Chinese Wine: What's the Deal?

Wine Blast with Susie and Peter

China has the world's third biggest vineyard and a long history with fermentation and booze. So what's Chinese wine like? Why do we not see more of it outside China? And why are some people predicting big things for Chinese wine in the future?
Answers to all this and more flow thick and fast in this intriguing episode, the result of Susie's recent wine trip to China during which she sat down to record with expert insiders Li Demei and Natalie Wang. We also taste several Chinese wines and deliver our verdict on where the country's wines are right now. Ultimately, we ask: is this an inflection point for Chinese wine?
Along the way we discuss things as varied as burying vines, baijiu, karaoke, geopolitical hot potatoes, Marselan, heavy bottles, 'half-juice', poetry, pandas, pigswill, pricing and horses on travellators...
Thanks for tuning in. We love to hear from you so please do get in touch! Send us a voice message via Speakpipe. Or you can find contact info, together with all details from this episode including full wine recommendations, on our website: Show notes for Wine Blast S6 E4 - Chinese Wine: What's the Deal?
Instagram: @susieandpeter

Chapters

1. Chinese Wine: What's the Deal? (00:00:00)

2. Welcome (00:00:05)

3. Setting the tone from the outset - with poetry (00:00:16)

4. Headline quotes (00:01:10)

5. Susie's trip to China (00:02:02)

6. Setting the scene (00:03:01)

7. China has the world's third biggest vineyard (00:06:47)

8. Li Demei interview (00:10:25)

9. Our thoughts on what Li Demei said (00:23:04)

10. MID-EPISODE RECAP (00:25:29)

11. Recent headwinds in China (00:25:54)

12. Natalie Wang interview (00:27:21)

13. Our thoughts on what Natalie Wang said (00:39:36)

14. Tasting Chinese wines - yay or nay? (00:42:39)

15. On Marselan (00:44:09)

16. On Cabernet and Bordeaux varieties in China (00:46:18)

17. Price is an issue (00:48:18)

18. Our final verdict on Chinese wine (00:49:39)

19. On impromptu karaoke and horses on travellators (00:49:56)

20. FINAL SUMMARY (00:52:17)

21. Outro (00:52:53)