Grape Wall of China

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

SuperGreat: Upcoming Acker wine auction in Hong Kong has 950+ lots

~ By Jim Boyce I got a bit picky in this January post when auction house Acker et al used the word “great” and its derivatives 29 times in one press release. Whoever writes these things must have listened because he / she / they took it down a notch for the latest missive and [...]

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, [...]

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 [...]

Blueprint a better blue: On translating Robert Parker’s wine tasting notes into Chinese

~ By Jim Boyce I happily joined a dinner in Beijing a week ago with a group that included Marcus Ford, Stuart Christie and Jim Yang of retail shop Pudao Wines, Dominique Bonnel of importer and distributor Summergate, and Lisa Perrotti-Brown, who was visiting from Singapore and writes for the magazine and website published by [...]

China wine word: Opus One CEO David Pearson on fakes, strategies and styles

By Jim Boyce I met David Pearson, CEO of Opus One, and Yvonne Chiong-Mougin, the company’s Asia export manager, in Beijing yesterday to talk about the winery and its position in China. Pearson told me the company’s biggest market in Asia is Japan, with three to four times more volume than China, including Hong Kong, [...]

RVF 2012 China Wine Awards: Li Demei, Emma Gao, Grace Vineyard lead way

By Jim Boyce The Chinese edition of wine magazine Revue du Vin de France revealed the winners of its 2012 China Wine Awards last week during Vinexpo in Hong Kong. Some of the highlights: Top Region Ningxia Person of the Year Li Demei (Beijing University of Agriculture) Best Winery Grace Vineyard (Shanxi) Best Winemaker Emma [...]

Matured two years: Nick Bartman’s investigation of fake wine, other IPR issues in China

By Jim Boyce In March of 2010, I met Nick Bartman twice in Beijing to talk about wine and intellectual property rights (IPR) in China. At that time, Bartman was investigating the scale of IPR infringements, including fake wines, in China and had started The Wine Protection Group in an effort to get major industry [...]

China seal: Tasting Series 1980 from Dynasty uses Nomacorc closure

Jim Boyce The synthetic closure above was made by Nomacorc and used to stop a bottle of Tasting Series 1980 wine produced by Dynasty. The “1980″ refers to the founding year of the company, not the vintage. I recently tried this wine with Nomacorc CEO Lars von Kantzow, Asia sales manager Mark Coleman and China [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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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