Chinese wines make their way to European dinner tables
China is not regarded as a traditional wine country, which is why many might be surprised to hear that nowadays China's wine industry is booming.
According to the French Vinexpo, in 2010, the Chinese consumed 558 million litres of wine, making China the ninth largest wine-sipping nation in the world. The estimate represents a growth of more than a third from 2005.
Over the last two decades, China's wine production has grown tenfold, according to the Finnish alcohol retailer Alko.
The wine company Erik Sørensen Vin has imported wines from around the world to Denmark for more than five decades. The selection of wines includes Chinese wines, which are still quite rare in Europe.
Jan Agerskov Sørensen is one of the company's owners and its head purchasing agent. He says his intrigue for this lesser-known wine country has been spurred on by the fact that that China is in fact one of the world's oldest wine-producing countries in the world.
"In the wine industry, one must think about what countries produce wine. And in this field, China is one of the oldest, and the one with the largest population. And Danes in general are becoming more and more interested in China: more and more Danish tourists are traveling to China and commerce between the two countries is flourishing. In Denmark, for example, there are a lot of Chinese restaurants that want to have Chinese wines on their lists," Sørensen says.
He brought grape seedlings and the know-how for making high-quality wine along with him from France and production took off. Still today, Dragon Seal Wines relies on French wine making methods and even employs a French wine maker. "These wines are relatively costly in China," Sørensen says.
"Dragon Seal wines are very similar to French wines because they have been produced in a cold environment. They are not the kind of fruity wines that warm countries like Chile and Australia produce. The climate in China makes the local wines taste much like French wines, in spite of the great geographical distance between the two countries. However, the wines are produced so that they also take into account the local people's preferences."
Contrary to the conception harbored by most foreigners, Jan Agerskov Sørensen knows that Chinese wines are not always sweet. Sweetness is typical of lower quality wines, he says, but Dragon Seal and for example, Great Wall wines are relatively neutral, and nicely supplement the aromas of Chinese cuisine.
"Our selection is limited, but we do have wines to accompany a variety of foods. Wine helps to balance the taste of sweet and spicy Chinese dishes. Some Chinese foods are traditionally eaten with a cup of tea, so for those kinds of meals our wines are naturally not the drink of choice, but otherwise our selection is very diverse," Sørensen says.
Wine making in China is still not quite as advanced as in Europe, Sørensen says. However, the Chinese are very skilled in copying others and learning from other countries, so their wine making techniques will also undoubtedly develop rapidly.
"I think that Chinese wine makers should also pay more attention to what kinds of wines we Europeans want to drink. For example, we prefer wines that have been made from well-ripened grapes."
Grapes that have been picked early often produce wines that have a slightly more herbal and sour taste than the sweeter wines produced in warmer countries, he says. That said, China's cold climate largely dictates the timing of the harvest. In addition, the development of China's wine production is also restricted by geographical factors.
"It is unlikely that we should in the future see Chinese products flood the global wine market, as in the case with, for example, textiles. One of the problems faced by China's wine producers is that the soil in Guangdong, the richest in the entire country, is also too moist for growing high-quality grapes. In order to produce top notch wines, the climate needs to be cool and arid, so only a small portion of the land in China is suitable for wine cultivation. Monsoon rains are not good for growing wine grapes," Sørensen says.
Sørensen thinks that the cheapest Chinese wines will continue to be sold on the domestic market in the future also, and only the highest quality products will be imported to Europe. Chinese consumers tend to prefer mature wines, but a longer aging period usually produces a side-taste that does not please the majority of European wine drinkers. This is why the Chinese wines brought to Europe are quite young.
Chinese wines hit European stores
The Finnish alcohol monopoly Alko does not sell Chinese wines off the shelf, but two will soon be added to the special order catalog: Noble Dragon Shangdong White, which is made from Riesling and Chardonnay grapes, and the Noble Dragon Shangdong Red, made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, and a small portion of China's own Dragon's Eye grapes. Their prices will remain under ten euros.
In recent years, China's wine production has grown by about 15 percent annually. Vinexpo says that in three years, wine sales in China will top 1.3 billion euros. The sales of high-end wines will expand most rapidly and the majority of profits will go to domestic wine makers. In 2005, foreign wines accounted for 5.6 percent of the Chinese wine market. The consumption of foreign wines is also expected to grow by more than half between 2005 and 2010.
What wines are worth trying when in China? If you're not thinking about going on a tour of local wineries, the closest market or grocery store is sure to quench your thirst for knowledge about Chinese wines.
Most stores in China have at least a selection of domestic wines. For example, most Europeans find Great Wall wines to be quite palatable and they are available in several price ranges and in red and white. Other well-known Chinese producers include Dynasty and Chang Yu, and together these three wine makers account for close to half of the wine on the Chinese market.
China's most famous wine-growing provinces are Shandong, Gangsu, Hebei, Xinjiang and Ningxia. So if you are heading for any of these regions, a trip to a local winery may provide an interesting addition to your trip program.
