Grape Wall of China

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

Naughty list: ~30 China wineries closed for subpar, fake wine

Some 30 wineries in China’s northern Hebei province, which encircles Beijing, were closed after state-run CCTV claimed they were producing subpar and/or counterfeit products. From a story by Shanghai Daily: Hebei Province shut down nearly 30 wineries yesterday after wines made there were exposed on television as not only adulterated, but also falsely labeled. The local [...]

French Wine Paradox to handle Lanson Champagne in China

By Jim Boyce Importer and distributor French Wine Paradox reports that it has signed an agreement to be the exclusive distributor of Lanson Champagne in China. The origins of Lanson date to 1760, though in recent decades ownership has passed through a handful of large corporations, and the house is now headed by Champagne Boizel [...]

Mouton Cadet wine bar to open in Guangzhou

By Jim Boyce Torres China has announced that Baron Philippe de Rothschild will launch the world’s first Mouton Cadet wine bar in restaurant No. 9 Garden in Guangzhou. Torres is the exclusive distributor of Baron Philippe de Rothschild in China and is partly owned by the company. According to Torres China,  the Mouton Cadet wine [...]

Wine Australia Awards in China: James Halliday to present honors to St. Pierre, Sing, Ford, and Lin today

By Jim Boyce Writer James Halliday will announce the winners of the Wine Australia Awards today in Beijing. The winner in each of the four categories — retail; restaurants, bars, and hotels; writing and education; and overall contribution to “the growth of wine and of Australian wine in China” — will receive a ten-day wine [...]

Hong Kong sales ahead: First Sotheby’s wine auction of 2010 raises RMB46.5 million

By Jim Boyce Last year’s slate of high-profile auctions did a great deal to solidify Hong Kong as a fine wine hub but little to empty the pockets of bidders, it seems. On January 23, auction house Sotheby’s held its first sale of the year in Hong Kong and raked in RMB46.5 million (HKD52.9 million [...]

Grape Press: Fakers, robbers, and wine in China

- People in the wine business here say there is more ’82 Lafite in China than was ever produced that year in France. – Wall Street Journal – By Jim Boyce One reason I recently posted an exchange with Benjamin Wallace, author of Billionaire’s Vinegar, is because of the massive – and growing – amount [...]

BYOB? Obama, Nixon, wine, and Chinese state dinners

- By Jim Boyce This post at Obama Foodorama reports that China President Hu Jintao hosted U.S. President Barack Obama at a state dinner earlier this week and served him both red and white Great Wall 2002 wines. Does that count as an assassination attempt? (Kidding, just kidding). In any case, the leaders ate “Chinese-style [...]

Hong Kong wine auction: Spectrum to sell 200 lots from Aubrey McClendon collection

By Jim Boyce California-based Spectrum Wine Auctions will hold its first event in Hong Kong – with more than 200 lots from the collection of Aubrey McClendon – at Crown Wine Cellars at 9 AM on November 22. This is the latest event that affirms Hong Kong as a top-three auction site along with New [...]

China, Thomas Jefferson, and fake wine? Benjamin Wallace, author of Billionaire’s Vinegar

By Jim Boyce USD156,000 is a lot for a bottle of wine. But such is the amount a 1787 Chateau Lafitte – then spelled with two t’s – fetched at auction in 1985. The source: a collector named Hardy Rodenstock who said he found the bottle in a Paris basement and that it – engraved [...]

China Wine Word: Julia Zhu, sommelier at Hilton Beijing

By Jim Boyce Julia Zhu, sommelier at Beijing Hilton, honed her wine skills in Canada, where she received her certification from the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers and spent three years working at the Hilton Toronto. I asked her about the wine scene in China, her favorite tastings in Beijing, the upcoming Hilton Food & [...]

Money flows like water: Acker Merrall & Conditt tops ~165 million with Hong Kong wine auction

By Jim Boyce Money continues to flow like water at Hong Kong wine auctions, with Acker Merrall & Condit reporting HKD39.15 million (USD5.05 million) in sales last Saturday and HKD165.81 million (USD21.4 million) for the year. The company’s press release states that 98 percent of the 1100 lots were purchased via sales room, email, phone, [...]

China’s best wines? Grace Vineyard, Silver Heights tasting this Friday in Beijing

By Jim Boyce China is a major wine producer and a growing wine consumer, but the average wine sold under domestic labels is disappointing. As noted here, this is due to everything from the pursuit of high-yield harvests to the use of unripe grapes to the blending of local and bulk imported wine to an [...]

Californian wine in China: Beijing Wine Classic at Aman in the Summer Palace

By Jim Boyce Bo Barrett of Chateau Montelena, Hugh Davies of Schramsberg, and Heidi Peterson Barrett of La Sirena are among the dozen wine makers and winery leaders from California slated to participate in the Beijing Wine Classic 2009 from November 13 to 15 at Aman in the Summer Palace. The weekend will include food [...]

China contest: Wine Australia Awards to provide four trips Down Under

By Jim Boyce As noted here, Australia has been busy in the China wine market. Now Wine Australia is launching a project in China to award a trip Down Under in each of these categories: wine retail, wine writing and education, restaurants, bars, and hotels, and overall, for the person or company deemed to have [...]

No worries: Australia targeting China wine market at every level

Australia – excuse an indirect kangaroo reference – is really hopping when it comes to the China wine scene. First, the country has maintained a steady presence as the number two source of bottled wine by volume, taking 20 percent to 22 percent of the market the past five years, according to Customs. In the [...]

Drinker beware: Canadian wine label controversey holds lessons for China

By Jim Boyce Most consumers are unaware that many of the “Chinese” wines they find in supermarkets, restaurants, and elsewhere include imported bulk wine. The amount of bulk wine in the market in recent years is somewhere between 10 percent and 40 percent, with those numbers ranging from official statistics to estimates based on the [...]

By bulk, by bottle: Is Chile the key to changing China’s wine scene?

By Jim Boyce Random wine thought I had while drinking a beer last night: Could Chile be the key to shifting the China wine market? Consider four things: 1.According to Customs, roughly 55 percent of the imported bulk wine entering China the last three years – 170 million liters of 305 million liters – hailed [...]

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  • About Grape Wall of China


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    A nonprofit blog by wine professionals and consumers.


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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


    Alain Leroux
    Wine maker, consultant


    Li Demei
    Wine maker


    Huiqin Ma
    Professor


    Campbell Thompson
    The Wine Republic co-owner


    Brian Yao
    Consumer


    Frankie Zhao
    Pro-Wine Training & Consultancy owner


    Jim Boyce
    Consumer, blog administrator