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"If you picked No 7 as one of your top three wines," Jim Boyce saysat a recent wine-tasting he hosted in Beijing, "it means you've hadtoo much to drink." That sent chuckles rippling through the lunch crowd from the worldsof food, wine and media. By then, we'd all had a tad too much to drink. But we all realizedthat Boyce was kidding: At this tasting - where we'd sampled morethan a dozen wines with a retail price of 100 yuan ($16) or less -the goal was to judge a glass of wine by its taste, not by thelabel or price tag. As the blogger behind the popular nightlife scene setter BeijingBoyce, he has become a fixture in the capital's food and winescene. "I'm not an expert in this stuff," he insists, "I'm justinterested, and when I started there weren't as many sources ofthis kind of information as there are today." That knowledge gap prompted him to start a second blog, Grape Wallof China - another voyage of discovery. "Seven years ago when I started the wine blog, if you asked peopleabout quality wines in China, all they could say was "Grace". Thatwas true the next year, and the third year. But now there is aninternational spotlight on other Chinese wineries such as Helan,Hansen and Sunshine Valley." One reason for that spotlight is Jim Boyce, who knows manywinemakers and has sampled and discussed their wares with them foryears as they've developed. He's recruited a panel of experts infood and wine who also participate in the wine blog and his events. Last fall, he hosted North by Northwest, a tasting for all of thewines of those less-known compass points of Chinese wine, and sincethen has organized two similar events specifically for the wines ofNingxia. Boyce is fascinated by the many misconceptions about Chinese wine.(He got a slew of comments for an April Fool's Day joke report thatan eminent food scientist at a major Chinese university had studiedthe issue and concluded definitively that no wines could pair wellwith any Chinese cuisine.) One of his favorite "amazing notions" is that Chinese people haveno palate for wine. "Are you kidding?" he asks. "The Chinese palate is potentially oneof the most sensitive in the world. We're talking about people whohave eaten tofu since childhood and can discriminate among 50different preparations of it. "Get a life," he tells the naysayers. "What's so difficult aboutfinding the nuances of wine?" Chinese are also discovering cars,coffee and Italian gelato, he says, and managing pretty well. The biggest reason outsiders think Chinese don't know good winefrom Jamba Juice is that they judge the Chinese palate based on thequality of Chinese wine, which has generally been low. "Cheap wine is where the biggest market has been, and Chinesewinemakers can sell all of the inexpensive wine they can make," hesays. "Right now, there's little motivation to invest in higher-endproduction with a limited market." While the quality-wine market has been curbed by expectations ("Isit French? Is it Bordeaux?") and limited production, that'schanging now that Chinese wines like Helan's Jia Bei Lan arestarting to win international recognition. But it's still going to be awhile before city folks in China canshop for many of these wines, Boyce says, especially those producedin the western provinces. "Most of them are still producing bottles in the thousands, notmillions, so they can sell everything they make close to home. Andshipping wines to Beijing and Shanghai requires more than just thepacking and transit cost - you have to pay the retailers for shelfspace and display. Today, they just don't need to do that." Two sets of competing forces that Boyce finds especially intriguingon China's wine scene: East vs west: Wines from Shandong get the lion's share of attentionbecause the east coast location offers easy distribution to portsand to China's big cities. It's such an advantage that some westernwineries ship their grapes or juice east for processing anddistribution. But many industry insiders think the potential forthe best wines is in the west, with its drier climate,less-polluted air and distinct terroir. Red vs white: Reds dominate the Chinese wine market for two mainreasons. "That's what color Bordeaux is," Boyce says, grinning. "And in China, 'white wine' means something else, and thatsomething is a national heritage that's hard to compete with. Butwhile it may be hard to make a name for a Chinese white wine,"Boyce says, "many agronomists in the wine business think thecountry's greatest wines to come will be white." It's a game of patience, Boyce adds: "I've been drinking wines fromNingxia winemakers for seven years, because I meet these guysoccasionally and they bring a case of it. Now we're starting to seesome of it on store shelves." But the market will come. "Last year, China's Helan Qing Xue rocked and shocked, stirred andshook the wine world when its Jia Bei Lan first took a regionaltrophy, and then took an international one, at the Decanter WorldWine awards," he says in a recent post. While awards for China were more modest in that competition thisyear, the 2012 International Wine Challenge saw nine wines fromproducers based in China receive some form of recognition. "The highest was a silver medal by Glory Red 2009 from Junding, anoperation that is based in Shandong province and has investmentfrom COFCO, which owns the wine brand Great Wall." "Not long ago, good wineries in California's Napa Valley or in NewZealand couldn't get taken seriously because they weren'tEuropean," he says. "It's not going to happen overnight for China,either." michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Pneumatic Tube Fittings Manufacturer , Electromagnetic Induction Coil Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Pulse Jet Valves.
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