Supersonic Shenfutonic

A number of years ago now my sister visited China on a business trip and returned with a bottle of locally made Shenfutonic Wine.

The description of the wine on the back of the bottle was not particularly clear, but what could be made out was that one of the major ingredients of this wine was the mashed up bodies of dead Black Ants.

Now, I don’t know whether this was actually true or not, but I can tell you that without word of a lie…it tasted like crap.

It was seriously the most God awful, foul tasting, horrible smelling liquid I have ever had the displeasure to consume (and I’m pretty sure that sometime in the distant past on a drunken Rugby trip I have mistakenly drunk my own urine).

Seriously, this was bad with a capital B.

Which is interesting, because in reality it shouldn’t have been.

If you take a quick look at a map of the regions of the world that have climates which should be ideal for growing wine grapes, a fairly large portion of those regions sit fairly and squarely within the greater boarders of China.

Not that this would particularly be news to the Chinese – they’ve been growing grapes and making “wine” there for well over 2000 years.

The problem is that, up until very recently, they really haven’t really been making “wine” as we know and love it in the west.

Alcoholic beverages in China are universally and simply known as “Jiu”. All beer, wine, spirits and other alcoholic beverages are lumped together under this broad umbrella – sort of in the way that westerner’s colloquially refer to alcohol as “Booze” I guess. Wine is more specifically referred to as “putao jiu”, literally “grape alcohol”.

This gives us a bit of insight into the traditional use for “wine” in China – intoxication!

(yeah, and your point is…queries Mr M.D.Speke)

My point is, that traditionally the subtleties, character, complexity, balance and structure of a wine (all qualities cherished by western wine lovers) have not been qualities that have been at the forefront of the minds of Chinese wine makers or consumers. The focus appears to have been not so much on the olfactory or hedonistic experience, but on how quickly and effectively the beverage could get you pissed! (once again… your point is… [M.Speke])

As such, “wines” were commonly made from odd grape varieties that were not particularly well suited to fermenting into wine.

And when appropriate grape varieties were used, they were commonly grown in areas that were not suitable to wine grape production (e.g. being exposed to too much humidity, causing mildew and other rots) and/or cultivated in a manner not suited to producing quality wine (e.g. over cropping, poor drainage, and poor ventilation etc…) - all of this obviously resulted in poor quality fruit and poor quality wine.

However, since the mid 1980’s, and in particular since the turn of this century, things have apparently started to change for the better.

French and American wine making conglomerates such as Pernod Ricard have been making in-roads into the industry in China since 1985 and have in the last 20 years or so brought in a great deal of western wine making and viticultural expertise (old and new world) which has helped to modernise the Chinese wine industry.

There are now reportedly around 100 wineries in China, although only a handful of these appear to be making any serious inroads into producing a serious western style of wine.

Of these wineries, the French Remy-Cointreau led Dynasty Wines is apparently offering the most promise, however quality throughout the wider industry is said to be improving year on year.

While the industry still has some way to go (there is still a preference amongst winemakers to pick grapes to early as a way of avoiding possible crop damage from rot) it appears clear that the future for the Chinese wine industry is very positive.

And why wouldn’t it be – it has over 1.3 billion thirsty mouths waiting to be filled.

I for one am watching this part of the wine world with great interest and am really looking forward to sampling some of the better quality examples of Chinese wine in the near future – I’ll let you all know how that goes.

PS: Strangely enough, I recently had cause to revisit that bottle of Shenfutonic wine that my sister brought back from China all those years ago [Dad had, for reasons that will forever be known only to him, kept it safely stored away in a cupboard next to the kitchen]. And guess what…by some random quirk of fate, it actually didn’t taste that bad (all things considered). Maybe dead ants just need a bit of bottle age!

Cheers

M