The debate about closures – corks? screw tops? glass? – ranks among the fiercest in the wine industry. Next month, Miguel Cabral, director of the Research and Development Department at Amorim, the world’s biggest cork producer, will lead a seminar on closure technology. According to an email from the company:
During this Seminar, you will have the opportunity to assess the latest comparative scientific research on the different wine stoppers, as well as the most recent product developments available in the wine closure market. As such, Amorim will present, for the first time to Chinese wineries, its most recent innovation: the Acquamark natural cork stopper.
Conceived as an innovative combination of Nature and Technology, Acquamark benefits from cork’s inimitable cellular structure, further enhanced by a state-of-the-art coating technology…
This seminar is for people in the wine trade. It will be held in Beijing on March 17 and in Yantai or March 19. To sign up or for more info, contact Ricardo Duarte at rduarte.acbj@amorim.com or Li Yao at liyao.acbj@amorim.com.
While the Australian wine sector faces a crisis, including its first major decline in export volume and value in years, Hong Kong and mainland China rank among the few positive markets:
Rare bright spots included China, which imported 32% more Australian wine by value, off a low base, as well as Hong Kong (up 17%) and Japan (up 4.1%).
By the way, here is a money quote for China watchers:
But that is small comfort to March, who admits taking advice to try to sell into China at the lowest price possible – a few US dollars a bottle – and hoping to ride the tail of the country’s growing wine fascination, moving up the quality later.
“They told us don’t worry, the Chinese don’t know what they’re drinking. I reckon a few growers round here will be pulling out vines by the end of the year,” he says.
Sotheby’s will hold regular wine auctions in Hong Kong, although the financial crunch is expected to result in lower bids, reports Reuters. An upcoming auction will feature 9,000 bottles from an American collector, with plenty of much sought high-end Bordeaux:
The auction will be held in two parts, in New York on March 14th and Hong Kong on April 4th. The Hong Kong sale will be the larger of the two with $3 million worth of wine expected to be sold and another $2 million in New York.
“We believe the wines will sell here as well, or better than, they would in New York,” Jamie Ritchie, Sotheby’s head of wine in North America, told Reuters….
Wine auctions in the city by rivals such as Bonhams and Acker Merrall & Condit in the first half of last year achieved record results, before demand eased off in the second half.
Rival auction house Christie’s, however, hammered off $4 million of wine at a Hong Kong in late November, including rare vintages sourced direct from Chateau Latour’s reserve cellars.
In an effort to attract tourists from mainland China, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) will launch a “Food & Wine Year”, states China Hospitality News:
HKTB says it will make full use of Hong Kong’s expertese in food and the SAR government’s preferential policy for wine taxation to create a unique tourism image for Hong Kong and enhance tourists’ interest to the city.
Note: The shop will focus on retail, rather than be a wine bar, though there will be tastings and some space to enjoy a purchase.
Shanghai residents can expect a new wine bar in the French Concession come spring. Marcus Ford, after a decade of service at M on the Bund, is leaving to become retail director and spearhead the initiative for new company Pu Dao, which counts as investors the owners of wine importer and distributor Summergate. Ford says the wine bar will feature more than 500 selections chosen from a wide range of sources, a terrace where patrons can enjoy their purchases at retail prices, and events, seminars, and tastings. The longer term plan is to open more such wine bars in China.
Posts have been few and far between of late. Blame it on my two-week holiday in Canada, the crush of projects I faced upon returning to Beijing that ate into my limited blogging time, and the hacking of this site that made it impossible for me to get access. (Thanks to IT guru / pinyin legend Mark Swofford for returning things to normal.)
I have started to add posts again and there are dozens in the pipeline, including:
A post by Chantal Chi on China’s wine-making regions as well as posts from other contributors.
Interviews with Patricio de la Fuente Saez, managing director of Links China, with Rebecca Leung, wine writer and author of the Wine is Beautiful blog, with Charles Carrard of French Wine Paradox, and with wine consumer and collector Jeff Gao.
A look at ten trends in China’s wine market last year, trends that will likely continue this year.
A write-up of a dinner I attended with what I consider the Beijing wine “dream team†as well as write-ups of more than a dozen other events.
Also, freed from Internet and cell phone during the holidays, I started on a series of articles about my experiences as a consumer during 2008, a spectacular year in which I was fortunate to meet many fellow wine fans, drink some superb wines, meet some international bigwigs, have dinner with Robert Parker on the Great Wall, attend blind tastings organized by wine magazines, and, well, much more. I will also write about some events on the horizon, including the expected launching of Decanter on the mainland, a wine search database, some new Chinese wines, and more, and the downside of being a wine consumer, which will touch on issues that range from high retail prices to my experiences with some rather hostile people in the business. As usual, there is no shortage of topics…
The best way to learn about wine is to taste, taste, and taste some more. Here are two events this weekend that will let you do that with minimal cost:
1. Palette Wines will hold a tasting of 50 different wines on Saturday, January 17, from 2-9 PM, at its new shop near Dongsi Shitao. This is good value given that Palette has a consistently good portfolio. Bottles are available for takeaway at 15 percent off. The entry fee is RMB80. Register with Diego at diego@palettewines.cn / 13801-295-504.
Note: Again, the tasting is at the Dongsi Shitao shop, not at the originally planned venue in Central Plan
2. French Wine Paradox will hold the third edition of its “I am a Paradox” series, with 50 percent off all wines at the event, on Sunday, January 18, at Ginkgo from 6 PM. I enjoyed the first event because of the “try before you buy” angle and because I met some fun fellow wine fans. It is first come, first served, and there is no entry fee, though registration is necessary (see here). For more information, contact Charles Carrard at 13439-44 1-103 or Eric Wang at 138 11-92 1-840.
(If you like this blog, please support it with a vote in the China Blog Awards, by clicking the “+” sign here.)
By Jim Boyce
I’ve spent a great deal of time drinking and thinking about wine this past year and have emerged with mixed opinions, but happily I just got an email from regular commentator 8 Songs that reminded me why I like both wine and the Friday night with Frank tastings in Beijing. There aren’t many places where you can have an impromptu cork versus screw top contest, try an Indonesian wine, and experience excellent comradery all in one night. So, here is 8 Songs’ take on just such an occasion, though he seems to have left out the parts about dancing on chairs and a regular dressing up as Santa Claus (yes, I have my sources).
“It came about because the evening was a “bring your own bottle†night. Amongst the treasures from the 14 who attended were two bottles of Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon 2004. One was under cork, the other had a screw top.
“A more diligent reporter would have gone to Penfolds to check the logic for why one of their premium wines should have two different closures….
“We did check the provenance of the two bottles before us. One came from the duty free store at Sydney Airport two months ago, while the other was lifted from a private collection in Melbourne.
“Our host Frank Siegel suggested we do a taste-off and supplied us with a second glass.
“The two wines were like chalk and cheddar, tea and turnips, or Pavarotti and punk – whichever imagery works for you.
“Though both had a deep purple, almost black appearance in the glass, one introduced itself with a full aroma suggesting a fine balance between fruit and tannin. The other had a fruit aroma but without the complexity. In the mouth, the first caressed our taste buds with an explosion of flavour at the start, a complex structure and a long slow finish with a hint of acid that suggested it could have stayed in the cellar another couple of years. The other was an ordinary wine with no complexity and barely any resemblance to its brother. (Or is it sister?)
“I need to reveal a few qualifications on this.
“- We had already “tasted†about a dozen wines before these two. I saw no one spit their taste at any time during the evening.
” – We had fresh glasses for the screw-top wine, but for the cork we used our same glasses as for the previous 10 or so bottles.
” -Â We did not give the two bottles any airing time. They were cracked and poured. Some time in a carafe may have helped the second wine.
” – Yours truly brought one of the two 407s.
“So which was which? We had 14 tasters, some with palates still maturing, others with quite advanced technical skills. But the verdict was unanimous – the wine under cork had aged magnificently and had developed into a great wine. The wine under aluminium had not done a thing in its three or four years in the bottle. It was truly stuck in a time warp.
“The group lamented that we had neither Jim Boyce [Thanks for the plug! – Ed.] nor Beijing’s ambassador for cork Ricardo Duarte there that night.
“By the way, we had another surprise that evening. A bottle of Indonesian white wine was offered for tasting. Called Aga White and from the highlands of Bali, the label urged us not to cellar this wine. But it was fine – a slight apple/citrus taste but well built and would be perfect on a long slow Sunday afternoon on Kuta Beach [“Is this a motion for a field trip?” – Ed.].
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More on corks and screw tops: Screw it? A video conference with Wolf Blass and George Samios Cork it? An interview with Amorim’s Carlos de Jesus The fault with no name: Frankie Zhao on corked wine in China
Three things impressed me at a recent Landmark Australia event in Beijing:
The inspired Australian approachto promoting wine in China (which partly explains why that country, and not Italy or the United States, is the number two exporter to China).
The notable Australian ability toseem even-handed – and even humble – when telling someone to bugger off.
The superb Australian wines that covered numerous grape varieties and regions.
Let me set the scene: Organized by Wine Australia, the event kicked off at 10:30 AM at Green T. House, a trinity of art gallery, restaurant, and event space in Beijing. Writers from Shanghai and Beijing trickled in and mingled. Everyone then gathered at long tables, with each person facing eleven empty glasses that a place mat indicated would soon hold wines from Henschke, Penfolds, and Leeuwin, among others.
It looked like a typical event, if in slightly fancier digs and at an earlier time. Except that Paul Henry, GM of marketing development for the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation, took center stage to talk about… tea.
Huh?
Message 1: There are similarities between Australia’s wines and China’s teas. Henry’s key point: A particular tea’s taste is influenced by the region from which it hails due to the unique combination of soil, weather, and other factors – what the French call “terroir†in the case of wine. This is a useful concept for both China and Australia, given their size and regional diversity. Anyway, after tasting tea, relaxing to traditional music, and enjoying some China-Australia harmony, we moved to …
Message 2: While Australia is known as a maker of good cheap wines, it also has first-rate ones. “We have a reputation as makers of easy-drinking wines, and we are proud of that, but we also have a story about our history, our older vines, our better wines,†said Henry.
True, Barossa Valley Shiraz is well-known, but the country has regions as diverse as Margaret River in the west, Yarra Valley in Victoria, and Tasmania in the far south. And what makes them special?
Just as with Chinese tea, it is the terroir. And by using this argument, Australia feels somewhat like a watchful rugby team that has taken the Old World’s signature move – “we have terroir†– and put up a defense that threatens to jar loose the ball.
“It’s odd that the French refer to us as ‘new world’ when the soil we are growing the grapes on is 600 millions years old, while some of the most famous vineyards have soil that is only 5 million years old,†said Henry. (The only way he could have looked more thoughtful would have been by chewing the end of a pair of glasses and gazing into the distance.) The message is clear. You want old dirt? Australia has it. You want old vines? Australia has them, too. This puts Australia on a par with France and others in the fine wine talk, which is exactly where it needs to be to win more of the premium wine share. And that leads us to…
Message 3: You want superb wines? Australia makes them. We sat down to eleven that were chosen, says Henry, “because we feel they are representative of the very best [that Australia makes].†Unfortunately, my copious tasting notes are in another city (long story) and I will post them later, but I’ll say for now that the 2005 Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz is a stunner.
While this event felt a bit scripted at points and was delivered only in English, it gets high marks for the effort to relate Australia to China (wine and tea), the well-crafted message (we have terroir, too), and the diverse array of wines (in terms of varieties and regions). The team’s attention to detail ranges from the tasting notes, labels, and other details provided on a handy CD, to the excellent presentation of the teas, wines, and ensuing lunch during the event, to the organizers providing reminders to invitees both a week and a day before to ensure attendance. Given my experiences with other countries’ wine promotion efforts, this one stands a cut above.
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Â
The wines tasted:
Whites
– 2007 Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (Clare Valley, South Australia
– 2005 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay – Margaret River, Western Australia
– 1999 Tyrrell’s Winemaker’s Selection Vat 1 Semillon – Hunter, New South Wales
Reds
– 2006 Yering Station Reserve Pinot Noir – Yarra Valley, Victoria
– 2006 De Bortoli Reserve Release Pinot Noir – Yarra Valley, Victoria
– 2004 Taylors St. Andrews Cabernet Sauvignon – Clare Valley, South Australia
– 2001 Domaine A Cabernet Sauvignon – Tasmania
– 2005 Brokenwood Graveyard Shiraz – Hunter, New South Wales
– 2002 Peter Lehmann Stonewall Shiraz – Barossa Valley, South Australia
– 2005 Henschke Mount Edelstone Shiraz – Eden Valley, South Australia
– 2003 Penfold’s Bin 95 Grange Shiraz – South Australia
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From Wine Australia’s Australia: World Class CD:
“Landmark Australia wines invariably begin with special vineyard sites. A combination of unique microclimate and soil, and the most appropriate choice of grape variety to express the potential of this site, the wines made usually have their homes in established regions of Australia. They tend to be produced from the classic varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Riesling and Chardonnay, as these varieties have had some of the longest viticultural heritage in the pedigree regions. The age of the vines can help their cause, and it is often low-yielding or dry grown old vineyards that produce grapes with the required intensity of flavour and concentration to make Landmark wine.”
Trust me, you'll feel more mature in a matter of minutes.
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By Jim Boyce
Call it Frankenwine.
According to the The Daily Telegraph, a system is being developed in China that uses electrical equipment to speed the aging process of wine, “turning young wine from an undrinkable bitter grape juice into a quaffable beverage fit for any table.”
A team led by Xin An Zeng, a chemist at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, came up with the idea of pumping the rough wine through a pipe that ran between two titanium electrodes, connected to the mains.
For the test wine, the team selected a three-month-old cabernet sauvignon from the Suntime Winery, China’s largest producer.
Batches of wine spent one, three or eight minutes in the electric fields.
The team then analysed the treated wine for chemical changes that might alter its “mouth feel” and quality, and passed it to a panel of 12 experienced wine tasters who assessed it in a blind tasting
With the gentlest treatment, the harsh, astringent wine grew softer. Longer exposure saw some of the hallmarks of ageing emerge – a more mature “nose”, better balance and greater complexity.
The improvements reached their peak after 3 minutes at 600 volts per centimetre: this left the wine well balanced and harmonious, with a nose of an aged wine and, importantly, still recognisably a cabernet sauvignon.
One of these titanium electrode gizmos would make an excellent Christmas gift, especially if it can also be used to age cheese.
The parade of wine events continues in Beijing with the next few days seeing more than a half-dozen tastings and dinners. Tonight sees everything from a free Petit Bordeaux tasting at Amigo to an organic wine and food dinner at the Hilton to a Taittinger Champagne dinner at the newer Hilton in Wangfujing. Add in Aria’s World Series Wines, an Osso Bucco dinner at Sequoia, and a Pio Cesare Italian wine dinner, along with the I Am Paradox follow-up at OT Lounge this Sunday, and it kind of feels like Beijing sips while the world economy burns.
Here’s the lineup for the next week (for the longer-term view, check this events page. It is always best to confirm details with the organizer.)
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Thursday, December 11, 7-8.30 PM, Amigo (Central Park), free Petit Bordeaux wine tasting; buy two, get one free promotion during event; to RSVP, visit www.topcellar.com.cn, email to marketing@topcellar.com.cn, or call 13691-079-531.
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Thursday, December 11, 7 PM, Chynna Restaurant (Hilton Wangfujing), RMB628
Taittinger Champagne dinner, with owner Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger matching wine and Chinese food; by Torres China; RSVP with Sophie Sun at sophie@torres.com.cn / 5165-5519, x208.
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Thursday, December 11, 7 PM, One East on Third (Hilton), RMB400 + 15% Organic wine and food dinner, with 5 Gerard Bertrand wines; by East Meets West; to RSVP, contact Wendy Jiang at wendy@emw-wines.com / 6445-5787, x8006.
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Friday, December 12, 7 PM, Aria (China World Hotel), RMB1388
World Series of Wine: Hidden Gems, with Summergate; RSVP with Carol Gao at carol.gao@shangri-la.com / 6505-2266, x36.
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Friday, December 12, 6:30 PM, Sequoia Cafe, RMB248 Osso Bucco dinner, with 3 courses paired with 3 wines; RSVP via E-vite; to get on the list, call Frank Siegel at 13701-178-073.
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Saturday, December 13, 7 PM, St. Regis Hotel, RMB888 Pio Cesare Italian wine dinner, with the winery’s Cesare Benvenuto presenting Barolo and Barbaresco; by Torres China; RSVP with Sophie Sun at sophie@torres.com.cn / 5165-5519, x208. –
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Sunday, December 14, 6-11:30 PM, OT Lounge, RSVP required I Am Paradox, II; with 100+ wines available at 50% off; “Feel free to try, drink and buy”; by French Wine Paradox; RSVP with Charles Carrard at ccarrard.fwp@gmail.com / 8407-5067.
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Wednesday, December 17, 6:30 PM Grand Millennium Hotel, RMB350 Chateau Ste. Michelle wine dinner, with ASC; RSVP with Helen Lu at eventsbj@asc-wines.com or 6587-3803.
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If you intend to attend any of the above events, it is best to confirm the details with the venue ahead of time. To get a wine event listed, send event info to beijingboyce@yahoo.com.
Note: Support this nonprofit site by voting for it in the Chinalyst China Blog Awards. Simply go here and click the “plus†sign.
Australian wine critic Jeremy Oliver, who spent the past week in Shanghai and Beijing, will soon reach out to the local market. I caught up with him last night in the capital and he said that Trends publishing will release his book on wine in March. Expect a tome of up to 300 pages that will see significant distribution among the trade.
