China

(8/20/09) If I was asked to name the best thing about the trip to the Xinjiang Region of China, I would have to say it was the hospitality. Everyone we met was incredibly charming, friendly, and helpful. They went out of their way to treat us well and serve us fabulous meals. The winery owner of Aromatic Gardens is a beautiful Chinese woman. She, along with the mayor of Heshuo, 3 other local winery owners, and many other government officials (40 people in all), welcomed us to a wonderful banquet dinner that first evening starting around 9:30pm. We started with [...]

(8/19/09) Earlier this year, I was honored to receive another invitation to present at a conference in China – all expenses covered by the Chinese government, with the location being the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. As China is now the 6th largest wine producing country in the world and has over 600 wineries, I was very excited to attend. When I arrived in Beijing on the non-stop United flight from San Francisco, I was amazed at how the city had changed since I had been there two years ago. Last time I arrived in an old crowded terminal and stayed [...]