DIY Chinese wine tasting: One shopping trip, five bottles, ~rmb600

By Jim Boyce

Six years ago, I wrote a post called “The Search for Seven Good Chinese Wines“, based on a tasting in my apartment in Beijing. I’ve since found far more decent Chinese wines than that and wrote about a few this month in The Beijinger in a new column called “Made in China“.

I have occasionally written on wine for the local lifestyle magazines, including on China’s top wineries and wine on a budget for Agenda Beijing and a cover story for City Weekend (see part 1, part 2 and part 3).

But I shied away from anything regular until managing editor Steven Schwankert of The Beijinger called me. He suggested I write about wine, I told him I was only interested in writing about Chinese wine, and, to my surprise, he gave the green light. I don’t have anything against wine from elsewhere. It’s just that since I came to work in China, my main focus has been on local wines, and that is what I’m most comfortable writing on.

Below is the first “Made in China” column. It explains how to get a handful of wines with one shopping trip for a DIY tasting at home. You decide whether or not the wines are good…

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