Grape Wall of China

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

Ningxia Wine Challenge Panel: Mihalis Boutaris, Lilian Carter, Li Demei, Liz Thach and Mireia Torres

~ By Jim Boyce After the deadline for entering the Ningxia Wine Challenge — at 5 PM on July 27 — all of CVs and forms will be sent to a panel of wine experts who hail from five nations and have a link to China. The panelists will pick their top 15 candidates and [...]

Ningxia Wine Challenge: Site hacked, contest goes on, details here

~ By Jim Boyce Recent visitors to the Ningxia Wine Challenge website might have noticed that the pacifying photo of grape vines has been replaced with a scary one of a masked man. That is because the site has been hacked. Hard to believe since we have only been posting there for two weeks. But [...]

Ningxia Wine Challenge: Details of applying

By Jim Boyce The region of Ningxia in northwest China will fund ten foreign winemakers to visit and practice their craft this fall as part of a two-year project. The winemakers will select grapes and make wine in the fall, then work remotely through assistants, with the option of up to three return visits. The wines [...]

Ningxia Wine Challenge Q&A: Winemaker Emma Gao on lessons learned, grape sourcing and Cabernet Gernischt

By Jim Boyce Emma Gao is the winemaker at Silver Heights, a family-owned operation that she runs with her father and sister in Ningxia and that has gained a reputation for making some of China’s best wines since the first vintage in 2007. The Chinese edition of La Revue du Vin de France recently named [...]

Ningxia Wine Challenge Q&A: Professor Ma Huiqin on grapes, marketing and more

By Jim Boyce Professor Ma Huiqin of China Agricultural University is not only an expert on wine marketing and grape molecular biology, but also for more than a decade has taught a wine appreciation course at the school. Since finishing her postdoctoral studies at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, Ma has completed stints at the ESA [...]

Ningxia Wine Challenge Q&A: Lilian Carter on working at Helan Mountain winery

By Jim Boyce To give some perspective to winemakers interested in applying for the Ningxia Wine Challenge, we are featuring some interviews with people involved in the Ningxia wine scene. First up is winemaker Lillian Carter, who worked from August 2008 to December 2009 as winemaker / winery manager for Pernod Ricard at Helan Mountain [...]

China wine myths: Cheap labor, high taxes, export ambitions & more

(Posting this as a short break from helping with the Ningxia Wine Challenge. This region of China is paying for 10 foreign winemakers to visit this fall and make a red and a white wine. Details here. Deadline to apply is July 27.) ~ By Jim Boyce Occasionally during my days in China, I remove [...]

China Wine Challenge ‘trophy’ winners: Silver Heights, Grace Vineyard & 9 more

By Jim Boyce The results of the China Wine Challenge were announced in a ballroom ceremony last week in Shanghai although the country’s vino-guzzling masses are still waiting for them to be posted on the official bilingual website. Luckily, an acquaintance at the event — who basically said that if the wines had as long [...]

Beijing’s newest singles spot: Cru wine bar is a five-woman show

(Note: This post originally appeared on sibling blog Beijing Boyce.) By Jim Boyce When you hear a wine bar has opened in “the same building as the youth hostel”, you should be forgiven for having low expectations. In the case of newcomer Cru, such expectations are easily exceeded. Just north of Workers Stadium in Beijing, [...]

Wine writing in China: Professor and winemaker Li Demei launches book

~ By Jim Boyce Li Demei — who teaches at Beijing University of Agriculture, consults to wineries aound China, is active as a wine writer, judge and industry association member, and is a contributor to this blog — has a book out. It provides a Chinese perspective on wine and draws on Li’s extensive experience, [...]

Online wine retail in China: TasteV, Grace Vineyard and market price

By Jim Boyce Still on the topic of online wine retail, I raised the following issue on Weibo a while back but it is still bothering me, namely, that Grace Vineyard Chairman’s Reserve 2009 is listed with a market price of rmb868 by relatively new retailer TasteV, although if you sign up at the site you [...]

Online wine retail in China: What’s happening at yangjiu.com?

By Jim Boyce Update (07/23): I have been unable to reach yangjiu.com via any of the links on its website (the phone numbers are top right here). The mobile is “power off” and calls to the land line and an email to the company account have gone unanswered. Not looking good… – Wine social group [...]

Double pour: Wine Republic to hold Jia Bei Lan dinner at Jaan in Raffles Beijing

By Jim Boyce After Jia Bei Lan Dry Red 2009 won an “international award” at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London, a first for a wine from China, it became a topic of much discussion. While many celebrated this milestone for China’s wine industry, some were disappointed the wine launched at nearly rmb900 per [...]

Make wine in China? Ningxia Wine Challenge to fund 10 foreign winemakers this fall

~ By Jim Boyce The government of Ningxia will invite 10 foreign winemakers to visit this fall and each make a red wine and a white wine, with the best ones eligible for prizes that total rmb200,000  –  about USD30,000 or EUR25,000. Called the Ningxia Wine Challenge, the project was initiated by Cao Kailong, who [...]

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