Grape Wall of China

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

Decanter magazine and Jia Bei Lan 2009: Was it really Chinese wine?

~ By Jim Boyce How do we know? How do we really know it was Chinese wine? That is a question many people, particularly outside China, have asked since Jia Bei Lan 2009 became the first Chinese wine to receive an “international trophy” at the Decanter World Wine Awards. The award immediately had people asking [...]

China Wine Press: Scottish castles, Australian winery sales, Japanese manga

All the wine world’s a stage and China keeps getting bigger roles. China Wine Press looks at media coverage of that drama, with each item preceded by an inane comment from me, just to keep things real. By J. Boyce (China Daily forgot to ask what wine goes with haggis.) Ellie Buchdahl of China Daily [...]

Grape Wall Challenge 2011: Nine distributors confirmed so far

Eight Nine wine importers / distributors have confirmed they will participate in the Grape Wall of China Challenge 2011. This year’s challenge, the third annual, is slated for November 8 at Modo in Beijing. It will see Chinese consumers judge wines that retail for less than rmb100. Each distributor may submit up to four wines [...]

Uncorked: Pudao Wines opens in Beijing, features Decanter awards line-up

By Jim Boyce Pudao Wines is marking its official opening on the north side of The Office Park in Beijing with a line-up of 23 wines that received recognition at Decanter magazine’s World Wine Awards and will be rotated into the enomatic machines over the next few weeks. There are 16 wines available at the [...]

From Xinjiang to Liaoning: Five years of Decanter awards for Chinese wines

By Jim Boyce Jia Bei Lan Cabernet Red 2009, from Ningxia-based operation Helan Qing Xue, has been a hot topic since it became the first Chinese wine to win an “international trophy” at the Decanter World Wine Awards. I’ll leave for another post what this means in terms of such magazines acting as “gate keepers“, [...]

Wine-derwall: 35 different Chinese wine bottles

~ A magazine asked me for a “wine” shot so I grabbed about three dozen Chinese bottles in my apartment, a.k.a. Chateau Double-B, arranged them on bookshelves, then clicked away. Needless to say from the photo quality above, the job required a professional. But I thought I’d share that one because if you are interested [...]

Grape Wall Challenge 2011: Call For Wine

Call for Wine Grape Wall of China Challenge 2011 November 8, Modo, Beijing ~ The third annual Grape Wall of China Challenge will be held at restaurant Modo in Beijing on November 8. This post is a call for interested distributors to submit wines. The goal of the challenge, or GWC, is to find good [...]

Rare China wine dinners: 1968 Beerenauslese and 2010 Erguotou

~ Call me cocky but I’m claiming a recent wine dinner I attended was the first to include a 1968 Austrian Beerenauslese, an organic Israeli Petit Syrah and, according to the date stamp on its screw cap, a 2010 Chinese Erguotou. I tried this trio of beverages with three fellow Grape Wallers: the feast was [...]

Carrefour Fall Wine Fair in Beijing: Free samples + BYOG

~ The fall edition of the biannual Beijing ritual known as the Carrefour Wine Fair is slated for October 14 to October 16 in the Shuangjing branch. The Friday night opening tends to be fun, with not only the chance to try free samples from among hundreds of wines (see catalog here) but also a [...]

Jia Bei Lan wine in Beijing: One bottle, 22 tasters

~ Lots of people have asked about Jia Bei Lan Cabernet Dry Red 2009 since it won a Decanter award a few weeks ago. As far as I know, there is no stock in Beijing, save a couple of bottles brought back last week after a trip I took to Helan Qing Xue, the producer [...]

It’s on! Hong Kong Wine Future 2011 vs Grape Wall of China Challenge 2011

- By Jim Boyce On November 8, many of the wine world’s biggest names — Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson, Miguel Torres, Michel Rolland, and dozens more — will be in Hong Kong for the finale of  Wine Future 2011. On the same day, a dozen Chinese consumers — people whose names you probably haven’t heard — [...]

Wine in China: Torres now handling Uruguay brand Pisano

- Torres China recently added Uruguay brand  Pisano to its wine portfolio. At the company’s recent Taste of the Nations event in Beijing, which includes ~150 wines from 13 countries, Torres listed five Pisano wines in its booklet. They included one white, Rio de los Pajaros Reserve Torrontes 2011 (rmb199), and four reds, Rio de los Pajaros [...]

DRC in the PRC: Rare Burgundy is top drop at Hong Kong auctions

- By Jim Boyce Given the number of billionaire wine aficionados who read this blog, I feel a post on the Hong Kong auction scene is long overdue. Two recent sales show Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanée Conti to increasingly be the new darling while traditional sweetheart Chateau Lafite still performs well, particularly when it [...]

End of debate: Jamie Goode cuts blog post about Chinese wine

By Jim Boyce British wine writer Jamie Goode has deleted a blog post that concerned 1) Decanter magazine giving Jia Bei Lan Cabernet Red 2009 an “international trophy“, a first for a Chinese wine, and 2) a less than flattering evaluation of that same vintage by Victoria Moore in The Telegraph. I enjoyed Moore’s article (read it here), especially the details re [...]

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