The 25th edition Concours Mondial of Brussels

The 25th edition Concours Mondial of Brussels is held in Haidian Beijing

Written by Osvaldo Villar

Here is another great article from my Friend Osvaldo on the growing Chinese Wine market.

Lew

From 10th to 13th May 2018: Haidian district of Beijing (China)

The United Nations Of Fine Wines, The 25th edition Concours Mondial of Brussels. The 25th edition Concours Mondial of Brussels, Concours Mondial Brussels CMB is traveling and taking place in Haidian District (Beijing) a City with Seven UNESCO protected Sites and ancient wine tradition. For the first time, Concours Mondial offers an opportunity to explore the most dynamic wine market in the world but also opens its doors to the oldest Asian Culture. This is the first time a wine competition of this magnitude and significance will be held in Asia with further increase entries than before. China breaks into the top five for entry numbers and 60% growth in organic wines, come from China.

Over nine thousand one hundred and eighty (9,180) wines have been registered this year in the Concours Mondial de Brussels (CMB), again making a big splash and increasing the records of participation compared to those of 2017 in Valladolid. China ranks the fifth by the number of entries, preceded only by France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal.

China’s wine market is expected to be worth $23 billion by 2021.

China’s wine market is set to become the world’s second largest in 2021 and wine experts like Charlie Arturaola, say that the key to seizing a share of the sector is appealing to the adventurous young consumers who are driving this phenomenal growth in China.

After the increase of 112.5% in entries from China in 2017 vs. 2016, the Asian country posts another rise in 2018, this time of 90.2% compared to 2017.

“Chinese consumers set great store by medals and use them as a guideline in their purchasing decisions. Retailers are looking for awarded wines to meet market demand, whilst winemakers see awards as an opportunity to enter new markets, which is what motivated strong Chinese participation in the competition”, said Thomas Costenoble, CMB managing director. China’s wine production and consumption are on the rise.

Organic entries in CMB showed a tremendous increase

Organic entries in CMB showed a tremendous increase of nearly 60% compared to 2017, accounting for almost 12% of the total number of wines in 2018. Consumers are increasingly aware of provenance and wine production methods, thus favoring organic products. Recognizing this market development, CMB introduced a new category dedicated to organic and biodynamic wines, the “Organic Wine Trophy”, which was awarded for the first time in 2017.

“All our children will drink top quality Chinese wines. China is the most dynamic wine market and its wines are gradually gaining in prestige,” said Mr. Baudouin Havaux, Chairman of the Concours Mondial de Brussels (CMB), on announcing that China would host the next CMB last year in Valladolid Spain. “A country once famous for tea-drinking, China may soon become one of the world’s largest global wine consumers. And China consumers’ will be in 2021 the world’s second-largest economy; China producers are working on the top premium quality wine”, he added.

Charlie Arturaola

The world-renowned American wine Expert Sommelier and Wine Educator Charlie Arturaola has an impressive palate. He is a Judge in The 25th edition Concours Mondial of Brussels and he is going to Haidian District Beijing. He continues to work with the best and most prestigious enogastronomy names, supporting respect for the environment creating an increase of tourist and enogastronomy linked with the various regional, cultural, and historical wine places like Rioja Alavesa, Umbria, Venice, Champagne Gosset in East France. Gourmets have been appreciating the wide selection of the typical enogastronomy products of Montefalco, Champagne Gosset (Ay France) all of excellent quality. Charlie has been participating at the most famous wine festivals, including the Boston Wine Experience, the NYC Wine Experience, and the Slow Food Golden Glass Wine Competition in San Francisco, the Jackson Hole Wine Auction, and the Aspen Food & Wine Classic.

Charlie worked for Drew Nieporent’s Myriad Restaurant Group, NYC, the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, the Gulf Hospitality Group in Marco Island Florida and subsequently, opened Academia di Vino in NYC. He is the president of Grappolo Blu, Inc., a comprehensive wine consulting business started in 2007.  Concours Mondial CMB 2018 is taking place in Haidian District Beijing China from the 10th to 13th May 2018.

Chen Minjie is Haidian District Mayor and he talks to us about China Wine History:

“Wine in China is made from old Grapes. Some have been consuming some sort of fermented fruit since 100.000 years with evidence of alcohol production is the grape. China is both a country with an ancient wine tradition and a new and emerging wine-producing nation. 

Wine production in China has thousands of years of history. Grape wine is a decidedly small portion of the total but this is slowly changing.  In modern time, China is also an emerging wine-producing nation in its own right with brands such as Great Wall, Changyu and Dynasty wines in Ningxia.

China already produces more wine than Spain and Portugal combined and some of its brands are already stocked in supermarkets in the West, competing successfully against New World wines from countries such as Chile. China has surpassed Japan as Asia’s largest wine consumer.  Young Chinese consumers are also now showing a preference for foreign imported wines, although they still make up only 11 percent of the wine drunk by volume in China.  Some restaurants in China only serve overseas wine to cater for the tastes of foreigners and increasingly wealthy Chinese consumers.

Wine ‘made in Beijing China’ has gained increased attention around the world in recent years with a potential of the Chinese market with a good degree of objectivity”.

Beijing is the capital of the People Republic of China. As a city combining both modern and traditional architecture, Beijing is a megacity rich in history, exemplified in its global influence in the economy, education, history, culture, and technology. Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by urban population after Shanghai and is the nation’s political, cultural and educational center. The city’s history dates back three millennia. Beijing is the last of the Four Great Ancient China Capitals. It has been the political center of the country for much of the past eight centuries.

With beautiful mountains surrounding the inland city on three sides, in addition to the old inner and outer city walls,  this was the perfect location for the imperial capital. Beijing was the largest city in the world population for much of the second millennium A.D.

The City of Beijing

The city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls gates.  Its art treasures and universities have made it the center of culture and art in China. Beijing has 7 seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, Ming Tombs, Zhoukoudian as well as parts of the Great Wall and Great Canal, all popular locations for tourism. Siheyuans, the city’s traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing. The city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, making it the first city to ever host both winter and Summer Olympics.

Beijing’s Universities

Many of Beijing universities are consistently ranked among the best in China, of which Peking University and Tsinghua University are ranked in the top 60 universities in the world. In 2015, 52 companies of the Fortune Global 500 company headquarters were located in Beijing, more than any other city in the world, including state-owned companies State Grid, China National Petroleum and Sinopec Group, ranked 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, respectively. Beijing CBD is quickly becoming the center for Beijing’s economic expansion with rapid modernization, and radically changing the skyline, with the ongoing or recently completed construction of multiple skyscrapers. Beijing’s Zhongguancun area is also known as China’s “Silicon Valley” with Xiaomi Smartphone’s and China’s center of innovation and technology entrepreneurship.

The grapes of Beijing

 The grapes in Beijing grapes, the oldest known possible evidence for the use of grapes as part of a wine recipe with fermented rice and honey was in China, about 9,000 years ago. Two thousand years later, the seeds of what became the European wine-making tradition began in western Asia. Accordingly to researchers at Peking University Beijing wild grape were used in wine recipes species.  There are between 70 and 80 different wild grape species in China and they were not imported from western Asia. Later on, European grapes were introduced into China in the second century BCE, with other imports resulting from the Silk Road.

China’s major Wine Regions

The major wine producing area includes Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning and Xinjiang provinces. Local wine brand Chanyu is produced in Shandong province and Dragon Seal and Great Wall, two other major brands, are produced in Hebei province. The wine areas with the exception of Xinjiang which are much drier far eastern region of the country.

Shandong Province in Northeast China and jutting out toward Korea and Japan is becoming a central wine producing area for the country.  Agriculture is the largest industry in the province and the wine industry is number two. Yantai is currently the center of the wine industry in Shandong.  Yantai in eastern Shandong province has taken the initiative to showcase its own wine companies and to boost China’s wine industry by holding an international wine festival.  More than 100,000 participants of wine companies and organizations from 20 countries took part in the previous three festivals. The Yantai International Wine Festival will be held between September 23-30 in Yantai, China’s largest wine production city and the home of Chanyu Yantai is the only Asian city named “International Vine & Wine City”. The city became the birthplace of China’s wine industry after Changyu Pioneer Wine Company Ltd, China’s first winery, was set up there in 1892.
The wineries in Yantai annually produce 250,000 tons of wine, accounting for one-third of China’s overall production.

Penglai

To the West of Yantai is the Penglai peninsula. This was the first port opened to foreigners in Shandong province in the 1800s and wine companies there already produce Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc. Some call this region China’s Bordeaux as the latitude at 37º of Penglai is the same as Bordeaux and Shanghai family Yao wines world famous The Napa Valley where is in the heart of sits winemaker Yao family wines. Even the recognized French wine growers Domain’s Baron de Rothschild (DBR), one of France’s most famous vineyards, certainly thinks China holds promise.

Weihai
To the east of Yantai on the coast and at the tip of the peninsula that juts out toward Korea and Japan and also a major wine producing area in its own right is Weihai, a pleasant city nearer the coast and with somewhat warmer winters and more moderate summers than Yantai. Some new wineries have been established in this area. One of them is Shandong Weal Winery Co., Ltd. which was established on June 29, 2007.

China’s Wine consumption

Wine consumption is also increasing.  China already has many producers but there still seems to be considerable room for new projects. Wine growing and producing areas such as Oregon, California, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand should really take note of both the growing market for Fine Wines and also the opportunities for establishing new vineyards and winemaking facilities in this dynamic and growing market.   Fine Wines Gazette Lew are wishing a very successful Concours Mondial of Brussels CMB in Haidian awarding wines by quality.

The United Nations of Fine Wines, The 25th edition Concours Mondial of Brussels,  is taken place in Asia where many wines are waiting for wine lovers to taste and discovered with Fine Wines Gazette! 

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