The Art of Chinese Wines

[YangLiCheng]

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[mickey]

What?

Are you calling yourself a connisseur? Where is the

Wu Chia Pi (I like the Hong Kong versoin)?

Ka Ve Jiu?

Kao Liang Jiu? Huh, HUH?

There is no room on this planet for part time lushes!:)


mickey

[YangLiCheng]

What?

Are you calling yourself a connisseur? Where is the

Wu Chia Pi (I like the Hong Kong versoin)?

Ka Ve Jiu?

Kao Liang Jiu? Huh, HUH?

There is no room on this planet for part time lushes!:)


mickey

i'm a Northerner, i don't drink the garbage that hong kongers pump out and call Chinese liquor

[mickey]

That's only one out of the three!


mickey

[TenTigers]

I have Ng Ga Pei running through my veins. It is my life blood.
I also enjoy Confucious Family Liquor with a nice dish of sliced Chinese pears.
Mou Tai tastes like horse p!$$ smells. But then again I also think Heinekin smells like skunk.
I'm not a conniseur (sp), I'm a kinda sewer!

[mickey]

"a kinda sewer"

Very, very, funny.


mickey

[YuanZhideDiZhen]

I have Ng Ga Pei running through my veins. It is my life blood.
I'm not a conniseur (sp), I'm a kinda sewer!

anger p33? in your veins? has it gotten you down yet? try some nice snake guts liqour.

chase that bottle with green lizard guts.

if you're still awake blitz your kidneys with some da bu jiao. you might do better than viagra if you shoot the da bu jiao in the morning and the san che jiao in the eavening. leaving the lizard out until fridays. :cool:

[herb ox]

mmm.... my favorite is Xiaosheng wine - aged at least 10 years. Where I currently reside is a cultural vacuum, but I can at least find a decent Xiaosheng. I can drink it all day and it won't spike my head. I even convinced GeneChing to try some at like 7 in the morning as a breakfast tonic - there was a bit of resistance on his part, but after the first shot, his resistance softened...

So, does anybody (read: YZDZ) know what the story behind Xiaosheng wine is, i.e. origin of recipe, how it's made, health benefits, etc...???

peace out
herb ox

[GeneChing]

Gotta hand it to Yao Ming. This is a brilliant business move. He should create a Merlot and call it 'slam dunk.'

NOVEMBER 28, 2011
Yao Ming Courts China's Wine Boom (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203764804577059394247295010.html?m od=googlenews_wsj)
By JASON CHOW

Chinese NBA star Yao Ming is launching his own California winery as China's thirst for wine intensifies. The former basketball pro speaks to The Wall Street Journal's Jason Chow.

While Yao Ming was growing up in Shanghai, wine was served with ice cubes. It wasn't until the 7-foot-6-inch Chinese basketball star spent time with National Basketball Association teammate ****mbe Mutombo, a 7-foot-2-inch Congolese player, that he began to appreciate wine.

"I always watched him at our dinners and I'd sometimes ask him 'Why are you doing that?'" said Mr. Yao, swirling an imaginary glass. "I was just trying to copy him."

Now retired and living in his native Shanghai, Mr. Yao is an unlikely connoisseur and a trailblazer on the Chinese wine scene. The 31-year-old is launching his own Californian winery geared exclusively for the Chinese market this week called Yao Family Wines.

Distributed by French beverage giant Pernod Ricard SA, bottles in the first 5,000-case run will be labeled simply Yao Ming and aimed at the top end of the market.

The wine, made from cabernet sauvignon grapes harvested in 2009 from California's Napa Valley, is priced at 1,775 yuan (US$289) a bottle. (The price includes a 27% import duty and a 17% sales tax.) A second wine, called Yao Family Reserve, will be released later this year, and its small 500-case production will be even pricier.

"I really like Napa Valley," said the former center. "California represents vacation, casual [living], sunshine—everything related to a good quality of life."

Yao Family Wines currently doesn't own any vineyards in California, but is aiming to acquire land in the next few years.

California couldn't have a better pitchman in China than Mr. Yao. He is one of the country's biggest stars and is credited with boosting China's interest in the NBA. During his nine seasons with the Houston Rockets, his games were broadcast on national television in China, and he was selected to carry China's flag during the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He has endorsed everything from Apple Inc. products to his father's Chinese restaurant in Houston.

Mr. Yao's appreciation for wine grew in parallel with its acceptance in his home country—wine consumption in China doubled from 2005 to 2009. But wine imported into China came predominantly from France, and he spotted a market opportunity for Californian wines.

Mr. Yao asked BDA Sports International, the agency that represents him, to explore the idea of starting his own Napa Valley winery. In 2009, with BDA's assistance, he found a team of wine experts to help him realize his vision, including winemaker Tom Hinde, who had made wines for Flowers Vineyard and Winery and Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates. "We tasted a lot of wine together and got to know him in a way so I could express his personality in the wine," said Mr. Hinde. "He's physically imposing, but he's also very personable and gentle. We wanted to capture that in the wine."

Mr. Hinde insists Yao Family Wines isn't a short-lived bid to capitalize on China's wine boom and the star's celebrity before either of them wane. He said the business plan is based on a 10-year timeline.

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Yao Ming is launching Yao Family Wines exclusively for the Chinese market.

Mr. Hinde and four others involved with the winery are minority shareholders in the venture, while Mr. Yao is the principal owner. Neither Mr. Yao nor his winemaking team disclosed how much has been invested, though wine-industry experts estimate that it requires $2 million to $5 million to get a winery to reach full production.

While most of the wine sold in China is from domestic sources, the imported market has grown dramatically. Bottled-wine imports—as opposed to cheap bulk wine that is imported in large tanks for bottling in China—grew 240% from 2008 to 2010, according to data from China Customs.

China has a heavy bias toward French wines. Last year, France led bottled-wine imports with a 47% market share. Australia ranked a distant second with 16% of the market. The U.S. came in sixth, trailing Italy, Spain and Chile, with a 6.4% share.

Chinese collectors have bid top dollar for the world's most sought-after bottles of Bordeaux and Burgundy at auctions in Hong Kong, putting the city ahead of London and New York in sales.

In September, an anonymous Chinese bidder spent $539,280 on a single lot of 300 bottles of Château Lafite-Rothschild wine at a Sotheby's wine auction in Hong Kong.

Mr. Yao's new winery isn't his only business venture. He is the owner of his first professional basketball team, the Shanghai Sharks, and an investor in a digital-music site called Top100.cn.

Mr. Yao is also attending classes at Shanghai Jiaotong University. He is going to miss a day of school this week for one of the many launch events scheduled for the new winery.

"I'll need an extra bottle for my history professor so he can give me a good grade and let me skip his class," Mr. Yao said.

[GeneChing]

Let's see now, do I want a wine from a Basketball player or a starlet? Do they crush it with their own feet? That wouldn't be fair. Yao has a size 18 shoe. I'm sure Vicky has pretty feet.

05/12/2011
Vicki Zhao acquires winery in France (http://entertainment.xin.msn.com/en/celebrity/buzz/asia/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5615357)
The actress turns her wine-drinking hobby into a business investment

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Vicki Zhao

On a family wine tasting trip to France last week, Vicki Zhao bought a HK$40 million (S$4.4 million) Monlot winery in the Saint-Emillion district.

Two days ago, Vicki posted a photo on her microblog which showed her husband carrying their daughter.

An eagle-eyed netizen spotted that the background of the photo was similar to the one the actress posted on 28 Nov, thus exposing the location of Vicki's family trip.

Vicki reportedly has a great passion for red wine. During her trip to Queensland, New Zealand in 2007, the actress was said to have fallen in love with a local winery and was unable to forget the place.

Noticing an increasing market for red wine sales in China recently, the actress decided to turn her hobby into a business investment, and bought the winery in France.

The Monlot winery that was bought reportedly boasts of a strong background and history.

The 7-hectare winery is famed for its red wine and the numerous prizes it has won. The winery also comes with a suite room that overlooks the vineyard and a small garden.

[TenTigers]

Marlilyn Manson has his own Absinthe.
Top THAT!:cool:


http://www.mansinthe.com/

[GeneChing]

...although wikipedia tells me that he was indeed born in Canton. :eek: