Changyu

[TheEngineer]

China does have some interesting land to grow grapes in and they are sending a TON of people out to other countries to learn about vineyard management and winemaking. They are also bringing in a large amount of help too, but... The local population that drink wine is small but growing. Except for a small elite bunch most of them have more of a sweet palate and as such do unthinkable things like mix sprite in with their wine. Having tasted some of the offerings, some definitely improved with the addition of sprite [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]. Others though, while not great, were solid wines...... Can you imagine the future of the globalized wine trade. Grapes grown and wine made in China with international consultant and North American and European marketing firms and LA Advertising agencies putting together wines of good quality at a price that no one else can come close to matching, global logistics and Walmart distribution efficiencies.........how many years will this take?

On the othe side, fine wine culture is still developing. There is a small, affluent and educated portion of the population that enjoys fine wine (and often nothing but). However, even in their small numbers, they are having a large impact on the French wine marketing, pushing up first growth and Grand Cru burgundy prices up along with the Russians. This group however tends to avoid their own in market wine.