Taste test in China: Chateau ‘Sun God’ wine by Great Wall

By Brian Yao

Thanks to a friend, I had the chance to talk to the agency for Great Wall winery and taste one of its products. The purpose was to help find a proper marketing strategy for the wine Chateau Sun God.

Five people attended the session, all of them wine consumers in Beijing with a history of drinking imported wines for at least one year. The agency asked us about a half dozen questions, such as which wines we have purchased, how often we buy wines and where, and so on.

We then tried the wine without knowing anything about it. The wine is ruby red in color, with a nose of blackberry and a hint of green pepper. It is medium-bodied and seems to have a high alcohol level. I consider it a fruity wine made in a new world style, and to be quite simple and easy to drink. In fact, we all agreed it is a simple drinkable wine and estimated its worth at about RMB100. One person in our group, a Bordeaux wine drinker, said there are many Bordeaux wines priced at RMB100 to RMB200 in China that are better than the wine we tried.

The host asked us to forget about the pricing. He wanted to know if we would buy this wine, either to drink or as a gift. As none of us were impressed by the wine, we answered no. He also showed us two ads for Chinese wineries, neither of which we liked.

After a long discussion, the host revealed the bottle of wine: Great Wall Chateau Sun God Cabernet / Merlot 2005.


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1 Comment

  1. Gosh must had been an awful experience and at the same time you have to diplomatically decline their overtune.

    I can’t really imagine his look when you declined price and in wine.

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