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Source:  China News

“吉姆•博伊斯(Jim Boyce)是葡萄酒网站Grape Wall Of China的行政主管，也是Bei Jing Boyce夜生活博客的博主。本文是吉姆•博伊斯先生从消费者的立场和角度出发，对目前中国葡萄酒生产商所面临的挑战进行的总结。

中国葡萄酒传媒公司和软木塞供应商咖伦宾(Columbin)最近举行了一场中国葡萄酒品鉴会，与会中所品尝的葡萄酒大多数都是在北京不为人所熟知的区域性品牌。在会上，吉姆•博伊斯先生从消费者的立场和角度出发，与大家一起分享了5点中国葡萄酒的现状。

1、宁夏产区的葡萄酒是本次品尝赛最大的赢家。现在，宁夏产区拥有超过12家很不错的葡萄酒生产商。这里良好的自然条件和强有力的政府支持，是它得以成功的2个关键因素。另一个重要原因则是因为宁夏有大面积的土地，这便于葡萄酒生产商能更好地控制果实的品质。

2、中国葡萄酒的质量正在提高。8年前，我曾经品尝过中国的葡萄酒，那时候我发现很难从中找到比较优秀的葡萄酒。不过，今天我可以很容易地从这些优秀的葡萄酒生产商中选出“十佳”或“前20名”的葡萄酒。虽然这些葡萄酒仍然只占中国葡萄酒总产量的极少部分，不过它表现出现在的中国葡萄酒生产商对于葡萄酒品质给予了更多的关注。当然，通过更好的葡萄园试验也可以提供给酿酒师更好的葡萄原料，我相信中国葡萄酒的质量还可以进一步地提高。但是，这样会面临到消费者市场的2大关键挑战。

3、第一个挑战是产品分布。比较好的中国葡萄酒，往往很难在市场上找到。去年，我在银川组织了宁夏葡萄酒挑战赛。我们一共选取了39款葡萄酒，以简希丝•罗宾逊、马慧琴为首的评审团认为其中绝大多数都是非常优秀的葡萄酒。几个星期以后，我在宁夏银川市的中心超市想要买一些不错的葡萄酒带到北京。但是，我几乎找不到任何一款获奖的葡萄酒。这很难解释，我不知道如何在宁夏才能购买到当地最好的葡萄酒。

因为大多数最好的葡萄酒都只能小批量地生产。如果一个酒厂只生产10,000瓶某款葡萄酒的话，可以算出，并不是每个人都能够找到并品尝到这一款葡萄酒的。

　　4、第二个挑战是产品价格。这些优秀的葡萄酒价格简直贵得离谱。我去一家便利店花费75元人民币买到了一瓶像样的智利酒。但是，在中国咖伦宾(China-Columbin)品尝会上，所有中国葡萄酒的价格都远远高于这个水平。这些葡萄酒的大多数价格在250元到900元人民币之间。这样，中国葡萄酒在性价比、低价产品或高端产品等各种范围中，与进口葡萄酒相比都缺乏一定的竞争力。

　　现在中国政府开始削减官员的消费支出，之前这曾经是中国葡萄酒一个主要的收入来源。当然，我们可以看到普通消费者的购买量在增加。不过，包含集团购酒在内，人们购买葡萄酒已经开始越来越多地关注葡萄酒的风味了。因此，生产商们同时面临着提高葡萄酒品质和降低产品价格的双重压力。

5、这些都是比较“积极”的问题，因为我们了解到中国是可以酿出优秀品质的葡萄酒。不过，中国生产商还需要更好地分配商品和定价。中国的消费者何时能够以合理的价格购买到优秀的中国葡萄酒，仍然是一个需要所有生产商共同努力解决的问题。

The article above is a translation of the post Quality, Price & Distribution: Three Key Challenges for Chinese Wine Producers. The article, edited Liu Hongli of China News is here.

(Get my free wine in China newsletter. Click here for sample. Click here to join.)

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By Jim Boyce

My first ‘Made in China’ column in The Beijinger magazine covered where to get decent Chinese wine in retail. This second one looks at bars, restaurants and hotels. You know, in case you desperately need to get out of the house and guzzle a bottle or two of Silver Heights.

The column covers seven wineries, over more than a dozen venues, some by-the-glass options and bottles that range in price from rmb140 to rmb3000. (By the way, that price at Mokihi should be rmb180.)

Click the images to enlarge.

Also, I’ll soon have a write-up on the recent Chinese wine tasting at Capital M, and where to get those wines, too.

For those who simply want to know the places mentioned, they are: Temple Restaurant Beijing, Grill 79, Atmosphere, Maison Boulud, China Grill, Little Saigon, Flamme, Scarlett, Mokihi, Punjabi, Chez Julien, Duck de Chine, Morton’s Steakhouse and Raffles. Try hitting them all in one night.

And the wineries covered: 1421, Silver Heights, Great River Hill, Helan Qing Xue, Sunshine Valley, Grace Vineyard and Hansen.

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By Jim Boyce

The newest edition of The World Atlas of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson will be released on October 7 in both print and digital form with a China section that has maps of three key wine regions — veterans Shandong and Hebei and new kid on the block Ningxia.

“One of the more potent symbols of the westernisation of China has been the extent to which the staggeringly numerous Chinese have taken to wine”, starts the section on China. The atlas goes on to include background on China’s wine history (“Throughout the early years of this century, it was difficult to find wines labelled as Chinese of any real quality”) and production (“[OIV figures] suggest that China has been the world’s sixth most important wine produer since the turn of the century”).

It then turns to the most prominent wineries and regions in China, including Shandong, Hebei, Ningxia, Xinjiang and Yunnan, and lists six “picks” — Chateau Changyu Moser XV (Ningxia), Grace Vineyard (Shanxi), Helan Qing Xue (Ningxia), Domaine Helan Mountain (Ningxia), Jade Valley (Shaanxi) and Silver Heights (Ningxia).

Earlier today, I did a quick Q&A with Robinson on the book.

What changes can readers expect from this newest edition?

One of the most important is the introduction of a very beautiful iBook where people can zoom in on the maps, and the pictures and labels really do look great. Also, every single page and map and label selection and picture have been completely updated. Lots of work on our part! Lots of new producers, and new extensions to old maps, plus brand new maps for Ningxia, Croatia, Virginia, North Canterbury (New Zealand) and Georgia (in the Caucausus not the United States).

You visited about a dozen wineries in Ningxia last year and have been to Xinjiang and Shanxi. What is your “on the ground” impression of China’s wine scene?

Everything seems to be going in the right direction with wine quality steadily increasing — far more worthwhile products than there used to be — and exciting exploration of new areas such as Yunnan.

What were the main challenges faced in compiling the China section?

Getting hold of reliable statistics.

How do you see the China section shaping up for the eighth edition?

I could easily imagine devoted four pages to China in the next edition rather than the two in the current one.

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See the China excerpt here, more about the atlas on Robinson’s blog here and click the images in this post for larger versions. For a photo essay of Robinson’s tour of Ningxia last year, click here.

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By Jim Boyce

When Kent Tseng isn’t flying over the flower-strewn fields in Xinjiang as part of a wine tour (above), she is working as deputy GM and executive editor of Wine magazine in Guangzhou. During a recent trip to western China, I asked her a few questions about how she got interested in wine and what she thinks of Chinese labels.

How did you get involved in wine?

I used to work for expat magazines like City Talk when I was a student in Guangzhou. I was doing a column on food and beverage, and getting exposure to chefs and Western-style restaurants, and I had the chance to learn about wine step by step. In 2008, an editor where I previously worked was at a lifestyle magazine and wanted to change the focus. We discussed it and decided on a wine magazine since there were quite a few appearing in China. The best-known was Food and Wine but it was not specifically focused on wine.

How is Wine different from other magazines in China?

It’s focused on lifestyle, from a wine point of view. We have articles on travel, tastings, food and wine pairings. We look at fashion, music and so on. We want to interpret life through wine.

Who are your readers?

The target is 25 to 40 years old. Half are in the industry and half are consumers. We have readers up to 60 years old but most are 25 to 40.

How has the magazine changed over the years?

In the beginning, we were similar to RVF [La Revue du Vin de France]. We wrote about wine styles and wine regions and talked about the big name brands in wine. After that, we tried to more closely reflect the reality of the China market. We changed columnists many times, and tried to make readers understand wine rather than present a lot of technical information. We included articles on books, music, art, all related to wine.

How does Guangzhou’s wine scene differ from elsewhere in China?

Continue reading →

By Jim Boyce

I wrote an article about the state of local wines for the Chinese edition of La Revue du Vin de France that was published in the June issue with the results of a tasting of more than 100 Chinese wines. My English draft is below, with a few changes and updates.

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I recently tried a handful of wines from Penglai in Shandong province as part of a tourism campaign. One of the wines was shockingly bad. A magazine editor near me said: “It smells like a hospital”. Even the best wines, priced at more than rmb500, were simple and, in turn, poor value. I felt that asking consumers to visit Penglai to drink some of these wines was like asking people to go on a ski trip to a mountain with almost no snow. And I joked the best thing for Penglai tourism was to use wine from the upcoming region of Ningxia one thousand kilometers due west.

That joke might sound mean but it is also revealing. Five years ago, I might have written, “use French wine” or “use Australian wine”. But now China has reached the point where there are quite a few operations and regions making fairly good wine. We have stopped talking about if there is good wine in China. Now we talk about which ones are the best.

I was reminded of this recently when the manager of one of Beijing’s top restaurants called me and said that six tables of diners were drinking Chinese wine at that very moment. Not long ago, he might have meant wines from big producers like Great Wall or Changyu being consumed ganbei-style [bottoms up]. Or perhaps wines from Grace Vineyard, which was for quite some time about the only reliable producer in China.

Now he means wines from the increasing number of operations that offer better quality and better prices. In other words, better value. These include family-owned Silver Heights and foreign-invested Domaine Helan Mountain in Ningxia; Chateau Hansen in Inner Mongolia, which also uses grapes from Gansu and Ningxia; 1421, which is based in Shandong and bottles wine from Xinjiang; and Great River Hill in Shandong. These are some of the better operations [based on value], found across the country, and more are on the way.

But making decent wine is one thing and getting that wine to consumers is another. The most common question I get as a blogger is: “Where can I find good Chinese wines?” Fortunately, we are also seeing major changes in the distribution of these wines.

First, more distributors are adding Chinese wines to the portfolio. Torres is the veteran, distributing for Grace and Silver Heights. But the past year or so has seen The Wine Republic add Ningxia-based Helan Qing Xue and China Wines & Spirits work with Chateau Hansen. Great River Hill is talking to several distributors and will hopefully have a deal soon. [And Pernod Ricard is handling its own brand, Helan Mountain.]

Second, top restaurants, bars and hotels are listing more Chinese wines because of demand. Here in Beijing, Temple has stocked more than a dozen Chinese labels since it opened, including Grace, Silver Heights, Helan Qing Xue, Sunshine Valley and 1421. Maison Boulud, in Chi’enmen 23, and Grill 79 in China World Summit Wing, the highest building in Beijing, both have more than ten options. The Grand Hyatt recently revised its China wine list to include sixteen wines and sell Chateau Hansen by the glass.

These are not token wines. These are wines added due to greater consumer interest. There are dozens more places stocking Chinese wines, including pizza chain Gung Ho, which has Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon from Grace available for delivery! [Alas, Gung Ho is no longer carrying the wines.]

Third, more retail outlets are carrying good Chinese wines. In Beijing, Jenny Lou’s and Jenny Wang’s have carried Grace and Helan Mountain wines in the past. There are also outlets that range from Everwines, which carries the Torres portfolio, to Mali Wine Shop in Guomao, which includes 1421 among its more than 100 options. Metro stores around China also carry 1421. On top of this, wineries also have their own dedicated shops.

Finally, these better Chinese wines are increasingly available via the Internet, whether by the distributors’ own websites or by online wine retailers. And Grace Vineyard is taking this one step farther. This year, it will sell almost all of its 2010 Sonata — a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Marselan – online. Consumers can sign up to buy either six bottles or twelve bottles for rmb399 each, first come, first served. This is an attempt to give smaller wineries, and especially those that are making good wine, a chance to reach consumers in a market that is dominated by a few major producers.

This is not to say that all, or even a majority, of the wine made in China is good. The reality is that producers who consistently make good wine have been the exception, not the rule. Much of the wine made in China is still done with an eye more to marketing than to quality, there is a good deal of blending of imported bulk wine with Chinese wine, and prices — with some bottles costing thousands of renminbi – often bear no relation to wine quality. But the number of exceptions is growing, and so is the number of places where consumers can get them, and this is what makes the China wine scene so exciting.

* I have done a few one-off projects with Ningxia, including a recent speech in Hong Kong and helping to bring seven foreign wine-makers to visit the region last fall.

Land manager Sidney Blazek, winemaker Marc Dworkin, sales director David Kempf, GM Maros Breda and production director Yanan Hao.

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We’re sipping beer on rickety stools under a makeshift tent in front of a kebab joint at midnight in Laixi — population 700,000: a modest number by China standards — as the vineyard manager from nearby Great River Hill explains how he forked over a hefty rmb2500 to save a donkey from becoming burgers at a local eatery. The restaurant owner pegged the price so high because he said the donkey was male and thus heavier. The manager’s inspection suggested the opposite sex, an observation the owner did not let go unchallenged. “Guy said, ‘Donkey’s too young. No balls’.”

Whatever the case, a few more beers and ten hours later we are at the vineyard, in Shandong province, and see the donkey, Jose, hanging out near the Cabernet and doing its part by providing free fertilizer. Jose is part of the vineyard “zoo“ that includes a bunch of pigeons, several dogs and a big carp, the only one of 20 left after nearby villagers apparently came with electric prods and cleared the pond.

I mention all this because the typical winery I visit in China is nothing like this. Those visits usually involve a quick walk around some fancy grounds before heading into a vast marble-floored “chateau” with sprawling cellars, sanitized classrooms and large shops full of expensive — and usually over-priced — wine. Those places are meant to evoke a lifestyle, I suppose, and typically have more the atmosphere of a shopping mall.

You could say Great River Hill is more “real”. The donkey, the pigeons and the goats. (Did I mention the goats? There are nine of them, and they do roam, munching grass along the way.) The mix of tractors old and new, the highlight being a Lamborghini complete with air-conditioning (see below). The modest clubhouse and cellar under construction. And the low-budget nursery with some 180,000 cuttings. The focus here is on the vineyard — not on whether to add more gold leaf to the atrium ceiling or a hundred additional showcase barrels to the cellar — and if a few stray animals are part of the scenery, so be it.

Great River Hill is a relative loner in these inland parts far from the traditional wine-producing powerhouse of Penglai on the coast. Vine planting started here in 2008 after, I’m told, the rockier portions were pulverized by dynamite and then topped with soil. Two-thirds of the 100 hectares allocated for vineyards is planted and, when all is said and done, the mix is expected to be 10 percent white, namely Chardonnay, and 90 percent red, split 70 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 percent each Merlot and Petite Syrah and 5 percent each Cabernet Gernischt and Syrah.

The site provides good drainage, important as it saw over 500 millimeters of rain in July alone. Consultant and winemaker Marc Dworkin compares it to Medoc — except for that summer rain. Senior management includes GM Maros Breda and land manager Sidney Blazek from Czech, sales director David Kempf, who like Dworkin is from France, and production director Yanan Hao from China, the youngest of the crew and a graduate of China Agricultural University. The key investor behind the project is Karl Hauptmann, who also has other wine projects, including in Germany and Bulgaria, where Dworkin is also involved.

Great River Hill has its challenges. Everything from row posts to vines to the aforementioned carp tend to disappear, even in broad daylight. Importing vines from France was a painful process that took more than six months. Setting up distribution of the first vintage — 2011 — has not been easy. Finally, because the wine is surprisingly good for Shandong, with its reputation for weak wines and including imported bulk, and because its winery is in distant Penglai, Great River Hill faces suspicions that what’s bottled so far might not be wholly from the site. I’ve tried the wines a dozen times and given them to many other people. I generally see two reactions: “This is good!” and “Huh? This is from Shandong?”.

I know this issue irks management, and I’ve been assured the wine is made with local grapes, but it is nevertheless a common reaction. In Great River Hill’s defense, two further points. One: The amount of effort put into the site and, based on what I saw, the dedication of the team as it engaged in intense and incredibly blunt strategy sessions, show a serious focus on making good wine. Two: one of China’s top wine consultants hails from Laixi, has tried the wines and says they fit the profile of what can be made in that area from vines that age. So there.

Great River Hill ranks among the projects I find most intriguing in China. A team in Shandong, but away from the traditional base, that makes something good and envisions something even better? I’m looking forward to the next vintage.

Before we left the vineyard, we opened a ceremonial first bottle of Great River Hill Chardonnay to inaugurate the modest and nearly complete clubhouse. We each drank a glass, cracked a few jokes and watched a goat snack on a bush. Then it was back to work.

Land manager Blazek has part-time duty as zookeeper.

Goats do also roam here.

Continue reading →

By Jim Boyce

Inner Mongolia winery Chateau Hansen, just over the border from the Helan Mountain wine area in Ningxia, is looking at a good vintage, says winemaker Bruno Paumard. While there were some issues with flowering and with millerandage (grape clusters with berries that are not uniform in size or ripeness), he says there is more concentration this year.

Paumard is targeting 6000 tons of grapes. On his vineyard, he has reduced yields to boost quality and will supplement it by buying from other growers, the amount depending on price per kilo. He adds that Hansen’s substantial cellar — it already has 2500 barrels — is nearly complete.

Several people have asked me if Hansen is available overseas. Paumard says it is now exported to Denmark and Australia and will also soon be seen in the UK and French markets.

The photos below are from about a week ago.

See also:

• Bruno Paumard pursues wine in Grand Cru style
• Inner Mongolia winery fights fakes via bottle design

By Jim Boyce

Someone in Beijing showed me a wine game that includes a set of cards with discussion topics nearly guaranteed — IMHO — to bore players to death before they get that first glass of Lafite ’82 down their throats.

“Did you question Merlot after seeing the movie ‘Sideways‘?” “How often do you disagree with the rating of a wine with a high score?” “How many bottles do you buy in a year?”

All coma-inducing topics — again, IMHO — although I don’t simply want to criticize. I also want to create solutions. Because that’s the kind of positive solution-creating person I am. So here are a dozen wine-related questions I find much more interesting than anything found in that deck.

1. Have you ever opened someone’s very rare and/or expensive wine and pretended you had no idea how rare and/or expensive it was? How many times?

2. If you put a zinc penny into a decanter of corked wine, it won’t smell corked any more, but it will taste like a zinc penny. True or false?

3. Would you eat a cork for a dollar? How about five dollars? Ten dollars? You’d do it for ten dollars, wouldn’t you? Liar!

4. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being ‘fully totally completely and utterly awful’ and 10 being ‘worse than a corked bottle of warm White Zinfandel strained through a marathoner’s used running shorts’, how do you rate the movie Bottle Shock?

5. Have you ever opened some Sauvignon Blanc, noticed it lacked aroma, and made your cat pee in the bottle so it seemed more Sauvignon Blanc-y?

6. Have you ever tried the same thing with your dog only to find it didn’t create the same aromatic je ne c’est quoi?

7. Who would win, and why, a sabrage contest between Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson? How about skeet-shooting?  Candy Crush Saga?

8. Did you ever blow over the top of a wine bottle to get an oboe-like sound? Did you ever do it with several bottles, each with varying amounts of liquid, to get more than one note? What song were you trying to play? Was it ‘Smoke on the Water’?

9. Have you ever found anything weird in a bottle of wine? Like some grape seeds? Or a baby mouse? Or a handful of blood diamonds?

10. I once accidentally dropped a bottle of wine — a Barossa Shiraz from Glaetzer, in case it matters — down the marble steps at The Hilton Beijing. How many times did it bounce before shattering and sending a cascade of wine to the bottom where stood an unamused hotel manager?

11. Could you imagine so-called wine geeks proving their “passion” by poking their eyes out to do more authentic “blind” tastings? Me, too.

12. Have you ever dreamed of riding behind Robert Parker on a solid gold unicorn over unctuous rivers of Napa Cabernet illuminated by a rainbow of colors from a glorious setting sun, thought it was the perfect scene, and then have him turn and destroy the mood by saying, ‘I’d give that sunset 92 points’? Me, too.

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Add me, Parker and a setting sun and we got a question. (redbubble.com)

By Jim Boyce

Hey, that’s the word they used in the press release: “Acker Asia Explodes into Fall Season”.

Reading it makes me realize the tough times for the most recent crop of nouveau riche turned wine fans attending their first Hong Kong auction. It used to be one could simply show up, bid on some “Lafite” and feel good. Now one must deal with a group of names that sounds like the French synchronized swim team — Meo-Camuzet, Liger-Belair, Sauzet, Mongeard-Mugneret, the list goes on.

It must also be tough on PR teams at the auction houses, since every sale seems to have more bids beating pre-sale estimates, more records, more “frenzied” bidding (I hear three people have lost arms this year alone, can anyone confirm?). Plus, there is a dearth of appropriate synonyms for “frenzied”. “Frantic”, “manic” and “out of control” lack that same je ne c’est que. Maybe SNAFU-ish?

Anyway, Acker Asia held a two-day auction in Kong Kong last weekend that raised HK$50 million, set 108 records, and poured some cold Montrachet on all the blabbing about a looming economic slowdown in China. States Acker’s John Kapon:

“Continuing the momentum of our New York auction last weekend, the atmosphere here in Hong Kong was electric. People and the media keep talking about there being an economic slowdown coming in Hong Kong or China, but I couldn’t see anything of the sorts this weekend. Collectors made a point of attending this auction in person because they simply didn’t want to miss it, and then spent practically three times more than absentee bidders, even though both categories essentially won the same number of lots. The participation of buyers from mainland China was particularly significant as they competed vigorously with collectors from Hong Kong and around the globe for some of the greatest wines in the world, driving the prices of many lots beyond their estimates. American buyers notably bought 18% of this sale, an important indicator of a balanced and strong global market. Several US collectors even made the trip to HK just for this sale and feasted accordingly. The sale was absolutely sensational, demonstrating strength in all categories in this current diverse market.”

Is it just me or did he just justify some junkets for officials at China’s Ministry of Commerce for the next auction?

“Hey, we’ve just been assigned to find out if there is an economic slowdown coming in China. What should we do?”

“You fool. We have to go to the next Acker wine auction and talk to John Kapon. It’s the only way that we’ll know.”

Anyway, Burgundy brought the bucks last weekend, with two cases of assorted DRC at HK$442,800, six magnums of 1999 La Tâchein at HK$393,600, three bottles of 2010 Romanée Conti at HK$295,200 and six bottles of 1971 DRC Richebourg at HK$246,000.

“The breadth of demand for Burgundy was highly notable, an important indicator of a healthy, growing market,” says the press release. “World record prices were also set by Vogue, Roumier, Fourrier, Mugnier, Drouhin, Mongeard-Mugneret, Bouchard, Mortet, Mugneret, Clair Dau and Sauzet.”

It also noted strong sales of Bordeaux, including a 12-bottle case of 1982 Pétrus at HK$479,700, six bottles of 1961 Mouton at HK$246,000 and six bottles of 1966 Haut Brion at HK$108,24. Meanwhile, a case of 1992 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon fetched HK$442,800.

The next Acker sale in Hong Kong is on October 26. Expect it to be frenzied.

By Jim Boyce

Results from the inaugural China Wine List of the Year contest were announced last weekend in Shanghai with more than 70 hotels, bars and restaurants receiving a rating of “recommended” or higher.

Taking top spot? The Robuchon au Dome in Macau. This place has a 350-page menu and more than 10,000 bottles in its cellar. Peter Forestall, c0-chairman of the judges, described it as “a billionaire’s list, a playground for the rich and famous. For all that, it does show what is possible with a talented sommelier and the desire to create an inspirational and aspirational list.”

If you’re not familiar with the Robuchon’s list, which includes gems like a 1900 Latour and an 1825 Y’Quem, it’s kind of like entering, into a Car of the Year contest, a diamond-encrusted DeLorean capable of time travel. In other words, a blinged-out Back to the Future car. That’s definitely going to win if everyone else is driving BMWs and Honda Civics. I know I voted for Robuchon.

In an email interview, Forrestal called the response to the contest “exceptional” and praised the best entries.

“At the top end, the sheer depth of the great lists inspire awe,” he said. “These show an amazing knowledge of the great wines of the world and a determination to source the best. Similarly, there have been lists that boast outstanding cutting edge wines from the USA, Australia, France and the major producers around the world. These show an up-to-the-minute knowledge of exciting developments in winemaking while offering outstanding wines at good prices.”

He did find a couple of surprises. For one thing, he expected to see better by-the-glass lists. And, he asked, “Where are the Chinese wines?”

I plan two more posts about this contest. One will cover the intriguing bottles found on the lists — I spent about eight hours going through the six finalists. The other will explain where to find at least some of those Chinese wines.

Some of this year’s major winners are listed below. You can get the full results here.