Put in your order for Chinese Bordeaux wine, vintage 2020

           Things are heating up in Bordeaux, France, with the tasting sessions
            for the primeurs, or new wines, starting today (30 March). Wednesday
            I'l be joining 1,000 other journalists and wine writers who descend
            on the area, for three days of tastings and talking to producers.
            Meanwhile, Bordeaux winemakers are taking advantage of the wine
            world' eyes turned on them to share their news. Today' headline:
            Ch鈚eau Lafite, one of the most prestigious of the region'
            producers, is scrambling to get a share of the Chinese market by
            taking a stake in Penglai, on China' Shandong Peninsula, where
            41,000 hectares of vine are growing. The Guardian, which carries the
            story, says China is expected to become "ne of the world's biggest
            wine producers over the next 50 years and European wine estates are
            keen to get a foothold in the latest new-world wine trend."
            Hmmm. I read New World here as mass production, of which there
            already appears to be enough, if wine consumption statistics tell us
            anything. I've had some truly bad wine from China, although that was
            in 1985 when the country's production was limited pretty much to one
            red and one white. You could almost understand why the Chinese
            preferred their potent rice firewater. And I've had some mediocre
            Chinese wine since then. I am sure China can learn to make excellent
            wines, just as it's learned to make so many other products well.
            What it needs to do first is grow a generation of wine drinkers, who
            are able to judge quality and create a home market. There is
            evidence in the cities that among young professionals wine is chic:
            they are concerned about health, enough so to trade in the national
            sport of hard liquor tippling. But it will take more than trendiness
            to build that market. The Swiss, for example, drink 40 litres per
            capita a year while the Chinese drink 0.91 litres per capita. This
            is potentially a growth industry, with those kind of numbers, but it
            assumes wine will make sense in China.
            Will it?
            Last week I matching regional foods and wines with Raymond Paccot,
            winemaker from Fechy, Vaud, who pointed out that good wines are
            traditionally developed to accompany food from an area, and that
            vocation is what keeps the winemaker focused on getting the wine
            just right. If this holds true for China, maybe some good wines will
            appear by 2020, but what a surprise these wines could be for the
            rest of the world if they are made for the home market, designed to
            go well with Chinese food.