Asia, the 800 Pound Gorilla
Almost 30% of the World's landmass resides within the continent of Asia. The rich culture often predates that of the West, and so it is even with wine. Granted that wine here took a different path, as I have written about so often in the past, but wine there was.
As the promise of the Global Marketplace becomes a reality it should come as no surprise that many of the billions of people that occupy Asia have come to love wine. Wine from Europe, the Americas, Australasia, and yes, even wine from Asia.
I have experienced first hand wine in India, China and Thailand, and recently got to taste wines from Japan as well. Make no mistake about it, when I say wine I mean fermented grapes and not rice or fruit.
India and Thailand have impressed me the most, but that may be due to circumstance. The Japanese wines I tasted were well traveled and presented at a busy tasting where I could not really take time to appreciate them. Chinese wines I mostly tasted over 10 years ago, and while the industry has progressed a great deal since then, I have not had another chance to taste the wines at the source.
I did taste Chinese wines along with the Japanese, Thai and Indian wines at the recent tasting, and nothing I had changed my mind about where my favorite wines are coming from. That is mostly a matter of taste, not a comment on the winemaking or varietal choices of China and Japan. I like big fruity wines, and the warm weather growing regions of Thailand and India are happy to oblige.
China remains the big player in Asia with over 50% of the continent's 800 wineries. Japan comes in second with another 25% followed by India and then Thailand. Other players include Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Cambodia. Most of the countries in the last group have token wine presences.
So how big is China actually? It ranks in the top 10 of world producers. It has almost 173,000 acres of wine grapes, and it is growing fast. China also consumes a good deal of wine and is the World's fastest growing major major wine market with an average of 15% annual growth. About 90% of the wine consumed in China originates in China, but that leaves a healthy 10% for imports, and that number may grow as demand exceeds supply.
The Japanese are the great wine consumers of Asia and they make a wide variety of styles that you won't find anywhere else. Most Western visitors to Japan probably don't even think to look for the local wines, but they are missing out on a range of flavors that they may well enjoy experimenting with.
India and Thailand have had their moment in the sun in this blog, so I will only add that India's wine producing region is almost all centered around an area just east of Mumbai. Thailand is the new kid on the block, but what I have seen in my visits here have been not only promising, but a revelation. I would never have thought that a sub-tropical climate could produce such quality wine.
Few Asian wines can be found abroad, and even if they are they are certain to suffer to some degree from travel fatigue. This is a good excuse for the wine adventurous to travel to these countries to learn for themselves about this emerging force in the wine industry. The New Old World Wines if you will.
As the promise of the Global Marketplace becomes a reality it should come as no surprise that many of the billions of people that occupy Asia have come to love wine. Wine from Europe, the Americas, Australasia, and yes, even wine from Asia.
I have experienced first hand wine in India, China and Thailand, and recently got to taste wines from Japan as well. Make no mistake about it, when I say wine I mean fermented grapes and not rice or fruit.
India and Thailand have impressed me the most, but that may be due to circumstance. The Japanese wines I tasted were well traveled and presented at a busy tasting where I could not really take time to appreciate them. Chinese wines I mostly tasted over 10 years ago, and while the industry has progressed a great deal since then, I have not had another chance to taste the wines at the source.
I did taste Chinese wines along with the Japanese, Thai and Indian wines at the recent tasting, and nothing I had changed my mind about where my favorite wines are coming from. That is mostly a matter of taste, not a comment on the winemaking or varietal choices of China and Japan. I like big fruity wines, and the warm weather growing regions of Thailand and India are happy to oblige.
China remains the big player in Asia with over 50% of the continent's 800 wineries. Japan comes in second with another 25% followed by India and then Thailand. Other players include Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Cambodia. Most of the countries in the last group have token wine presences.
So how big is China actually? It ranks in the top 10 of world producers. It has almost 173,000 acres of wine grapes, and it is growing fast. China also consumes a good deal of wine and is the World's fastest growing major major wine market with an average of 15% annual growth. About 90% of the wine consumed in China originates in China, but that leaves a healthy 10% for imports, and that number may grow as demand exceeds supply.
The Japanese are the great wine consumers of Asia and they make a wide variety of styles that you won't find anywhere else. Most Western visitors to Japan probably don't even think to look for the local wines, but they are missing out on a range of flavors that they may well enjoy experimenting with.
India and Thailand have had their moment in the sun in this blog, so I will only add that India's wine producing region is almost all centered around an area just east of Mumbai. Thailand is the new kid on the block, but what I have seen in my visits here have been not only promising, but a revelation. I would never have thought that a sub-tropical climate could produce such quality wine.
Few Asian wines can be found abroad, and even if they are they are certain to suffer to some degree from travel fatigue. This is a good excuse for the wine adventurous to travel to these countries to learn for themselves about this emerging force in the wine industry. The New Old World Wines if you will.
posted by Wineguy at 12:17 AM
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