If you were asked which country was the largest producer of grapes, you might have answered Italy, France, or Spain. In fact, for the last decade, Chinese grape production was easily the highest in the world, and almost double that of Italy, the second highest. You’d be right to immediately protest that most of these are not wine grapes, but planting of wine grapes in China grew dramatically from 2000-2015 before tapering off, and in 2020 China ranked third in the world for vineyard area after Spain and France. Chinese viticulture actually dates back to at least 3rd Century BCE but wine production was rare. The modern Chinese wine industry originated in the 19th century with Catholic missionary influences and underwent expansion during the early Communist years. It was only from the 1980s that modern winemaking techniques and more extensive planting of wine grapes really took off. Today vineyards are established in Xinjiang (the largest), Ningxia, Gansu, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Yunan and Liaoning. In most of these regions the vines are buried during winter to protect them from harsh winter conditions and many, even newly planted vineyards are on their own roots as phylloxera is not widespread. In 2021 the Chinese government announced plans to increase the area under vines in Ningxia threefold and to increase the value of wine production there seven times.

On March 4th, Decanter reported that the recent release of Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy has sparked a surge in Chardonnay sales. Bridget Jones, portrayed by the inimitable Renee Zellweger is often seen drinking a glass of Chardonnay in the movie and this has apparently led to what some call the “Bridget Jones Effect” in the UK, with supermarkets like Waitrose reporting double-digit percentage sales increases in volume Chardonnay like Yellow Tail and Oxford Landing.

Without a doubt, Pinot Noir has reigned supreme in Martinborough since early beginnings. For most of its relatively recent history this has been an Estate wine story with the ubiquitous Abel clone inevitably in the final blend. With the primary exception of the Escarpment tetralogy: Kupe, Kiwa, Pahi and Te Rehua, specific terroir expressions have been a more recent development.  Atarangi launched their  McCrone SV Pinot Noir from 2013 ff, and now have the McCrone, Kotinga and Masters trilogy.  Nga Waka had the Lease Block since 1998 but and made the Lease Block SV Pinot from 2019  but only in 2022 did  Home Block and Pirinoa SVs arrive on the scene.

I have vivid memories of the first varietally named Chardonnay I ever tasted. My boss in the 80s - the CEO of Natwest Finance - was a wine lover and purchased some Villa Maria Gisborne barrique-fermented Chardonnay for the Boardroom. It was big and bold and “fat”, the white wine equivalent of a wagyu steak. My initial tasting blew my socks off, I purchased a dozen to cellar but drank them all within a year.

To begin with, let me be clear I am aiming this workshop at a couple of niche markets. The wine enthusiast who really wants to elevate their understanding and appreciation of wine, but in a cost and time-efficient manner. Or the individual working in a cellar door or vineyard restaurant, perhaps as a working holiday job, or putting a toe in the water of a longer-term “hospo” career, or in the role on a temporary basis for other reasons – but you want to  be able to confidently represent the wines of your employing winery cellar door/restaurant and to answer any “curly” questions.

Last year I was in Chile. I only had a few days. I really wanted to learn about the wine scene there, but I was unfamiliar with the country, reliant on public transport and had no industry contacts. So I browsed Trip Advisor, selected the tour that seemed to have the best wine visit content and next day was collected by a bus and away we went!