Launched in 2007, Grape Wall covers the China wine market. Everything from tastings and winery visits to trade news and ‘Q&8s‘ with winemakers, retailers, critics and more, all from a consumerist perspective.
I also write the Grape Wall newsletter: many articles on this website first appear there. Sign up for free here and check out past editions here.
Grape Wall is founder of World Marselan Day, celebrating a grape variety that has spread across China for over 20 years and emerged as a signature grape, while also being used to make wine in two dozen-plus other nations. (We have some pretty good parties!)
Grape Wall website / newsletter and World Marselan Day, have no sponsors or advertisers. If you find them useful, please consider helping to cover domain fee, hosting and other costs to support the mission.
“Fortress Besieged!”
The Chinese name of Grape Wall of China is ‘Pu Tao Wei Cheng 葡萄围城.’
Pu Tao 葡萄 means ‘grape’ while Wei Cheng 围城 means ‘besieged city.’ It’s a riff on one of China’s most-loved novels ‘Fortress Besieged’, in which a man leaves China to study in Europe but fritters his time away and, needing to save face, buys a fake degree and returns home to both relationship and career chaos.
The title is based on a French saying that married people want to be single and vice versa. In 2007, when Grape Wall began, the idea was the world wine trade desperately wanted to enter the China market while many here had their sights set on getting outside.
You can also find posts about wine and other alcohol niches in China via my accounts on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Cheers, Jim Boyce
grapewallofchina (at) gmail.com
(Get the free Grape Wall newsletter here. Follow on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Grape Wall has no sponsors: help support the mission, including World Marselan Day via PayPal, WeChat or Alipay. Contact Grape Wall at grapewallofchina (at) gmail.com.)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.