Changyu

[Thraz]

Changyu appears to be China's largest wine maker and seller in China with a 20% market share. I saw some of their bottlings at a huge Asian grocery store in Houston (Hong Kong Market on Bellaire):

1995 Cabernet Sauvignon for $16.49
1998 Cabernet Sauvignon for $15
1999 Chardonnay for $15

They are all labeled "dry."

I did not buy any of them - the travels of an 11 year old wine from China to Houston may not result in optimal conditions, regardless of the original quality. But has any of you ever had Changyu wines? I am curious, and I imagine there is no reason why China would not become a high quality wine producing country soon.

Incidentally I saw on the internet that they are now one of the top 20 brands in the world and want to be one of the top 10 by 2008 (I'm not sure by what standard). They currently have 3,333 hectares in various places, which they will expand to 8,000 hectares - and they also have "other supply sources." All very big numbers. Apparently Beringer has about 4,000 hectares.

[Innkeeper]

I'll bet Wally World could sell it cheaper!

[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.

[Innkeeper]

You never know. I encountered my first Australian wine in '75. It was in the cellar package store in the American Embassay in Canberra. Nothing (of course they had rock bottom prices there, no taxes, etc) in the place was more than $5 U.S. The Grange was the $5 one. Having never heard of it, I opted for a few in the $3.50 to bring back. Have no idea what they were, but remember being soundly unimpressed. We were not drinking in a vacuum at that time, despite the lack of knowledge on the Grange. We were big time into the rapidly expanding California wine scene at the time.

Look what has happened to the Australian wine industry during the last 31 years! In today's environment of high tech aggie and winemaking techniques, the Chinese will probably be filling up our shelves in ten or fifteen years.

[TheEngineer]

I saw a prototype of this type of thinking about 6 months ago at a wine shop in Quincy. On the shelf was a very attractive, modern bottle with modern fonts. It was filled with vodka and had some fruits (other bottles had herbs) stuffed inside of them lightly. I picked one up (it was selling for $19) and read the back marketing foofoo...then read the contents.....vodka sourced from a Eastern European country, fruits from the US (I think), bottled and packaged in China, and imported into the US........