Buying Wine from China
 

I recently watched a great documentary about the wine industry (Red Obsession) and it had some great stories (among others) about how China's demand for wine will far exceed output in the coming years.

As such, there are a number of "Chateaus" in China that are producing some interesting vintages. One particular vintage won a gold medal at the Decanter awards.

After viewing, I became quite interested to try some of China's prized wine...at least to try something new.

One producer in particular, He Lan Qing Xue’s Jia Bei Lan 2009 Cabernet sounds interesting, however - they don't export to the US!

Anyone know someone in China - a friend, concierge, goods service - that would ship to the US?

Thanks!

That's amazing. Hopefully Chinese producers will take up the excess demand so the Western stuff doesn't skyrocket in price. :)

Keep in mind, the Chinese are happy to spend $500 a bottle for Yao Ming's Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet, which is about $400 more than comparable Cabernets sell for - so they probably have more money than sense in this regard.

The article mentions that the Chinese are only into red wine for linguistic and cultural reasons - why is this?

They're going through their "have money & think that's what you do, but don't know anything about wine" phase like Japan did in the 1980's and Korea did in the 1990's?

Personally, having tried a dozen or so Chinese produced wines, I wouldn't even try putting it down the sink. It's possibly good for degreasing motorcycle chains though. :td:

Went to a business meeting the first time I came to China, they opened a bottle of 500 USD bottle of wine.

One guy put cola in the wine.
One guy put a cube of sugar.
Another just chugged his.

Then they mocked me for wanting to let the wine breath and kept trying to fill the glass to the brim.

Things are slowly changing - these days more and more people understand. Its the new rich that does this because they are supposed to like wine because the "cultured" drink wine.

I always cringe because the local wine stores do not have refrigeration and keep full bottles by the window in direct sunlight. The inside of their stores are 30 plus degrees Celsius in the summer and frigid in the winter.

Wine culture has a long way to go here in a third tier city in China but it is improving.

<sound of Gfunkdave falling to the floor senseless>

I'd actually heard of the first (cola) but not the sugar. The conspicuous consumption among nouveau riche there is mind blowing. Though I suppose it's not much different than what new money does anywhere else...

Which wine was it, out of curiosity?

Wow that is a great story. I would have been completely caught off guard if I was there.

At the same time, while Chinese wine consumers might have a bad rep, I'd hate to pass that judgement on the producers until I at least try a bottle.

They let you savour the wine? My waitress just put an ice cube and some fruit in my glass anyways even though I refused. :rolleyes: The wine was a Haut Brion.... :eek: Sadly, many also feel that sediment in a mature bottle = wine gone bad so they pour it out but keep the empty bottle for resale. :td:

Red - Happiness, prosperity (wedding)

White - funeral mourning

To take away the "dryness" of most red it is mixed with Coke and/or other fruit juices.

IMHO most Chinese cuisine is best paired with whites.

Ah interesting, thanks.

I think most Asian cuisines are better with whites. Perhaps it's the lack of cheese/dairy?

It's the seafood. I prefer reds with roast duck, braised knuckle Shanghai style and west-China dishes such as cumin lamb/goat.

Or more accurately, I prefer anything that is not ruined by turning it into a pseudo-sangria.

It is the balancing between the seasoning and the wine.

I was asked to recommend a "red" wine to be served at a wedding by host family who were super-superstitious; with many western guest who were educated in the art of wine with a palate to match. My reply: red food colouring. :D

Yes the seafood definitely play a major part.

I agree with you about a good red with duck and western Chinese lamb/goat/mutton.

I am still withholding judgement about SH braising style pairings.

Wanted to revisit this.

Does anyone have any friends or connections to someone in China? I would LOVE to get in contact and get them to ship me a bottle. Obviously I'dpay for their efforts :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wbGFeDR7Gg

Go to about the 35 minute, 30 second or so mark in the video and they do just as described.

The wine thing, especially (expensive) reds is a generation symbol with the Chinese. Beeing in Hong Kong less than 2 months before turn-over in 1997, we went to genuine Chinese restaurants. At the large round tables for 8-12 persons it was an obvious difference, most guys in the 50+ generation drinking Hennessy XO or Martell XO, the fewer tables with the younger guys had Chateaux Petrus, Chateau Lafitte-Rotschild, Chateau Haut Brion or similar on the tables.

Returning last year, we saw a couple of tables (in 5 days) with 80+ aged guys drinking Cognac, 1st and 2nd Cru red Bordeaux were plenty around us in the majority of tables.

But with sugar, fruits or Coke - naaaaaw

Just before leaving China for Chinese New Years, went to a "wine bar" for a glass. (It's the only place that sells reasonably priced Californian wines near my house.)

Ordered a glass wine and the waitress came with my glass of wine and a small bowl of rock sugar.

Never had this happen when I am in Shanghai but in small 2nd-3rd tier cities, it has happened enough times for me to not be surprised anymore.

Kind of topical for me as I'm sitting in Cognac (or rather, in a "chateau" in a town adjacent to Cognac) as I type. So is Cognac really going out of style? I have to wonder what the impact is of reduced Chinese consumption as some 80% of the stuff is exported.

If the OP desires, I'd be happy to ship him some Chinese wine, but my general feeling is that I've had very few Chinese (red) wines that I've thought were any better than mid-range bottles available at Whole Foods.

Mixing expensive wine with Sprite really quite common, especially at KTVs. A friend of mine runs a restaurant in Beijing and I once asked her what she thought of 小白领 desecrating her finest wines with the Sprite thing and her response was they are free to do as they please, and that they are her best customers (i.e. in typical Chinese style, they tend to order far more dishes than they could possibly consume because they want to sample everything on the menu).

French wines are popular here (i.e. I've seen more Lafite in Beijing/Shanghai than in all other cities I've been to combined), but people seem to be more driven by exclusivity than quality. It's a bit of a dream world for sellers of luxury goods.

I must admit to having left Chinese wines unexplored, my needs met by local beer and that staple of the less financially abled, raw sorghum alcohol.

Can any here of Chinese background or language skill help me with a translation or description of a term used by my late father who had spent most of 1942-45 in Southwest China, "Jing Bao Juice" (apparently a distilled beverage alcohol)?

Many wonder how many of the vintages in China are fake?

Many times I was served wine that did not taste right compared to the label but kept quite about it so not to dishonour the host.

Our local Chinese restauraunt (South of England) sold a white wine labelled as Wang Fu. On closer inspection it turned out to be Italian. Cheap and cheerful, even the bottle which had 'not good' written on it in biro.

Please approach any Chinese wine with extreme caution.

The local wine producers are as greedy and unscrupulous as the rest of the food & beverages industry in China. No guarantee that harmful chemicals haven't been mixed into the wine to cut cost or improve color etc.

My pal is a "wine merchant" - he is not a wine connoisseur but a chug by the bottle type of wine drinker. He knows nothing about wine but he started a wine business because his high school friend is the wine buyer for a chain of restaurants.

Friend buys wine through him. He makes good money. He splits the profits with his buddy. (I've been to his pals restaurant, it's not going to stay in business long)

He tells me that he sells real wine and bootleg wine. The bootleg wine is real wine that he cuts with 'distilled' water, food coloring and sugar.

He says that the bottle with the label is more expensive than the wine itself.

He says he knows who wants real wine and those who want good labels.

Not saying that he is typical but there are more than a few of these types of business around.

Stories like this are why I can't take the Chinese wine market and its consumers seriously.

I was in a cigar lounge on one of my biz trips to Taiwan and something similar to this occurred. Three mainland Chinese tourists purchased an Opus One, one of six bottles remaining. The owner had caught on a bit when he thought it was strange why they all had bottles of coke with them. As soon as the owner caught on what was about to happen and was about to tear off the wrapper covering the cork, he threw all three out of his store.

Yes stories like these are enough to impugn a whole demographic. There, I said it.

Anyone who's willing to give me $16,000 in exchange for a bottle of wine can do whatever they please with it.

Indeed and the all of the high end cognac makers figured this out long ago.

I doubt that the Remy Martin people care that $3000 bottles of Louis XIII are being mixed with green tea or sprite in China every day.

On the topic of Chinese wine, I've had plenty of Chinese reds while traveling in wine producing areas of Shangdong and around Yinchuan and many of them are actually quite good. Not so good that I would try to get them in the US but good enough to serve with dinner and less likely to be fake than $$$ imported stuff.

Just had Chinese red at dinner with a client from the Middle Kingdom yesterday.

Quite ok as you stated with the local food but as always having a "rough" side note in taste. I'd almost bet to be able to recognize Chinese wine from this "roughness" in a blind tasting.

Please PM me and I may be able to assist you....

Not sure how strange mixing habits are related to market seriousness... in my view, they are things that need to have a Chinese Wall between them.

Yes, it does make me "sad" if someone is mixing Soda Pop with Margaux, but then again, those of us ITB (in the Wine Business) need to understand that its out goal to help these folks appreciate and understand high-end wine. In my almost 10 years in the business, Ive had a few instances of similar situations and in most cases Ive been able to establish long term relationships that have turned cola-mixers into passionate aficionados that now "respect" wines in a more traditional manner.

Being a Snob is of course an option, but I leave that to others.... I think that a more tolerant and inclusive approach is the smarter way to go. I lived and worked in China for a couple of years in the late 90ies and early turn of the Century, and have many Petrus & Coke stories..... even a few Petrus and MaoTai mixers, and in those days I was not in the Wine Trade, just an aficionado. I guess things haven't changed much in terms of mixing habits.