Taigu, Shanxi
Hong Kong-born CEO Judy Chan, who took over Grace Vineyard from her father nearly two decades ago, is a much admired figure. In 2018, when the company listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, Grace’s production capacity was nearly 2 million bottles.
The prescient 1997 investment by CK Chan was both rational (Chan says her father felt China had entered a different era and more people would want to enjoy the fine things in life) and personal (he wanted to give back to the region, where he had attended college, and thought retiring in a winery would be fantastic). Sitting on a well-drained plateau, a six-hour drive from Beijing, sunny, dry Taigu seemed immensely promising, and today it is the region’s most important winery.
Will Western snobs ever take Asian wines seriously? Grapes from China, India, Japan and Korea could be the drinks trend of 2021 – Maharashtra’s Sula Wines once sold one million cases in a year Elizabeth Kerr Sula, from the state of Maharashtra, India, is a forerunner in the potentially enormous Indian market that is only just discovering wine. Photos: Sula Wines
As popular as wine is across the globe, as much a part of everyday life as it is in many locations and as accessible as it has become, there are still pockets of chauvinism among wine aficionados - resistance to change, to usage and to new players. Despite technology and consumer attitudes evolving to make wine more approachable, it s still difficult to convince a California wine fan to sample a Viognier from Texas. That challenge grows exponentially the farther you get from so-called traditional wine regions. It is within this climate that Asian wine producers, led by China and India, are working to