Grape Wall of China

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

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

Posted on | June 25, 2009 | 1 Comment

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.

Category: Uncategorized

Comments

One Response to “Taste test in China: Chateau ‘Sun God’ wine by Great Wall”

  1. Daniel
    June 26th, 2009 @ 4:32 am

    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.

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