Western China Wineries August 2009

(8/25-26/09) On our last day in Turpan, we were also pleased to be able to visit the famous Grape Alley. This is one of their major tourist attractions, and, after visiting, I agree! You enter through a very large and impressive gate (paying a small fee) and then drive along the river with huge sandstone cliffs on the right side, and charming adobe houses with the colorful painted doors on the left. If you look closely you can see the indoor patios with the grape arbors overhead and small bald children playing. (According to our guide, the Uyghurs believe in [...]

(8/25/09) Later in the day, our guide took us in a taxi to the local market in Turpan. It was immensely fascinating with so many bright colors, scents, and textures that it was a feast for the senses. I went with one of the Israeli professors who was a great negotiator and also a professional photographer. The pictures he took of children and old ladies were works of art. My main goal was to buy some gifts to take home, and so I purchased some beautiful scarves, fabric, and small souvenir items. But then we wandered into the clothing section [...]

(8/25/09) The third and last day of the conference did not include any translators, so we asked if we could visit some of the local tourist sites. A van and tour guide was kindly provided and all 7 of us climbed aboard to drive the 15 minutes from the hotel to the ancient city of Jiahoe. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site and quite amazing. Apparently it is more than 2000 years old. Perched on a cliff top between two rivers, the ancient and abandoned city was in a perfect location to protect itself from attack. The remains of [...]

(8/24/09) The next day of the conference was a field trip to several table grape vineyards, a raisin and dried fruit processing firm, and Loulan Winery in Shanshan County. They were harvesting the table grapes – primarily Thompson Seedless – using small wicker baskets. It was very charming to witness. I learned a lot about trellising techniques and pruning for table grapes, which are quite different from wine grapes. They were using a low pergola system and the grapes intertwined in the middle. The workers had to stoop quite low to harvest the bunches. It was exhausting to realize that [...]

(8/23/09) The Turpan portion of the conference started promptly at 9am the next morning in Turpan’s brand new conference center next to our hotel. There was much fanfare with the news media there, many photographers and important government officials. Over 200 people showed up from China’s wine and grape industries, and they actually took a group photo of all of us at one point. There were many speeches with simultaneous translation, and my presentation on the California wine industry and wine tourism seemed well received. Each us of was interviewed for the local television station, and had our photographs taken [...]

(8/23/09) – I fell in love with the city of Turpan. It seems to be a cross of ancient Arabia and Santa Fe with its Persian looking buildings, mosques, and charming adobe mud brick houses. Turpan is about a 3 hour drive from the Urumqi Airport, and as you approach you are surrounded by stark brown desert and large white windmills. Then the city slowly appears like a mirage in the distance with green trees and the strange looking raisin houses as the first visible objects. The architecture of the raisin houses is ancient; they are rectangular in shape and [...]

(8/22/09) The conference continued the next morning, and it was our turn as invited specialists to make recommendations on what the Heshuo Region could do to improve its wine industry. While my colleagues focused on viticulture, I was asked to comment on how they could improve wine tourism and marketing. Interestingly, wine tourism is one of the five prongs of the government 2015 vision for the area, along with: 1) doubling wine grape production; 2) training more people in viticulture, winemaking and wine hospitality; 3) collaboration with associations and universities; and 4) new product development to match consumer needs. The [...]

(8/21/09) Later in the day we visited Lake Bosten which is a beautiful expanse of water, but quite low – perhaps due to global warming, high temperature, or overuse of water. The very nice (and empty) hotels that surrounded it were rather far from the water’s edge. You could tell that in the past the hotels probably were much closer to the water than the large expanse of grey sandy beach that separated them from the lake’s edge. We walked down to the shore where a few lone people were wading in the shallow lake. Umbrellas, tables, and boats were [...]

(8/21/09) Champion Dragon Winery is located in a modern industrial looking building and produces 6000 tons, with most of it being sold off in bulk. They produce 10,000 bottles on their own, uniquely specializing in chardonnay and the unusual malvasia we tried the evening before. Pricing ranges from 80 to 200 RMB. They were harvesting the chardonnay when we arrived, and we noticed that they pick rather early – at 22 brix. Some of the grapes appeared to be slightly unripe, and we didn’t see any sorting. However, the chardonnay we tasted out of tank (after only 1 day of [...]

(8/21/09) The next morning we met at 9am in the lobby and then drove to the restaurant – scene of the banquet from the night before. Breakfast is more challenging for me to eat in China than other meals, because they eat a lot of vegetables and a milky rice porridge that reminded me of cream of wheat. Fortunately they also served hard boiled eggs, doughy white buns, and fresh melon and grapes which I ended up eating all 8 days for breakfast. They also serve green tea mixed with salty soy milk, which is a little difficult to get [...]

(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 [...]