This post may not have too much to do with Chinese wine as I've tried to find some, even asked the local wine merchants but received nothing but strange rumours of it causing vivid dreams and strange effects. This may be due to the high alcohol levels or more likely the levels of higher alcohols ( http://waterhouse.ucdavis.edu/winecomp/alcohols.htm ) produced when fermenting the native varieties with wild yeast strains. These higher alcohols or fusel alcohols are higher molecular weight analogues of ethanol produced during fermentation. Whilst normally produced in such small amounts, increases in temperature, pH, yeast strains and low usable nitrogen content can increase fusel oil production. It could be that the different metabolic pathways followed by these alcohols produce the vivid dreams and strange side effects talked about. It may just be a story to convince me to buy the cru bourgeois instead.
Yesterday i spoke to the owner of the "Wine House", a wine shop based just outside Kowloon, in Tai Wai. Speaking to him was encouraging. He mentioned how he'd seen a 35% increase in sales over the last year. The pattern of consumer wine buying was to buy inexpensive wine from either Bordeaux or South America for personal consumption, but then splash out on more expensive classed growth Bordeaux when giving wine as a gift. He said that the Chinese market had a perceived idea that the name Bordeaux represented the highest quality, followed by the South American, Australian and other European wines that sat beneath those of France. At present he only imported a fraction the stock himself relying on the larger brand importers to supply the rest. Any questions then email "Daniel Yeung" (daniel98725544@yahoo.com ). There are many other wine shops in hong Kong ( http://www.wine-searcher.com/merchants/hong+kong ). I'd be interested to hear other peoples comments on the state of the Chinese wine industry.
Keeping this brief as my flight departs soon, next post will be from the land of the long white cloud, Auteroa.
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