be included as judges.

3. To involve locals in the process:

At least two-thirds of the judges will be Chinese citizens.

The professionals will judge each wine using a twenty-point system that covers color, aroma, and so on. The consumers will judge each wine as being in one of four categories: “Love it,” “Like it,” “Don’t like it”, and “Hate it.” All judges will have space to make written comments about the wines.

The GWOC Challenge will determine three sets of winners:

The professional panel’s picks
The consumer panel’s picks
The combined panels’ picks

Details on how distributors can join the Challenge will be posted on Wednesday at 10 AM. In order to be fair to everyone, they will only be posted on this blog. All distributors will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis. No entries will be accepted before this time.

The Challenge directors are contributors to Grape Wall of China. They are Frankie Zhao, owner of Pro-Wine Consultancy, Nicolas Carre, general manager of Maxim’s (Solana), and Jim Boyce, founder of this site.

If you have questions about the contest, please send them to beijingboyce@yahoo.com.

Look for a second Grape Wall of China Challenge to soon be announced, that one focused on Chinese wines.

Thanks to Ma Huiqin for the Chinese translation.

Category: GWOC Challenge

Comments

5 Responses to “The Grape Wall of China Wine Challenge: March 13, Maxim’s, Beijing”

Charles
February 9th, 2009 @ 12:08 pm

I’m In :D
(I know, I know, I must wait wednesday)
thomas
February 9th, 2009 @ 12:25 pm

I would like to be in:)
admin
February 9th, 2009 @ 12:29 pm

@ Charles and Thomas,

Thanks guys. I will have all the details up on Wednesday at 10 AM!

Cheers, Jim
8 songs
February 9th, 2009 @ 1:28 pm

Jim,

why are the consumer judges being relegated to the simplistic scoring system? Do you consider them not being capable of looking at colour, sniffing the wine, and tasting it? Shouldn’t they at least be given a choice?
admin
February 9th, 2009 @ 1:35 pm

8 Songs,

Simply due to time issues. No doubt they can use a more complicated score sheet, but the majority of them will not be able to keep up with the pros, and this would cause logistics problems. Frankly, even with the pros, in the end what matters is not the individual scores for color, aroma, and so on, but total score. And for those consumers who do have ideas about these individual components, they can list them in the comments section.

Cheers, Jim

The Wine Word

Talks with wine people in and out of China (in chronological order).
Click the asterisk for the post.

Benjamin Wallace *
Author, Billionaire's Vinegar

Julia Zhu *
Sommelier, Hilton Beijing

Shinya Tasaki *
World sommerlier champ

Tommy Lam *
Wine educator

Miguel Torres *
President of Torres

Alder Yarrow *
Author, Vinography blog

Leo Liu *
Operations manager, Sureno

Olivier Six *
La Baie des Anges wine bar

Jeff Gao *
Wine consumer

Charles Carrard *
French Wine Paradox distributors

Jean-Luc Thuvenin *
Chateau Valandraud

Brian Yao *
Wine consumer

Patricio de la Fuente Saez *1 *2
Links Concept director

Rebecca Leung *
Wine blogger

Julien Bonnard *
Top Cellar retail, distribution

Tom Wark *
Fermentation blog

Danny Wu *
Gelipu distributor

Zeon Chow *
Rutherford Bench/Napa Reserve

Ch'ng Poh Tiong *
Writer, publisher, consultant

Danny Kane *
Manager, Aria, China World Hotel

Jean-Michel Cazes *
Chateau Lynch-Bages

Nicholas Carre *
GM, Maxim's Beijing

Robert Joseph *
Writer, entrepreneur

Tyler Colman *
Blogger, author

Carlos de Jesus *
Amorim communications director

Frankie Zhao *
Wine consultant

Arcy Yin *
Editor (Food & Wine China)

Natalie MacLean *
Author

Peter Gago *
Penfolds chief wine maker

Gaia Gaja *
Gaja winery

Frederic Choux *
DCT Wines owner

Group interview *
20 global winery reps

Guy Wittich *
Event organizer, consumer

Robert Parker *
Writer, critic
Chinese translation *

Jenn Hinkle *
Event organizer, consumer (Beijing)

Pat Fromm *
Consumer, ex-industry (Beijing)

Wolf Blass/George Samios*
Wine maker / Foster’s PR

Frederic Engerer *
Chateau Latour president
Translation *

Alberto Fernandez *
Torres China GM (Shanghai)

Steve Clarke *
China Silk owner (Xinjiang)

Tim Hanni *
Educator

Jancis Robinson *
Writer, critic
Translation *

John Gai *
Palette Wines owner (Beijing)

Ethan Perk *
Jebsen Deputy GM China (Beijing)

Zhang Ning *
Yunnan Red wine maker (Yunnan)

Shan Shumin*
Yunnan Red GM (Yunnan)

Wu Kegang *
Yunnan Red CEO (Yunnan)

Chantal Chi *
Writer (Shanghai)

Jeremy Oliver *
Wine writer, critic

Marc Curtis *
China Wine Tours leader

Eddie Osterland *
Sommelier, educator

Frank Siegel *
Event organizer (Beijing)

Judy Leissner *
Grace Vineyard CEO (Shanxi)

Don St. Pierre, Jr. *
ASC managing director (Shanghai)

Dan Siebers *
Summergate North China manager

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Jan				Mar »
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28

Grape Wall of China

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

The Grape Wall of China Wine Challenge: March 13, Maxim’s, Beijing