A Portuguese Orient Express – BEIJING

On a modern day Sino-Luso vinous encounter last month we joined a group of Portuguese winemakers embarked on an epic journey to Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and Hong Kong, to showcase Portuguese wines to the booming Chinese market. This is the 1st in a series of 3 posts, followed by Shanghai and Hong Kong.)

The trip started in Beijing, where our importer and distributor RuoAo played the role of superb hosts in true Chinese fashion. Picking us up upon arrival at the Beijing airport the world’s largest and most advanced airport building designed by Norman Foster, we were whisked off to RuoAo’s very  impressive Beijing wine store outlet, specializing in Portuguese wines and boasting a fine selection from the Cortes de Cima range. Subsequently, we were chaperoned around all the major sights, including the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, interspersed by numerous lavish and sumptuous Chinese meals with an over abundance of courses.

Not to be excluded was a visit to YuanMingYuan the Imperial Gardens destroyed by British and French troops in 1860 during the Second Opium War. The scene of destruction is still regarded as a symbol of foreign aggression and humiliation in China, and an eye-opener for a Westerner visiting China for the first time, to put relations between China and the West into a more historic perspective.

The last day of our Beijing stay the inaugural ‘Annual Grand Portuguese Tasting’ took place, attracting some 180-200 trade visitors, not bad for the very 1st time! The tasting included a seminar hosted by Tommy Lam, sommelier and wine educator from Singapore, where our Reserva 2004 was the star of the show. The event finished off with a Portuguese buffet dinner put on at Vasco’s, a Portuguese restaurant at the Beijing Hilton (which features Cortes de Cima Syrah on their wine list!) In conjunction with the Portuguese wine tasting, the owners of the Portuguese restaurant Tromba Rija flew into Beijing with a plane load of Portuguese ingredients for a Portuguese Food Fair, affording Beijing socialites a true Portuguese wine and food experience!

A particular highlight of our Beijing stay, was making the acquaintance of Edward Ragg and Fongyee Walker (MW student) who run Dragon Phoenix, a Beijing based wine education and consultancy company. Communication about wines is alpha omega for selling wine in China, and it goes without saying, needs to be in Chinese! According to Edward Ragg, the chief barrier for Portuguese winemakers in breaking into the Chinese market  is “the lack of knowledge surrounding Portugal in mainland China (at least the Mandarin for ‘Portugal’, putao ya, meaning ‘grape teeth’, is suggestive of wine, however).”