Lots of headlines popping up Down Under the past few hours:

• “China agrees to review tariffs on Australian wine ahead of Anthony Albanese’s visit to Beijing” — ABC News

• “Breakthrough on crippling wine tariffs” — The Australian

• “China agrees to review tariffs on Australian wine” — The New Daily

• “Australia reaches wine deal with China, PM sets dates for Beijing trip” — Sydney Morning Herald

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Per the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

“China has agreed to review the tariffs it imposed on Australian wine in another major breakthrough for the relationship between the two countries.

“The decision comes ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to Beijing, which will take place in November, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Gough Whitlam’s visit to China.

“The tariffs of up to 220 per cent on Australian wine were imposed in 2020, as relations deteriorated. Australian wine exports to China were worth more than $1 billion at the time.

“China has now agreed to a five-month review. Australia has agreed to suspend action in the World Trade Organisation as a result.”

And confirmation comes from the top, according to the Sydney Morning Herald:

“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday confirmed the tariffs deal while revealing he would head to China for a three-day visit early next month in what would be the first visit by an Australian leader since 2016.”

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There is lots packed into those ABC paragraphs:

• A visit on a 50th anniversary. Auspicious dates are always a good reason / excuse to do something here. It makes for good speeches and soundbites, too.
  
• The “$1 billion” mention. Yes, that was the high point — AU$1.2 billion in one year was the highest, I believe — and raises hopes it might be reachable again.
  
• And the “it ain’t over ’til it’s over” factor– a five-month review during which who knows what other concessions might occur. We already saw the headline “China has wins on Darwin Port, wind towers ahead of Albanese visit” this past week.

Long story short, Australia aims to get back something it once had, but has got nothing so far for its wine trade so far.

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Frankly, this whole tariffs situation has seemed like a “lose-lose” to me.

Australian lost a lucrative wine market, though an insanely high percentage of the Aussie imports were from Treasury Wine Estates / Penfolds, on par with the value of some individual countries in late 2019.

Since the tariffs, China’s wine market has continued to decline, and the hopes local brands would get a major boost by replacing Australia ones in areas like banqueting were dashed.

The major battle for Chinese wine isn’t wine from other nations, it’s diverting consumers from areas like baijiu, beer and cocktails to wine, and Australia was at least helping to do that.

Anyway, I think I will focus an upcoming newsletter on this topic, including what the last 30 months of tariffs has taught us, the odds Australian can become the import leader again, and the Penfolds factor.

If you want to know more about or to sign up for the free Grape Wall newsletter, click here.

Tea and wine. Two beverages involving complex tastes, terroirs and histories. One with a long enduring story in China and the other now emerging.

It makes perfect sense that some winemakers might pair the two. And Jianjun ‘Johnny’ Liu of Lingering Clouds in Ningxia ranks among them. Liu made a trio of pet-nat Chardonnays — jasmine, oolong and Longjing– last year.

Liu is taking things up a couple of notches this vintage by adding two more tea infusions: White Peony and a blend of red leaves from Anhui, Guangzhou and Yunnan, both in tandem with Chardonnay.

Liu has made wine in Ningxia for over a decade and released his first two commercial pet-nats in 2021, a Riesling and a Muscat, the latter ably capturing the grape’s floral character.

He also made two ‘natural’ wines that year, a Pinot Noir with pure red berry flavor and a delicate Viognier with plenty of stone fruit. This was in addition to more the typical red wines and blends, including the Red Beard, Moby Dick and Blue Iguana labels, he started making in his earlier days.

For the infused wines, Liu puts sachets of tea into cold fermentation tanks with the Chardonnay, and then does daily taste tests until he gets the desired result. This took about a month last year.

While each of the three 2022 Chardonnays was distinct, Liu learned plenty of lessons from that first foray and says he will get even more tea typicity this vintage.

(He is also busy working on other wines this year, from Pinot Noir to Riesling to Petit Manseng.)

I tasted each of the three 2022 Chardonnays over a half-dozen times, including at a dinner I organized at Peach (TRB Group) restaurant in Beijing’s Houhai lakes district in early 2023. A few quick notes:

• Longjing is also known as ‘Dragon Well’ and named for the town in Hangzhou most associated with this green tea. This Chardonnay was lively, with creamy bubbles, and lightest of the three infusions we tasted. It had grassy green tea character with touches of orchard fruit — think nectarines — and citrus peel.
  
• Ooling is partially oxidized and made for a milder, heavier and more fragrant wine. This one had ripe apple character and touches of biscuit and malt at the finish. This seemed to be the general favorite at the dinner.
  
• The Jasmine pet-nat lived up to its namesake tea in terms of aroma, with a distinct rich scent. It fell between the Longjing and oolong in terms of style, with some of the former’s liveliness and latter’s body.

Overall, these made for a fun tasting, with the foam lasting for an impressively long time after pouring.

Liu himself ranks among the rising number of “winemakers without wineries”, who source grapes and rent equipment and create brands for both the general trade and their individual followings.

He also symbolized for me the challenges of the wine trade during the COVID crisis, as wineries struggled to get workers, equipment and supplies such as bottles, dealt with regulations, regular testing and, in some cases, quarantine, and faced a tough consumer market. (Liu ended up quarantined at his winery for nearly a month during fermentation last year.)

Thankfully, life is much smoother this vintage and Liu can focus his energy of making wine, including the tea-infused Cha-rdonnary — “Cha” is the pronunciation of tea in Mandarin. I’m looking forward to trying this new series of pet-nats, which should have appeal for those interested in tea, sparkling wine, or both, and serve as a fun addition to occasions like brunch or afternoon tea.

Wine brand Jancis is back on the radar again in China, with an 80-percent discount on ‘Jancis Green Pine’ Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, just ahead of the mid-Autumn festival holidays. Get two bottles for just RMB99 USD13.50, versus a list price of RMB504 / USD69 for the pair!

For those curious if this wine is endorsed by UK-based Jancis Robinson, who ranks among the world’s top critics, she said she has nothing to do with this brand and is unhappy with the situation.

The Sauvignon Blanc is one of several wines on the Jancis WeChat channel, which posts regular updates, including Cabernet Sauvignon (‘Jancis Red Pine’), Merlot (‘Jancis Silver Pine’) and Carmenere (‘Jancis Golden Pine’), all said to be sourced from Chile’s Central Valley, along with Malbec, Syrah and more.

By the way, I’m not saying anything illegal is going on, as it looks like the name Jancis was registered, but this situation could be confusing for some consumers for quite a few reasons:

• As noted, Robinson is well-known in wine circles, including in China. Her books have been translated into Chinese. Her reputation, comments and wine scores are often leveraged. The Ningxia region, for example, regularly promotes her visit there in 2012. (Check out this photo essay of her tour.)
  
• Robinson is also arguably the world’s most famous Master of Wine (MW). I have seen “MW” used in numerous promotions of Jancis wines — see image 1 above — which could also confuse consumers.
  
• It looks like the Chinese translation that Jancis Robinson uses for her name, and the wine media uses to refer to her, is the same one used for the Jancis wines.
  
• It’s also surprising to see logo for COFCO used on much of the promotional material. COFCO is very much invested in the wine business, with its largest domestic operation being GreatWall, and it also has numerous overseas wine interests. You can find the logo at top right in the image below. I don’t find this to be a good look for COFCO.

Anyway, I first wrote about Jancis wines back in the spring of 2021:

Somewhere between the Sichuan bullfrog in chili oil and a fiery chorizo burger, my eye caught a wine label at The Beijinger Hot & Spicy Festival last weekend.

Mostly because the wine brand’s name, Jancis, is the same as one of the world’s top critics, London-based Jancis Robinson. It seems to be the same translation as used by Robinson, too.

Posters for the brand include a logo for COFCO, the state-owned company best-known for producing GreatWall wine but that also has other projects like Ningxia’s Yunmo and Hebei’s Chateau SunGod, which does nice bubbly.

One poster features no fewer than 11 Jancis wines, including a Sauvignon Blanc, Carmenere, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, all hailing from Chile. That poster also includes well-known Chilean labels like Almavira and Don Melchor.

And I have also seen the wines elsewhere, from major online retailer jd.com to national liquor chain 1919 to smaller platforms on WeChat.

Despite this proliferation, I have heard few people mention the wines: I guess it says more about the dire situation of wine in China more than anything else. Nevertheless, it is still not a good look, in my opinion, for a wine scene seeking growth.

In a market where so much wine info and ‘education’ hails from England, despite that country being a fringe producer, tasters from the Spanish guide Penin and the French operation Bettane + Desseauve teamed up for the first time and judged nearly 200 local wines in China this week.

It’s always struck me as a bit ludicrous that critics from Italy, France and Spain, which produce over half the planet’s putaojiu (wine), have thousands of native grape varieties, and ooze quality and diversity, are not more prominent as sources of info. Yes, I realize there are historical reasons, and that language ties into that, but more voices from these nations would be good, no?

In any case, I am intrigued by this idea, so I asked the organizer of this year’s fourth annual B+D China wine competition, Guillaume Zhuang, if I could attend.

He said yes and I spent an afternoon in the observer area as Alexandra Rendall, Jiayin Liu and Guillaume Puzo of Bettane + Desseauve, Adolfo Gatell Robledo and Ziyang Zhang of Penin, and winemaker Pascal Marty tasted the first 100 or so wines of nearly 200 to be covered over two days. It was interesting to see their divergent opinions and scores on some of the wines, and the way in which they analyzed quality.

Although it wasn’t quite as lively as a few years ago, at the China wine tasting, when Michel Bettane was saying things like “This is really bad oak. Bad bad oak” or that the newer waves of Masters of Wines have “many bad tasters” and are “all about the money now.”

Luckily, I was able to sample wines after the judges finished each flight, and I tried about 30 or so, with labels from across the country, including (examples in brackets) from Yunnan (Xiaoling), Shanxi (Grace), Gansu (Xigu), Beijing (Lion and Bolongbao), Hebei (Canaan) and Shandong (Nine Peaks), among others. That might seem like lots, but there are thousands of wines now available in China, so it is increasingly difficult to get a grasp of all of the grape varieties, styles and wineries out there.

I plan to write more about this tasting. In fact, I plan to dedicate a newsletter to how tastings work, the gap between UK sources of info and other sources in the China market, the link between such tasters / tastings and the consumer, and more.

In the meantime, check out these past posts involving Bettane and Dessauve in Beijing / China:

• Michel Bettane in Beijing: “This is really bad oak. Bad bad oak.”
• Quotable Bettane: Blends and civilization, MWs as bad tasters & under-wined oak
• Michel Bettane & Thierry Desseauve on Chinese wines, consumer attitudes, UK critics & more

Finally, the ninth annual B+D Le Grand Tasting is set for this Saturday, with eight hours of tasting, from 10 AM to 6 PM. Expect around 20 Champagne labels, ample selections from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone, plus some labels from the rest of France, as well as wines from Italy, Spain, Hungary, Chile and elsewhere.

On top of that, there will be a large number of local wines, including from Celebre, Li’s, Longting, Mihope, Mystic Island and Nine Peaks, among others. If you are interested in what’s happening with local bubbly, check out the traditional method sparkling wines from DEVO in Ningxia.

Early bird tickets are RMB298 for one person or RMB498 for two people. (It’s RMB458 per person at the door.) Use the QR code to book your ticket and see all the wines that will be on offer.

Italian wine just rocked–or, rather, discoed–China.

The 2023 Vinitaly China Roadshow hustled through Beijing, Changsha and Hangzhou last week, with big turnouts in all three cities. And with the hit single ‘Italodisco‘ regularly playing during the tastings, it was easy to find fingers snapping and hips moving while sampling wines.

I helped contact Beijing bars and restaurants for the Italian Wine Week that overlapped this roadshow, co-organized by Veronafiere and ITA (Italian Trade Agency), and joined the trade tastings in Beijing and Changsha.

I also made some videos. (Note: If you are in China, and can’t see these videos, you can find them on my WeChat channel, BeijingBoyce.)

Of the half-dozen trade tastings I have joined in Beijing since ‘zero COVID’ ended last December, this one had the most enthusiasm.

According to Veronafiere, over 1,000 people registered for the Beijing stop, which featured 60 exhibitors and over 800 wines during a five-hour tasting.

One reason I like Veronafiere events, including Wine to Asia in Shenzhen, is the inclusion of other drinks and foods, from ice-cold gelato to cutting-edge cocktails.

In Beijing, this meant both coffee and coffee cocktails by Delonghi and Hope & Sesame Bar; cheese from Consorzio Fontina; pre-packaged cocktails by NIO; and treats like the liqueur Disaronno. (This is the rare wine show where the first whiff when you enter the premises is of freshly brewed coffee!)

Of course, Italian wine starred at the event, and we saw a diverse lineup in terms of regions, styles, grape varieties and prices, from entry-level below RMB40 (USD5.5) to quality mid-range options at ~RMB120 (USD16.5) to pricier bottles. Plus, a dedicated Barolo and Barbaresco zone, with some of China’s better-known sommeliers handling this area in all three cities.

I sent details about the event to numerous Beijing restaurant, bar and club people and it was good to see some show up and find new wines for their venues. I tried a dozen-plus Prosecco with one owner seeking bubblies and he found a good match.

(All three cities also had “master classes”: I generally skip these and head straight to tasting wine with the importers and distributors, but it sounds like the education sessions were busy.)

Finally, the cavernous space at Rosewood Hotel Group helped with the mood. Typically, such tastings are held in mid-sized chandelier-centric five-star hotel event rooms, and don’t have the best vibes. Having so much tasting space, plus a foyer in which to enjoy coffee cocktail or espresso, plus the organizers’ music–cue ‘Italodisco’!–was a bonus.

Changsha, a city of about 10 million in south-central China that is generating buzz for its food and drink scenes these days, also saw a strong turnout, with over 500 registered members, over 600 wines and 4.5 hours of tasting at the Niccolo. That turnout included a large number of food and drink KOLs. And lots of enthusiastic people asking questions about the wines (see video above).

This was a great chance for people to not only explore classic Italian styles and grapes but also the more recent wave of “craft” wines: natural, orange et al.

(The Prosecco and traditional-method sparkling wine were perfect for pairing with one of Changsha’s most famous dishes: stinky tofu. I’ve found this salty spicy dish works well with many bubbles!)

In any case, good energy at this event, including by The Wine Guy (TWG), the last table pouring both in Changsha, Beijing and, I’m told, Hangzhou.

Anyway, I don’t get involved with many trade events, with those by Veronafiere, including the Wine to Asia show in Shenzhen, an exception.

As noted, I like how the organizers include products such as cheese, cocktails, gelato, coffee and more; how they pursue new niches, such as the Living Wines and Young Chinese Winemakers sections at Wine to Asia; how they are open to looking at attendee experience beyond wine, including in terms of food and music and more; and so on.

Of course, in the end, the ultimate goal is sales, and the verdict is still out as both wine imports and local production in China have been falling for years.

But if you are going to fight to energize the China wine scene, then at least fight a good fight, and these efforts by Veronafiere certainly do that.

Also check out these two Q&8s I did with Veronafiere China’s Simone Incontro on the local wine market, including consumption, trends, the rise of craft wines, trade fairs, Italian Wine Week, and more. There is one from September here and March here.

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List of Italian Wine Week Participants

(Apologies for any typos in posting Italian / Chinese names in English!)

BEIJING

Buona Bocca, abboCCa, Forno, Bottega, Giada Garden, Burge’s Bistro & Bar, The Merchants, Vinvino, Trattoria, Living Room, La Taverne, CHEERS, Amico, Opera Bombana, Alla Goccia, TRiO, Fiume, FuDao, fafa Bistro, Origine, Osteria Italiana del Vino, Italian Wine Club, Yi Yuan Wine Restaurant, Pizza Mama, Penglai Bistro & Grill, Dada Bar, Tavola Italian Dining, CHIC, Fufú, Wine O’Clock, PAT, Heritage, Grape Lane, ROOT 85, White Tiger Village, Canotto, Sediment, Charcoal

CHANGSHA

Niccolo Kitchen, Bar 93, German Munich Town Winery, Also Sake, Ho & Wong’s Spirit, Yi Pu Cellar Door, La Romana, RISO, Yi Jia Craft Wine, CHEERS, 105 Whisky, Bistro Wang, Relax Western Restaurant, Neonato Flice, Double Eight, ROOTS, Fragrant House, Celestial Heart, Laowai Coffee, Bar PLAYS, La Ronde de Nuit, Sweet Pepper Steak, Xiu Jazz, Time Stamp, Joy Restaurant, 100 Mile Music Tavern, Eurasia-China-Italian Trade, Glou Glou Republic, M&Y Art Bar, Diva Wine Shop & Bar, Gambero Rosso

HANGZHOU

Winederful Bottle, Chin-China Bistro, Moli Italian Restaurant, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, Why Wine, La Gauche, La Floue, Vin de Jean Henri, HULU Bistro, Le Coq, Alimentari Grande, Winesday, BD Coffee & Bistro, Drunken Grapes, Villa Moon, Bistro du Vin, Oino, Nuits, Dong Chang Restaurant, Savoy Bistro, Chez Liu, La Bottega, Vitae

PARTIAL LIST OF ROADSHOW VENDORS

Gruppo Caviro, Tenuta Mosole, Savian, Tenuta Sant’antonio: Famiglia Castagnedi, Ca’del Sette, Valdo Spumanti, Casa Vinicola Sartori, Ottella, Casa Paladin, Azienda Agraria Guerrieri, Pasqua Vigneti e Cantine, talyFun, La Guardiense, Vecchia Cantina di Montepulciano, Cascina Chicco & Saraja, San Silvestro & Costa di Bussia, Famiglia Cecchi, Banfi Wines, Villa Dante, Feudo Arancio, Fantinel, Mezzacorona Group, Stemmari, Conti Zecca, Bosca SpA, ZONIN 1821, Shanghai Sinodrink, Taste Italy, Summergate, Interprocom, Giuseppe Campagnola, TWG: The Wine Guy, Shanghai Finigate, Shanghai Ouya Wine, Illva Shanghai, Santadi & Accornero, Shanghai G Cru, Shanghai Domen, Yishe-Elena Fucci, Revines, CWS, Uita International, Shanghai SAVA, Shanghai Pietra Rossa International Trading, Sarment, Zefiro Fine Wines, Agriment Italia, Giordano Vini, San Marzano Wines, Cantine Lizzano, Cincinnato, Compagnia Mediterranea del Vino, Poderi di San Pietro, Tornatore and Consorzio DOP Fontina.

Talk about a buzz. Anyone on Chinese social media platforms this week no doubt saw a deluge of posts about nationwide chain Luckin Coffee and the nation’s top alcohol brand Moutai partnering on a latte.

For those unfamiliar with Chinese alcohol, Moutai is a brand of baijiu, a potent spirit typically made from sorghum and weighing in at 53 percent alcohol by volume. And typically consumed “bottoms up” style.

In this case, Luckin used it in a Latte and reported sales of 5.4 million units worth RMB100 million / US$14 million in just one day (see below).

The promotion comes as baijiu companies desperately seek new ways to reach consumers.

I can tell you from nine years of running World Baijiu Day, an event I created to get people to try this spirit in new ways, that this concern is real. I have heard it everywhere from meetings with individual companies to presentations I have done on our activities, including with baijiu and coffee.

Moutai also made a splash last year with its ice cream and we can expect more projects like this from both this company and others, from cocktail contests to afternoon tea at Harrod’s London.

Of course, nothing is particularly creative about baijiu and coffee. We’ve seen it before, including eight years ago when Pacific Coffee in China released a trio of such concoctions.

At that time, World Baijiu Day was up and running, and we also found partners around the planet working with baijiu and coffee. A few examples:

• Peking Tavern in Los Angeles offered “Peking Coffee”: baijiu and horchata liqueur garnished with a cinnamon stick.
  
• The former Fu baijiu bar in Liverpool sold coffee-infused baijiu.
  
• Good Works Coffee & and Pop-Up Beijing partnered to make Moutai Mochas (see below).
  
• And the Schoolhouse at Mutianyu, near the Great Wall of China, was making coffee-baijiu liqueur.

So why did this week’s campaign resound with consumers?

Maybe because Moutai is not only insanely famous but also incredibly expensive, thus giving people the chance to indulge, and opine, for a small price–the lattes sold, at a discount, for RMB19 / USD 2.50 each.

Maybe because the huge number of Luckin stores made it easy for people to share the experience across the country. (Pacific Coffee, for example, had a much smaller footprint, as did those venues selling Moutai ice cream initially.)

Maybe because it allowed people to release their creativity. There is no shortage of people making videos of their often humorous adventures making baijiu coffees–or even teas–or putting a twist on the Luckin Lattes.

Maybe because there is growing pride in successful Chinese products and Moutai, ranked as the world’s most valuable spirits brand by Brand Finance, taps into this.

Also, the promotion raised lots of topics that spurred online debate. How much Moutai could there really be in the Lattes given the spirit’s price? (Apparently, about half a percent.)

Was it really a good idea for a high-end brand like Moutai to team with a hohum coffee chain like Luckin? Will there be long-term benefits or will this move quickly be forgotten much like the McDonald’s Spam & Oreo burger that also generated much social media traffic? Etc.

In any case, for those interested in how baijiu can be used in creative ways, I suggest checking out what World Baijiu Day partners have done in 60-plus cities since 2015, with baijiu-inspired cocktails, infusions, gelatos, chocolates, beer, food pairings and more.

You can find the lists for 2023 here, for 2022 here and for 2021 here.

And many venues listed at those links feature baijiu all year, from Surfer’s Bar in Stockholm to Sanyou baijiu bar in Guangzhou to Peking Tavern in Los Angeles to Cream Story gelato in Shenzhen (below).

In any case, for those interested in how baijiu can be used in creative ways, I suggest checking out what World Baijiu Day partners have done in 60-plus cities since 2015, with baijiu-inspired cocktails, infusions, gelatos, chocolates, beer, food pairings and more.

You can find the lists for 2023 here, for 2022 here and for 2021 here.

And many venues listed at those links feature baijiu all year, from Surfer’s Bar in Stockholm to Sanyou baijiu bar in Guangzhou to Peking Tavern in Los Angeles to Cream Story gelato in Shenzhen (below).

“I took my pillow, blanket and air fryer, and moved into my [Shanghai] wine shop for almost two months… I also made a deal with three delivery guys living in the streets to stay with me in the shop.”

— Mariano Larrain Hurtado of La Cava de Laoma

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The two-month city-wide COVID policy-induced lockdown of Shanghai last year was a particularly trying period. Most people were holed up at home, save for trips for COVID tests, and managing food and drink supplies while trying to maintain sanity. That goes for many people in the wine trade, given that Shanghai is China’s leading city for this beverage.

But not all stories are the same. And Mariano Larrain Hurtado, a Chilean wine importer who also has two Shanghai shops that stock wines from a dozen nations, has one of the more interesting. Two weeks into the lockdown, he abandoned his apartment and moved into his wine shop La Cava de Laoma, sharing it with three delivery drivers that had been strangers to him two days before. This is his story.

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Home Alone

Like almost everyone in Shanghai, Larrain found himself stuck at home as April began. And making things worse, he was so preoccupied with filling deliveries by bicycle during the last days of March, that he didn’t stock up on food.

“The government told us the lockdown was going to be five days, so we didn’t really prepare,” he says.

“My shop manager Xiao Liang and I were working until the last minute before that long lockdown.”

Larrain got creative by combining the food he did have with the tomatoes, onions, potatoes and eggs delivered by the authorities.

He also helped to source food for Liang, who was locked down elsewhere in Shanghai.

“He didn’t have any food and it was hard to find anyone doing deliveries. We managed to find one guy. Xiao Liang got his number and we started talking.”

That connection changed the course of his wine life, and business, and soon saw him hand over his shop keys to a stranger before escaping to that haven himself.

“I remember it very well. We were talking with this guy, Xiao Xu, on WeChat and we asked him, ‘Hey, how about managing the orders at wine shop? You could make money and have a place to live, with a bathroom.”

Ultimately, a deal was struck for three delivery drivers–Xiao Xu, Xiao Feng and Xiao Li–to move into the shop even with Larrain still stuck at home. But how to manage that transition?

“I also remember that very well. When we agreed to the terms, the guy came to my apartment complex and I threw the shop keys from my window to him on the street. I had never met him in person before.”

“I simply trusted him,” he says. “This is something you can only do in China. The guy took over the shop and arranged his living space, with the main area being used as a warehouse, just like that.”

Larrain’s shop was now home to three drivers, who had previously worked in a local restaurant that shut down in March and who had done deliveries at night

“They were extremely smart guys, 22 to 23 years old,” he says.“

Larrain would leave his apartment and join his new roommates two days later. That required signing a paper to guarantee he would not return to his apartment complex until after the COVID policy changed. There was no turning back.

When he arrived at his shop, with pillow and air fryer in hand, he found a mess, but an expected one.

“We opened our mini app for delivery and the orders boomed. We were one of the few wine suppliers able to deliver in the Puxi area for some weeks. We got 100 orders the first day [while I was still in my apartment],” he says.

“The guys started to use random wines for the orders, and it took a lot of time to organize all the orders to begin with, so we were behind.”

But it wasn’t anything that a few 16-hour days couldn’t fix.

“For the first five days, I usually worked from 7 AM to 11 PM. It was insane. There was one day that we got 150 orders,” he says.

“Since I was the guy who knew the wines, I had to arrange everything in the shop, which basically became a warehouse, and Xiao Liang was also checking.”

And the learning curve for the drivers was steep.

“The boss of the delivery guys, Xiao Xu, was very smart. It’s not easy to distinguish between a Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon for someone with no wine experience, but he did things quite well for a newcomer.”

Five days after Larrain handed over the keys—or, rather, tossed them to a stranger through Shanghai’s spring air—and three days after moving into the shop, he posted on WeChat:

“My compound allows us to leave but we can’t return so I moved into my shop so I could do deliveries. What a crazy couple of days I had! We delivered 400+ orders in five days. It was overwhelming. But happy to help in these crazy times! Wine is essential for some people.”

He also had a stroke of luck in those first hectic weeks: the arrival of a container of his wines from Chile.

“We sold out fast but luckily a container of my wine reached Shanghai during the lockdown and I found an open warehouse to use.”

Daily Life

After the first few weeks, things calmed down a bit, and routines formed.

“I was sleeping on the sofa and they were sleeping on makeshift mattresses they made out of cardboard, a much better situation than sleeping outside like a lot of delivery guys, who were living under bridges.”

“Basically, I was the first to wake up, at 9 AM, as they were late-night guys—night owls—checking videos on TikTok,” says Larrain. “I did bring coffee with me and I made it Turkish style, very strong.”

“For bathing, I did it the Japanese way, where you wash one body part at a time. For me, a daily shower is a necessity, or I can’t truly wake up.”

“Our shop also had a terrace, so I was able to get sun when the weather was good,” he adds. “After the lockdown, I had people from the building next door say they saw me half-naked during those days!”

Safety First

Being free from his apartment didn’t mean freedom of movement, says Larrain, as many regulations still applied, and there were plenty of police and barricades to enforce them.

“Not everyone could move around the city those days. Only people with certain permits and under certain conditions,” he explains.

“The delivery guys were allowed to circulate, but most were living in the streets because it was impossible to come in and out of apartment complexes,” he says, adding that drivers needed to use an app showing their health code status and daily COVID test results.

“We needed to follow a lot of health protocols and take care of each other,” he says. “We needed to limit ourselves to the deliveries. The idea was to avoid contact with people from outside our circle.”

Despite all of these rules, delivery could be very lucrative.

“At the beginning, these guys were very busy and earning a lot of money,” says Larrain.

“People were desperate for deliveries and willing to pay high fees. For some people, one delivery could cost RMB400, so the drivers made a lot that first month.”

On Eating

“The guys usually went out at around 11 AM and came back depending on how many orders they got. Shanghai is so big and you can only carry five or six orders maximum, and then you need to go back to the shop for more.”

“We normally had dinner together. They mostly ate noodles–morning, noon and night,” he says. “I was worried about nutrition. We had to have more vegetables and stuff, but they always said the prices were too high.”

“They always complained that potatoes, for instance, were too expensive those days. I told them ‘I need my potatoes, I need my carrots, I need my apples, the price doesn’t matter’.”

“I paid for those and one of the guys cooked pretty well. I also used wraps to make pizzas in the air fryer and they were incredible. At that time, the shop offered cheese and Spanish ham in the shop I could use,” he explains.

Food was prized. He raved in a WeChat post about how much better a Dove chocolate bar tasted during this time of “zero-COVID” policy.

“I also remember my first piece of meat, on a Sunday, at Easter. I exchanged a whole uncooked duck for Chilean wine with a friend and cooked it in my air fryer,” he says.

“Sunday night was when we relaxed just like back at home. Normally they didn’t drink alcohol, but one guy would on Sunday nights with me. I think it was because I asked him to drink because I don’t like to drink by myself.”

On Connecting

“I kept in touch with people online,” says Larrain. “I had Zoom meetings with friends, and with customers, drinking online. It was fun in that sense.”

“I was busy. And I was lucky because I was busy. And I was also lucky to be with fellow humans.”

“We had one notable event, during lockdown, an online wine tasting I organized,” he says. “We had 45 people join! They were so attentive, it was the first thing they had to do in weeks. Then after the presentation of our Maquis wines, by my cousin in Chile, people kept talking and drinking online until 1 AM.”

The Aftermath

“We did much better after the lockdown. We met a lot of people who became loyal customers and were very happy with our wines and promotions,” says Larrain.

“Of course, after the lockdown, people had many more options. And I estimate that at least half of our customers have since left China, a process that is still continuing,” he adds.

“Still, when I go to wine fairs and people see our brand, a lot of them approach me and say, ‘I bought wine from you. You are our hero because during lockdown you really helped us.’ That happens all the time.”

In hindsight, Larrain says living in his shop was the right move.

“We faced many challenges, especially to find food to feed four hungry men,” he says. “But I couldn’t be more grateful for my decision. Not only did my business thrive, but I had the chance to live with fellow humans and to take care of each other like a family under very special circumstances. Maybe I became a bit crazy due to the lockdown, but a few months after it ended, I felt that I began to heal.”

La Cava de Laoma celebrates its tenth anniversary this week. Check out this poster for details. Also see my Q&8 last week with Larrain about China’s wine market, this Q&8 in 2022 before the Shanghai lockdown, and, going way back, this 2014 interview when he was based in Beijing.