Chinese Vineyards(2)

            All I can say is that the Chinese wines I've had back on Tyneside
            have all tasted pretty much as they should. The 2003 Pinot Noir I
            bought in the Wing Hong supermarket in Newcastle's Stowell Street
            (where you can find quite a good little range of Chinese wine) was
            unmistakably Pinot ?and it didn't taste as if it came from Chile.
            Morrison's decided last year to list two Chinese wines under the
            Silk Road label, both from the Xinjiang region in the far North West
            of the country. Both are well made and fair value at ?.99. The 2005
            Chardonnay is clean and peachy, with hints of melon and pineapple.
            The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is warm and winey with a blackcurrant
            jam smell and chewy, chunky texture utterly consistent with actually
            having been made from fresh Cabernet grapes.
            If it's not the finest Cabernet Sauvignon I've ever tasted, it's
            also a long way from being the worst. Many of the new Chinese
            wineries, including Silk Road and Grace Vineyards, rely heavily on
            foreign technical support from French or Australian consultants. But
            wine drinking is not new to China.
            Imports of western wine were highly prized in the 2nd Century AD and
            a record exists of the planting of Chinese vineyards three centuries
            earlier.
            Although the modern Chinese wine industry has to address the issues
            raised by some of its critics, it is manifestly the inheritor of a
            proud tradition and it would be folly to imagine, as the quality of
            the best wine already shows, that it will not become a major force
            in the world market ?even within the next decade.