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Mar

A Chinese Wine for Olympians

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz/Syrah, Dragon's Eye , , , ,

The run up to the 2008 Olympics is Beijing is marred by protests. The issues surrounding the news images have a particularly deep impact on me, as a one-time student of the language, history and follower of the religions of the region.

The central authority of China is often described by scholars as an iron fist that wears a silken glove; an image that is indeed apropos considering current events. The Communists swept to power with a ‘can-do’ mentality meant to apply to every man, woman and child, not just in China’s borders, but in its providences as well.

Sure the sweatshops are cruel, sure the Yuan is undervalued and unfairly pegged, sure double-digit GDP growth is exaggerated, but did you know that China can also make wine? Most of it is rubbish, sure, but one bottling is pretty damn good, all things considered.

The Shandong province of North East China is known for its mountainous, granite littered terrain. Travellers looking for inner piece (and gamblers looking for luck) are sure to stand in the shadow of Laoshan mountain. Tsingtao beer is said to be brewed using mineral water from this region, but many dismiss this once-fact as a now-myth.

More interestingly is the 2005 Noble Dragon Shandong Red, produced by Pioneer Wine, using European winemaker, Laurenz Moser. The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and the Chinese varietal, Dragon’s Eye. When I purchased the bottle at the Wine Sampler on Upper Street, for around £8, the shop assistant remarked that, of all the wines from China they’ve tried, the Noble Dragon is the only one worth selling.

Indeed, the wife refused to try the stuff, citing China’s record of selling toxic food products, among with the many other ‘no-nos’ Chinese manufacturers have been caught doing. So, the wine industry of China has a lot of work yet to do, both in the fields of quality and reputation.

However, I doubt the Noble Dragon is tainted with pesticides or heavy metals any moreso than most wines. And the quality is there. Fresh and very decent, the Noble Dragon has some vibrant berry on the nose. The wine shop guy said there was something hard to pin down about the taste, and you see exactly what the means when you try it. There is a flavour that is hard to describe, kinda like a spit-softened mint stem, or a banana leaf, filled with sour lychees and then stomped on by an sweaty llama. The latter would be the most accurate, if lychess were dry and not sweet. (Actually, a species of lychee-like fruit that grows in Southern China is also called ‘Longan,’ the Chinese term for Dragon’s Eye. Is something being lost in Translation?)

Perhaps that unique flavour is simply the taste of China.

Also, some damp earth and swift tannin, with a nice structure and fresh chalk. The Noble Dragon is not trying to be bold, or, sadly, very different. But it is declaring definitively that good wine making in China can be done, with a little bit of a ‘can-do’ attitude. Considering the novelty of drinking a wine from China: 8.8 points.

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