Grape Wall of China

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

The Battle of Great River Hill: A China wine tasting in rural Beijing

  By Jim Boyce Impromptu wine tastings. Open a few bottles, pour them for a handful or two of guests, see which one they like best. No worries about gilded invitations, seating arrangements or tasters worrying days ahead as to whether or not they will look smart. Just a simple “do you like it?” approach. [...]

2013 RVF China awards: And the winners for top wine, winery and wine maker are…

~  By Jim Boyce Ningxia again dominated the annual wine awards held by the China edition of magazine La Revue du Vin de France. The year’s top wine personality, wine maker and winery all hail from this area in north-central China (see below for details). Three out of the top five highest-scoring wines, as determined [...]

Q&A: RVF publisher Lin Libo on this year’s crop of Chinese wines

By Jim Boyce The local edition of French magazine La Revue du Vin de France will soon reveal the top bottles from its annual tasting of Chinese wines. I asked publisher Lin Libo a few questions about the entries for 2013 and about Chinese wines in general. I’ll post again when the winners are announced. [...]

Q&A with Damien Shee of Torres China: On regional differences, retail expansion, the wine glut & more

~ By Jim Boyce Is there a wine glut in China? What distinguishes customers in the north from those elsewhere in the country? And what are the top picks from the portfolio? Those are some questions I asked Damien Shee, north China general manager for Torres, when I recently met him at the company’s retail [...]

Decanter World Wine Awards 2013: 20 Chinese wines nab awards, led by Great Wall, Helan Mountain

By Jim Boyce Decanter has released the results of its 2013 World Wine Awards and 20 entries of the 49 entries from China received a ranking of “commended” or higher. While the total number of wines receiving awards was higher this year, the pickings were slimmer, with silver the top achievement. The vast majority of [...]

Portfolio tasting in Beijing: Sample 60 wines from 90 Plus for 80 rmb

Wine shop operator 90 Plus will hold tastings on May 25 and May 26 at Zun Club just off Workers Stadium East Road. The daily rmb80 entrance fee gets you samples of more than 60 wines from 2 PM to 6 PM.  On top of that, those buying bottles can get a 20 percent discount [...]

Welcome to the club: ASC opens The Wine Residence in Shanghai

~ By Jim Boyce ASC Fine Wines opened the Wine Residence — a 6500-square-meter facility for events, education and storage – in Shanghai last weekend. An ASC press release states that more than 50 senior representatives from the world’s wineries attended the launch, including Christophe Salin of DBR Lafite, Jean-Philippe Delmas of Chateau Haut-Brion and [...]

WFOE for sale: Shanghai-based importer and distributor Mervin Fine Wines

By Jim Boyce The following info is via Melody Mast of Shanghai-based Mervin Fine Wines. Mervin — a fully licensed and foreign-owned company (WFOE) in the wine import and distribution sector — is up for sale. The operation includes an office in Shanghai, a sales team and established distribution channels. Mast says the company has [...]

WoSA Sommelier Cup: Mainland China semi-final slated for Beijing

By Jim Boyce Full-time sommeliers from mainland China have the chance to go abroad as part of a competition run by Wines of South Africa. The WOSA Sommelier Cup involves three rounds, starting with an online test in June and then, for those who make the grade, continuing with a semi-final in Beijing on July [...]

Pairing at Pinotage: Cheese and South African wines in Beijing

By Jim Boyce I’m not the biggest fan of wine and food pairing given that many people tend to take it too seriously and that individual tastes differ. But with a group of friends in can be fun and that goes when using beverages from single malts to pale ales and foods from tofu burgers [...]

Chateau Hansen in China: Bruno Paumard pursues wine in ‘Grand Cru style’

By Jim Boyce Inner Mongolia operation Chateau Hansen will soon launch a new ‘Red Camel’ wine that wine maker Bruno Paumard says is made in “Grand Cru style“. I tried five Hansen wines yesterday and will write about those and the winery soon, but for now a quick post about this new bottle. Paumard says [...]

Attn F&B managers in China: ‘Sommelier’ to be an officially recognized profession

By Jim Boyce China is on the verge of designating “sommelier” –  “新职业” in Chinese — an official profession, says Tommy Lam, a driving forces behind the initiative. Lam says it has been a three-year project with the Department of Labor to get to this point and he is seeking help from those in the  [...]

South hemisphere smackdown: Australia vs New Zealand blind tasting in Beijing

By Jim Boyce Call it the wine equivalent of Crowded House versus Air Supply, Edmund Hillary versus Steve Irwin, The Conchords versus Dame Edna and Les Patterson, the sheep versus the bilby. New Zealand and Australia wines will square off in a blind tasting this Saturday at The Big Smoke in Beijing. All of the [...]

Best wine experience in Beijing? My three nominees for the Time Out awards

~ By Jim Boyce I sat on the judges panel for the Time Out Beijing food awards this year and one of the categories up for grabs was “best wine experience“. Beijing is tricky as a wine city. A superb range of wine is available here, top restaurants tend to have diverse lists, and it [...]

Jancis Robinson Q&A: On China’s wines, Cabernet Gernischt, ‘American Wines’ & more

~ By Jim Boyce English wine writer Jancis Robinson has been visiting China and its wineries for more than a decade, with her most recent trip being to Ningxia last fall to taste ~50 wines and tour the region’s operations. This week I asked her a few questions about China’s wine scene (my highlights). What [...]

South African wine in China: Pinotage II to open this weekend in Beijing

By Jim Boyce The second branch of South African restaurant Pinotage is set to open in Sanlitun Soho this weekend, says partner Toby Cao. The venue is directly across from the Adidas shop in Sanlitun Village and a few meters from where the Intercontinental hotel will open. It shares the complex with venues like Argentine [...]

Wine deals in China: Double credit days at Pudao Wines in Beijing & Shanghai

By Jim Boyce Whether you interpret it as doubling your credit, drinking for half price or both, Pudao Wines in Shanghai and Beijing have an excellent offer the next few days. Charge your wine card from April 29 to May 1 in Shanghai or on April 29 and April 30 in Beijing (closed May 1) [...]

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