Grape Wall of China

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

Ningxia Wine Challenge in Nanjing: Seven local producers featured, Bordeaux nabs top spot

By Jim Boyce Eight wineries from Ningxia in north-central China participated in an afternoon of wine in the city of Nanjing, Jiangsu province, last month to showcase what many see as the country’s most promising wine region. The highlight was the Ningxia Wine Challenge, held on April 24 at the Hilton Wanda Hotel. The challenge [...]

Amazing Grace: Drinks Business, IMW name Judy Leissner ‘Asian Wine Personality of the Year’

By Jim Boyce Judy Leissner, CEO of Grace Vineyard in Shanxi province, has been named 2012 Asian Wine Personality of the Year by publication The Drinks Business and, according to the publication’s web site, the Institute of Masters of Wine. The announcement was made during Vinexpo 2012 in Hong Kong. This is the first year [...]

Smart set: Wine maker Li Demei receives Wine Intelligence ’10 for 10′ award

By Jim Boyce Wine maker Li Demei has been chosen by London-based market research firm Wine Intelligence as one of ten people in the business “who have personally achieved great things in the past decade, and in doing so have changed the industry for the better.” Li, who works at Beijing University of Agriculture, received [...]

Vinexpo 2012 Watch: Pendock, dragons, tweets and more from Day One

By Jim Boyce Given my experience of observing Wine Future Hong Kong from afar last November, I figured Vinexpo 2012 would offer just as much intrigue and unintentional comedy. Stuff like this: Unfortunately, not so far. To this outside observer, it is more like watching a bunch of kids let loose in a candy shop [...]

Decanter Wine Awards 2012: Did China wine more medals because it had more entries?

A recent Wall Street Journal post titled “Chinese wine makes strides” stated (my highlights): Chinese vineyards are slowly gaining the respect of the wine world. Long written off as plonk, wines from China garnered 19 medals at the latest Decanter World Wine Awards in London, up from just 11 last year. It seems people are [...]

Viewing notes: Vinexpo 2012 Watch, plus Wine Future Hong Kong refresher

The stunning high-tech design of this blog might suggest that Grape Wall of China is flush with cash. It isn’t. Thus, I won’t be heading to Hong Kong for Vinexpo 2012, which starts tomorrow. But as with Wine Future, held less than seven months ago, I aim (hope) to do daily posts from Beijing that [...]

Décision 2012: RVF to reveal top Chinese wines at Vinexpo in Hong Kong

By Jim Boyce The China edition of French magazine La Revue du Vin de France (RVF) held a blind tasting of 97 Chinese wines in early April in Beijing and will announce the results on May 31 at Vinexpo in Hong Kong. The tasting panel was headed by Olivier Poels, deputy chief editor of RVF, [...]

Monster waves of Spanish fruit: Grandes Pagos de Espana wine tasing in Beijing

By Jim Boyce Beijing saw an afternoon of Tempranillo, Albarino and breaded pork puffs as 25 Spanish vintners gathered last Monday in the Peninsula Hotel to present their single-estate wines. Oh, I forgot to mention the tipsy teeming masses. There were tipsy teeming masses. I include myself among them. The event was organized by the [...]

Vintage notes: The Robert Parker dinner on the Great Wall of China

By Jim Boyce Four years ago this weekend, I set a personal record — one that still stands today — for most money spent on a wine event, when I attended the Robert Parker dinner on the Great Wall of China. I spent rmb10,0000 for a seat — roughly USD1600  — which is quite a [...]

Bar Veloce: Funky grapes and functional design in Sanlitun South

I went to new wine bar Veloce in 1949: The Hidden City for a drink last night. I have to admit, I was flagging a bit after a wine tasting and a jazz concert earlier in the evening, thus my notes are brief: The idea is to have 60 to 70 wines by the bottle [...]

Summer of wine in Sanlitun: Veloce and Ole on the south side

By Jim Boyce Look for it to be a summer of wine in the Sanlitun and Workers Stadium areas in Beijing, with bars and shops from Everwines (Torres), Sparkle Roll, California Grapes International and The Loop among those on the way. In Sanlitun South, 1949: The Hidden City reports that Veloce has now opened and [...]

Kiwis and gooseberries: Villa Maria event at Pudao Wines in Beijing

By Jim Boyce That’s a “lightly” sparkling Sauvignon Blanc, bottled under screw cap, from New Zealand operation Villa Maria. The pressure in the bottles is three “atmospheres”, as compared to five or six for many Champagnes, and it is, well, lightly sparkling. If you ever wondered what gooseberries smell like, this might be a good [...]

Heavy medals: Nine China wines recognized at 2012 International Wine Challenge

By Jim Boyce Given how much I have written over the past year about the Decanter World Wine Awards, it seems high time to look at how Chinese wines are doing in other competitions around the world, starting with the 2012 International Wine Challenge. This year’s IWC saw nine wines from producers based in China [...]

Decanter Wine Awards: 17 wines, 9 producers in China receive regional recognition

By Jim Boyce Last year, China’s Helan Qing Xue rocked and shocked, stirred and shook, the wine world when its Jia Bei Lan firs took a regional trophy, and then took an international one, at the Decanter World Wine awards. This year? The achievements of the Middle Kingdom are more modest. The lone gold medal [...]

Wine media: Decanter to launch China site, says consumer-always focus is ‘fact’

For the past 5,000 five years, I have heard regular rumors in Beijing wine circles that Decanter will launch a print edition here in simplified Chinese characters to pair with the one in traditional Chinese characters that it publishes out of Taiwan. When I finally met Decanter’s Sarah Kemp in February, she told me no [...]

Ni Hao-Bonjour Sip & Nibble: Pairing 9 Chinese wines and 9 French cheeses in Beijing

By Jim Boyce Two weeks ago, I dropped off my severely damaged computer at a repair shop near Chaoyang Park West Gate in Beijing and found my severely stressed self walking south. I spotted the shop Cheese & Wine, decided to visit, and within one hour — and aided by a few glasses of wine [...]

Cited for speeding: Is China seeing a slowdown in bottled wine imports?

By Jim Boyce Has China’s high-speed growth in bottled wine imports hit a road bump? First-quarter data from China Customs and talks with four industry players suggest we are seeing a slowdown. I just wrote about this for Meininger’s Wine Business International: read the full story here. Here are a few key points: Compared to [...]

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  • About Grape Wall of China

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

    A nonprofit collaborative blog


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    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


    Li Demei
    Wine maker


    Huiqin Ma
    Professor


    Campbell Thompson
    The Wine Republic co-owner


    Frankie Zhao
    Pro-Wine Training & Consultancy owner


    Jim Boyce
    Consumer, blog administrator