Next week, I head to China, not on a business trip but on vacation. But that doesn't mean I won't be scouting the place for Chinese wine potential. Recently, the owners of highly esteemed French wine producer Chateau Lafite Rothschild announced a 60-acre Chinese wine project in the northeastern Shandong Province. It's one of China's largest wine regions due to its proximity to the Bohai and Yellow Seas that provide a protective maritime climate.
The project has taken 15 years to get off the ground. It's not surprising — getting a tourist visa to China was painful enough (and expensive)… I can't imagine the hassles of navigating the bureaucracy and acquiring land by working with low-tech farmers. In this newly acquired soil, they'll plant mostly red grape varieties and we won't see the wines for another five or six years from now.
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 5, 2009.