If the Bordeaux 2008 En Primeur campaign was unexpectedly dramatic, 2009 seems to be more ‘business as usual’, at least in terms of the Bordelais’ capacity to sell another nominal ‘vintage of the century’.

Early assessments of the 2009 reds have noted higher alcohol levels, typically lower acidity, but in the best examples high quality fruit and the structure to ensure longevity.

Whites and especially Sauternes seem to have come out very well - with Doisy-Daene and Raymond Lafon looking very attractive in terms of price and quality - whilst the reds of the Medoc/Left Bank are generally attracting more attention than those of the Right.

But with a weak US dollar and, until recently, a relatively strong Euro, the Bordelais are looking increasingly to Asia for buyers (and were out in force at last week’s Vinexpo Hong Kong).

But what about mainland China, where the concept of en primeur is extremely new?

As the campaign started off, Decanter Magazine asked us to survey some significant figures among importers, merchants, wine clubs and wine lovers in the Chinese mainland.

Is it all about Lafite? To find out, read the full survey here.

A day in the life of a wine maker 一个酿酒师生命中的一天

Last March I had the chance to make wine at Brown Brothers in the King Valley, Victoria, Australia. It was a fascinating experience and I would like to introduce you to a typical day in the life of a winemaker!
3月份我有机会在澳大利亚维多利亚国王谷的布琅兄弟酒庄酿酒，那真是一次迷人的经历，我非常乐意跟您分享当时的情况。

6:30am Get up and pull on steel-capped work boots, T shirt, shorts and safety vest. All night long, trucks have been coming to the winery and the night shift has been hard at work processing them
6：30起床，穿上钢头的工作靴、T恤、短裤和安全马甲。通宵，满载葡萄的卡车来到酒庄，夜班工人已经开始努力地酿造。

7am Get to the “Kindergarten” . This is an experimental winery – a working laboratory - where we winemakers can play with smaller batches to make new and exciting types of wine. This is uniquely Brown Brothers’ style and has led to a number of very exciting wines. I start my day collecting samples of wine from every fermenter and tank – these are sent to the lab for testing and analysis.
7点去布琅兄弟的“幼儿园”。这是一个实验性的酿酒所与一个实验室相似。在幼儿园， 我们这些酿酒师可以酿造少量的创新、令人激动的风格的葡萄酒。这是布朗兄弟酒庄独特的风格就是创造性。开始从每一个发酵罐中收集葡萄酒样品，这些样品被送到实验室中分析。

7:30 Start the pump-overs for the red wine. This is spraying the top of the fermenting red wine (the grape skins) with juice from the bottom of the tank. This is messy work and needs concentration! Each fermenter requires a different amount of time for pump-over so you need to check your work-sheet very carefully!
7：30 开始为红葡萄酒泵送葡萄醪。这个过程是用发酵罐中底部的葡萄醪喷射上部发酵中的红葡萄酒（葡萄皮）。这是一个很脏的工作，而且需要集中精神！每一个发酵罐需要不同的泵送的时间，所以你每一次需要查看你的工作表。

8:30 One of the red wines has finished fermenting and we have to press it to separate the wine from the skins and pips. We first take out the free-run liquid and pump it into a tank. Then the hard work of shovelling the skins and pips into the press begins! This is especially physical since the skins weigh a good few tonnes! Then we turn on the press to do its job while we wash out the fermenters – which makes you really wet!
8：30 其中一款红葡萄酒完成了发酵，我们必须要压榨它以使葡萄酒与果皮和果籽分开。我们首先把自流的汁液分离开，然后把他们装入罐中。然后是艰辛的铲除工作，我们需要把所有的葡萄皮和果籽铲除到压榨机中！因为葡萄皮重达几吨，所以这个过程非常辛苦！然后在清洗发酵罐的过程中（让我们都湿透了！），我们启动压榨机让它开始压榨。

10:00 Finish the red wines and go for Smoke-oh (which is Australian for a tea break!).
10:00 结束红葡萄酒的酿造，去休息一下，叫Smoke-oh（澳大利亚人称其为休息）

10:30 We then wash out the press – this is really really wet work again! We also press some of the whole-bunches of grapes that come in for making sparkling wine – this needs a lot of care and attention as not all the juice that is pressed is used in production – only the best!
10:00把压榨机也清洗干净：我们全湿透了！然后我们也压榨用来酿造起泡酒的整串葡萄。因为不是所有的压榨出来的汁都用来酿酒（只用最好）的原因，这个过程需要很认真、精力很集中！

11:30 Start to look at the white wines – we measure the temperatures and see if they need heating or cooling.
11：30 开始处理白葡萄酒。我们测量温度以确定是否需要给他们加热或冷却。

12:00 Lunch! 午饭时间!

1:00 There is some new Chardonnay wine that needs to be put in new oak barrels for maturation. I am given the pump and it’s hard to get the barrels really full without spilling the wine all over me! It smells very yeasty and fresh.
1:00 有一些刚刚酿完的霞多丽葡萄酒需要放在新的橡木桶中熟化。他们给我泵，那是很困难的：需要让木桶装满，但是还不能把葡萄酒溢出来弄得全身都是。有很重的酵母味，很新鲜的酒香。

2:30 Check the wine that is fermenting in barrel. We monitor this Chardonnay to see if it has finished fermenting by checking the sugar content. If there is no sugar left in the wine, it is finished! We also taste each barrel to make sure the fermentation process is going well – and some of the ones that are not finished taste very strange because there is so much sugar in them.
2：30 检查在桶中发酵中的葡萄酒。以检测糖的含量来确认这款霞多丽葡萄酒是否已经完成发酵（如果没有糖分残留，就表示已经完成了发酵）。我们也会品尝每个酒桶里的酒以保证发酵过程进行的顺利， 可是有的酒发酵还没有完成，所以尝起来很奇怪：酒中还有残留糖。

3:30 The day shift is finished and we meet with the winemakers on the evening shift to talk about the wines that are being made and any problems. I then go back home and fall asleep!
3:30 白班结束了，我们与上夜班的酿酒师交接，告诉他们我们酿造的酒和任何的问题，然后我回家，马上就入睡了！

2006 Roero Arneis, Correggia, Piemonte, Italy (258RMB)
Available from Wine Culture. Contact: Wendy Wu, Email: wendy_wu88@hotmail.com (www.wineculture.com.cn)

Arneis is a very aromatic grape variety native to Piemonte and especially to the Roero region. This example, from a top producer, is medium green-gold in colour. The nose has delicate peach, guava and floral aromas – Arneis is like a cross between Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc on the nose – whilst the palate is dry with refreshing high acidity, light to medium body and good length. Very suitable with a range of Chinese cold dishes, this wine and can even pair with jiaozi and its accompaniments!

2005 Domaine Cauhapé ‘Ballet d’Octobre’, Jurançon, France, 375ml (207RMB)
Available from China Wines & Spirits. Contact: Alexandre Cros, Email: alexandre@china-wines-and-spirits.com (www.china-wines-and-spirits.com)

Jurançon is a region in south-western France well-known for its production of a spicy, sweet white wine and some dry whites made from the Petit Manseng and/or Gros Manseng grape. This wine is called ‘Ballet d’Octobre’ on account of the wonderfully sweet and pungent grapes that are late-harvested in October (in this case, 70% Gros Manseng and 30% Petit Manseng).

Medium gold in colour, the nose has pear, apricot and peach fruit with a range of spices (cinnamon, clove) and honeyed aromas. The palate is medium sweet with vibrant acidity, lovely fruit and considerable length. This wine is a joy to drink on its own but would also suit less acidic Chinese fruits such as dragon fruit and water melon.

It’s been a quieter few months on the Dragon Phoenix Wine Blog as Edward has put the finishing touches to a major study of the work of 20th Century American poet Wallace Stevens (1879-1955).

Wallace Stevens and the Aesthetics of Abstraction will be published by Cambridge University Press in August and is the culmination of almost a decade’s research based, in part, on an original Ph.D. dissertation and subsequent research trips to the US supported by the British Academy and British Association for American Studies in 2007.

Stevens is perhaps best known for poems such as ‘The Emperor of Ice-Cream’, ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’, his long doctrinal poem ‘Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction’ and his late lyrics, such as ‘Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour’. So what’s the connection with wine?

Stevens was something of a wine lover, especially of the wines of Burgundy and one of the book’s chapters is entitled ‘Food, Wine and the Idealist ‘I” (the ‘I’ is a special case of the first person speaker in several of Stevens’ 1940s poems).

The book proffers a long reading of perhaps Stevens’ most baffling gastronomic poem ‘Montrachet-Le-Jardin’, a text whose relationship with Burgundy and with Occupied France of 1942 is both ingenious and has previously remained tough for Stevens scholarship to decipher.

Part of the book’s argument is that Stevens’ embrace of an abstract aesthetic was not confined merely to poetic or artistic concerns, but involved his everyday imagination, interests and needs, including a love of the finer things in life, with wine being no exception (for initials reviews from Charles Altieri and J. Hillis Miller please click here).

This is, after all, the poet who wrote in ‘Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction’:

We drank Meursault, ate lobster Bombay with mango
Chutney. Then the Canon Aspirin declaimed
Of his sister, in what a sensible ecstasy

She lived in her house. She had two daughters, one
Of four, and one of seven, whom she dressed
The way a painter of pauvred color paints.

The study follows on from a joint project entitled Wallace Stevens across the Atlantic (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), pictured above.

Watch this space for updates on our combined wine writing, most recently in Decanter and The World of Fine Wine Magazine. We also have highlights from the 2009 tasting season in Beijing, plus some special Featured Tastings and up-to-date coverage of what’s been happening in China’s capital and further a field.

2007 Josmeyer Riesling ‘Le Kottabe’, Haut-Rhin, Alsace (RMB421)
Available from East Meets West. Contact: Wendy Jiang, Email: Wendy Jiang wendy@emw-wines.com (www.emw-wines.com)

Josmeyer is one of Alsace’s greatest producers and can trace its roots back to 1854, now under the watchful eye of winemaker Jean Meyer. The winery is also a fervent practitioner of biodynamic viticulture. This Riesling comes from 35 year-old vines close to the village of Wintzenheim.

Medium green-gold in colour, the nose has appealing apple fruit with mineral aromas. The palate is essentially dry with lovely fruit, excellent acidity, moderate alcohol and refreshing length. A superb wine to enjoy now or to age, it will also accompany Chinese cold dishes from various regional cuisines very well.

2006 Dr Bürklin-Wolf Pinot Noir, Pfalz, Germany (378RMB)
Available from Globus. Contact: Oliver Baenninger, Email: oliverbaenninger@globus-wine.com (www.globus-wine.com)

Dr Bürklin-Wolf is one of the top estates in Germany’s Pfalz region. This slightly warmer part of Germany enables Bürklin-Wolf to produce sumptuous white wines, but also this charming Pinot Noir. Another biodynamic producer, great care is taken in the vineyard to make one of Germany’s most attractive Pinots.

Medium red-purple in colour, the nose has very spiced red cherry Pinot fruit (with lots of white pepper, even clove). The palate has refreshing high acidity, low-medium smooth tannins, medium-high alcohol and quite good length. The quality of the fruit and the high acidity here means this Pinot Noir can suit chilli-hot forms of Chinese cuisine, including some Sichuan and Hunan dishes. Or enjoy as a lightly chilled aperitif when the Chinese summer arrives!

Organic and Biodynamic Wines
Many consumers are increasingly concerned about the chemicals present in the foods and drinks we consume, not least in China; and many are tending to buy nominally organic food and drink products, where possible, although this is only just beginning in the PRC.

But what about organic wine? Just like organic foods, organic wines are produced without the use of man-made chemicals such as artificial fertilizers or pesticides. Instead, producers rely more on natural controls via what is termed integrated pest management: for example, introducing ladybugs to control the numbers of insect pests, on which ladybugs feed, within the vineyard.

However, organic wine is easier to make in some countries and locations than others. Chile, for example, offers a predominantly dry, sunny climate with little pressure from pests, making it, in normal conditions, an ideal place for organics. Other locations are often less than climatically ideal. But even Beijing’s south-east outskirts has its own organic winery: Chateau Bolongbao, which is trying hard to implement organic practices in Fangshan county.

One area of general confusion is the lumping together of organic practice with biodynamics: a (viti)cultural approach bordering on the mysticism of certain schools of religion. This form of agriculture was developed by the Austrian Rudolph Steiner and places the vineyard holistically within its relations with the sun, moon, earth and total environment.

It is organic in principle, but also makes use of biodynamic preparations thought to treat plants and soil in beneficial ways. In a biodynamic winery, everything is carried out with regard to the position of the earth and moon rather like the lunar calendar in China – including all wine-making steps. Some extremely high quality producers have ‘turned biodynamic’ but there is still much research to be done (as a major Australian oenologist remarked to Fongyee recently: ‘Where are the double-blinds?’).

(Photo: conventional spraying in Pernand-Vergelesses. One of the problems for organic or biodynamic producers in Burgundy is maintaining standards downwind from what more chemically-intensive neighbours are up to).

No matter whether organic or biodynamic, it is worth noting that a lot of wineries do not declare, at least on their labels what processes they follow. However, for those that do, be suspicious of wines that sell themselves on organic or biodynamic principles but have no reputation for quality. After all, it is no surprise that some of the top domaines of Burgundy - with winemakers who were already highly talented - have also continued to make very good wines biodynamically. But the question remains as to whether the wines are greater because of biodymanic practices.

For many good and great winemakers, the goal is to make the best wine possible by whatever means and in most keeping with whatever part of the world one is producing wine in in the first place. Most are agreed, however, that the best way to make great wine is in a sustainable fashion, keeping soil and the surrounding vineyard environment in good shape.

This month we are recommending two wines that happen to have been produced biodynamically.

(Photo: wines from the 2009 Landmark Tutorial)

We are delighted to be participating in this year’s Landmark Tutorial, to be held in the Yarra Valley in September.

Joining a group of 14 participants chosen from the around the world, this one-week, residential course exposes students to some of Australia’s greatest winemakers, wine critics, authors and other luminaries as well as several hundred representative and classic wines in vintages old and new (and in all colours and styles!).

Click here for the full list of this year’s participants. Further details on the Tutorial, can be downloaded here.

Click here for this year’s schedule of seminars and activities.

The inaugural Landmark Tutorial, held in 2009 in the Barossa Valley, showcased some 248 Australian fine wines. The success and stimulation of last year’s Tutorial was evidenced by student feedback and on the blog reports of 2009’s alumni, including the likes of Jamie Goode and Julia Harding MW.

We would like to extend our gratitude for enabling us this unique opportunity to the Landmark Tutorial Committee and to Wine Australia/AWBC for launching the initiative.

Watch the Dragon Phoenix Wine Blog for reports on this week-long course as well as our more recent forays within China and around the world.

Edward Ragg & Fongyee Walker

This month we recommend two Californian wines which we have especially enjoyed recently on the back of our recent Californian trip (look out for future posts!)

(Photo: Schramsberg, remuage with riddler of long-standing Ramon)

2004 Schramsberg Crémant, California (412RMB)
Available from Globus. Contact: Oliver Baenninger, Email: oliverbaenninger@globus-wine.com  (www.globus-wine.com)

Intrigued to try something from the producer who supplied the wine for the secret meeting between Zhou Enlai and Nixon? Schramsberg is California’s most famous sparkling wine producer, serving Presidents, Kings and Queens and other dignitaries. This wine is called ‘Crémant’ because, although it is made through the traditional Champagne method, it is slightly less sparkling than Champagne.

Made from an unusually aromatic grape called Flora, the wine is a lovely deep gold with a gentle sparkle. The nose has floral and honeyed fruit with some toasty aromas whilst the palate is medium-sweet with balancing acidity and good length. An ideal Chinese banquet wine! (importer Globus stocks most of Schramsberg’s other wines including their Napa Cabernet, called ‘J. Davies’, which is well worth trying too).

2005 Ridge Lytton Springs (Zinfandel Blend), Sonoma, California (699RMB)
Available from Summergate. Contact: Jim Yang, Email: jim.yang@summergate.com Telephone 86.10. 6562.1800 ext 16 (www.summergate.com)

Ridge, under the command of Paul Draper, has become one of California’s greatest producers, with wineries in Sonoma and also the Santa Cruz Mountains (where the legendary Monte Bello Chardonnay and Monte Bello red blend are made).

This wine, from the Lytton Springs winery, is medium purple-red in colour. The nose has attractive blackberry, black cherry and berry fruits with lovely oak; whilst the palate offers robust and ripe tannins, strong fruit, nice acidity, good oak and excellent length. Made from 77% Zinfandel, 17% Petite Syrah and 6% Carignan, this is an extremely good wine. Try with Cantonese roast meats or even Beijing roast duck!

(Photo: Pacific and Bay-area fog draws in on Oakville, Napa Valley)

Approaching California (from China)

Over Chinese New Year, we had the chance to re-visit California, the USA’s most famous wine state (around 90% of American wine comes from California).

During our winery visits, we talked with Californian producers about the lack of recognition in China of US wines.

However, several mainland Chinese importers now carry important American wineries (click here to read more) with California leading the way, even if lack of awareness among consumers and the absence of a co-ordinated programme for the reception of US wines in China remain issues.

But what makes California distinctive? Most famous is California’s Napa Valley which more often than not boasts near-perfect growing conditions for high quality grapes.

Cabernet Sauvignon grows especially well in the warmer parts of Napa; although near the southern end of the valley lies Carneros which is cooler and more suitable for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The Carneros region is also shared with neighbouring Sonoma, a generally cooler part of the North Coast AVA (American Viticultural Area).

Typically, higher-quality wines come from California’s cooler regions, whether up-high in the Santa Cruz Mountains or along the North, Central and South Coast zones. Producers are free to plant grape varieties wherever they want, but certain areas are, of course, well-known for specific varietals:

Napa Cabernet Sauvignon, Carneros Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel (‘the Zin zone’), Paso Robles Syrah etc.

Beyond these special areas, the huge Central Valley produces the bulk of California’s cheapest wine. However, the Central Valley also has some special parts, like Lodi, which is also famous for Zinfandel.

The Zinfandel grape is certainly one of California’s oldest and more unusual varieties. Although it is the same, genetically speaking, as Italy’s Primitivo grape, Zinfandel is morphologically different with plump berries that easily raisin on the vine (the berries are so large initially that they even shade other grapes on the same bunches, which can lead to uneven ripening).

Raisining on the vine typically leads to a particular style of red wine, usually high in alcohol with lots of fruit and tannic structure (when red).

However, Zinfandel is also used to make an affordable rosé wine - sometimes confusingly called White Zinfandel, usually known as Blush Zinfandel - that has brought many American and some international consumers to wine and is a good thing to buy for first-time wine drinkers.

Our advice in buying Californian wines in China? Seek an importer with an interest in US wines specifically, if you want to try premium or mid-range wines (for more information on importer ranges click here).

Californian wines are generally quite expensive around the world and China is no exception (no less influenced by tax and some hefty distributor margins). But at least you will usually find the main grape variety on the label with the area of production also usually clearly marked (these are legal requirements, but rules on labelling are occasionally bended in the PRC!).

For those who like generally rich-textured and higher-alcohol wines, California remains attractive, but styles are changing and even something as generically coded as so-called ‘Napa Valley Cabernet’ comes in a whole host of producer-inflected expressions.

Thankfully, this range of styles and attention to quality winemaking means that US wines are typically adaptable  to many different types of cuisine. Our advice is to keep searching, tasting and bringing such wines to the banquet or indeed any table!

2008 La Spinetta Moscato d’Asti ‘Bricco Quaglia’, Piemonte, Italy (RMB 172)
Available from Watson’s, Contact Lily Li: LilyLi@asw.com.hk  www.watsonswine.com

La Spinetta is one of the top producers in Italy’s Piemonte region. As well as making great Barolo and Barbaresco, among other wines - for a stunning example from the 1997 vintage click here - La Spinetta also produces one of the region’s best Moscato d’Asti, a delightful sweet sparkling wine (in this case named after a hill-top vineyard - bricco - frequented by quails - quaglia).

Light green in colour with attractive, gentle bubbles, the nose has Moscato’s wonderful perfume of orange blossom and lime fruit. The palate is medium sweet with just enough acidity to balance and low alcohol (5.5% abv.), making it very drinkable!

Moscato d’Asti – which is typically of higher quality than generic ‘Asti’ – does not get much better than this! Try with dishes that contain chilli (or other acidic spices) or enjoy with Chinese fruits at the end of a banquet.

NV McGuigan Sparkling Shiraz Black Label, Australia (RMB 128)
Available from Gelipu Wines, Contact Danny Wu: ausdanny@gmail.com, 13911229053 www.ai9.com.cn

Sadly, there is not much Sparkling Shiraz in China. Most of it is consumed in Australia where it is extremely popular, particularly for special occasions. This is a fun and food-friendly wine ideal for Chinese New Year banquets.

Medium purple with an attractive, full mousse, the nose has pleasant black cherry and berry fruits with a touch of spice.

The palate has refreshing medium acidity and tannin is kept to a minimum for this style of wine. Very adaptable to many kinds of Chinese dishes. We just wish there was more Sparkling Shiraz available here.