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Updated Wednesday, July 14, 2010 10:47 am TWN, AFP



	A photo taken on June 4 shows Chinese winery Chateau Junding in Nava Valley in Penglai peninsula, in eastern China's Shandong province. Wine-loving China, the world's fifth-biggest consumer, is not known for making top-quality wine but its potential is drawing elite vintners like Spain's Torres and France's Lafite. (Bloomberg/AFP) More Photos (3)

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European producers push for fine wines in China

Brand wines succeed with a combination of savvy marketing, easily deciphered labels and consistent quality.

Chinese brand wines, however, are notoriously inconsistent in quality, and some producers pay little heed to Western notions of truth in labelling.

From one year to the next, domestic Chinese wine with the same label is a varying blend of wine produced in the local region, wine shipped in from other Chinese regions, low-grade imported bulk wine, and any available vintage.

None of this appears to diminish China's enthusiasm for wine.

In 2009, China drank 1.2 billion bottles of wine, and only 8.5 percent of that was imported bottled wine, according to Torres China. The surface area of domestic vineyards increased by 6.1 percent from 2006 to 2009, and grape production increased by 10.7 percent, according to the OIV.

“We know China is growing very fast and producing a lot of wine even if the quality is so-so,” said internationally renowned winemaker Michel Rolland.

“But I think every country in the world, if we go back a long time, made so-so wine at one time.

“China is just beginning and the Chinese are not stupid. They will be able to produce very good wine in the near future.”

But it won't happen overnight.

Christophe Salin, the Lafite group's managing director, told AFP that they have spent 15 years looking for the right opportunity in China, five years studying the chosen site, and do not expect to release any wine before 2015.

Until then, no one knows if they've invested in the right spot.

Despite the risks, the undiscovered potential of China's terroirs lures the West.

“If I find a very exclusive project where somebody is really focusing on the search for where we can go in terms of quality in China, I would like to do that,” said Rolland.

“I don't want to make a huge project with a large number of tanks where we taste like crazy for two days to make the blend. I have done that my whole life and I don't need that anymore. But if I can find that exclusive project, maybe I'm going to China.”

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