Grape Wall of China

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

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 [...]

Sour grapes: When it comes to poor Chinese wine, don’t shoot the wine maker

- By Jim Boyce The past few months, I have been lucky to visit wineries along the northern swath of China – in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Shanxi, and Hebei. One thing I notice: the wines made by many producers do not always reflect the skill of the wine makers. As they say, you can’t make an [...]

Grape Press: Wine really *is* a passport… to Australia, and more

By Jim Boyce China-related wine news from the Web… – Have wine, will travel Wine really *is* a passport to the world. According to this story in the Sydney Morning Herald, some Chinese businesspeople are entering the wine business in Australia in order to secure visas and migrate to that country: Winemakers and immigration lawyers [...]

Aussino World Wine Festival: Sipping, spitting, and scribbling in Beijing

By Jim Boyce Last Saturday, Aussino became the latest wine distributor to do a tasting of a significant portion of its portfolio in Beijing, joining companies such as Torres (see here and here), ASC (here), Palette (here and here), and Gelipu and Winelink (here). The event drew a large turnout, though the entry fee appeared [...]

Wine moves: ASC to distribute Stag’s Leap in mainland China, Macau

- By Jim Boyce China-based wine importer and distributor ASC announced today that it will add Napa Valley winery Stag’s Leap to its portfolio in mainland China and Macau as of September 1. ASC already has the winery in its Hong Kong portfolio. The press release stressed the legacy of Stag’s Leap: In the first [...]

Photo essay: Pouring, pondering, and penning at China National Sommelier Competition

By Jim Boyce Posts about the China National Sommelier Competition have been, um, pouring onto this blog. Last week I posted the full results as well as an interview with Shinya Tasaki, who oversaw the judging. Next up: photos from the event. And I have a few more posts in the queue… – See also [...]

What happens if I eat the cork? Q&A with world sommelier champ Shinya Tasaki

- By Jim Boyce Shinya Tasaki won the world’s best sommelier title in 1995, chairs the technical commission of the ASI (International Sommelier Association), and oversaw the jury at the China National Sommelier Competition in Shanghai this week. If someone has unusual questions about how to serve wine, Tasaki should be able to answer them, [...]

China National Sommelier Competition: Full results

- By Jim Boyce As mentioned yesterday, Hans Qu of the Intercontinental Hotel in Shenzhen took top spot at the China National Sommelier Competition on Tuesday in the Westin Bund in Shanghai, while Vivian Tian of the Kee Club in Shanghai took second place. Both will go to Osaka for the Asia-Pacific competition organized by [...]

China National Sommelier Competition: Hans Qu of Shenzhen Intercontinental Hotel takes top spot

By Jim Boyce Hans Qu of the Intercontinental Hotel in Shenzhen took top prize in the final round of the China National Sommelier Competition held in Shanghai yesterday. Vivian Tian of the Kee Club in Shanghai took second place. Both will go to the Best Sommelier of Asia-Oceania competition to be held in Japan this [...]

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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


    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