But in fact, the vineyard - called the Bodega Langes after its owner, the Austrian crystal magnate Gernot Langes-Swarovski - is very real. Changli is a major viticulture center, frequently called "the Bordeaux of China," and the Bodega Langes is simply one of the newest - and most ambitious - of 30 vineyards established since China's very first dry red wine was produced here 22 years ago.




"Mr. Swarovski's hobby is making wine," explains Ren Jing, the director and general manager of the Bodega Langes. "In Argentina he has the Bodega Norton. He really likes China and Chinese culture. And China is the biggest market for Langes-Swarovski crystal."






It also happens to be the world's fastest growing market for wine - sales have been increasing by 10 percent annually over the past several years, as compared with 1 percent worldwide, according to the China Daily newspaper. Although this increase is from a low base - wine sales are a distant third to beer and spirits - the growing interest in wine is so steady that Langes-Swarovski's $30 million "hobby" may prove to be a prescient investment.






Although grape wine was probably first produced in China in the Tang dynasty, it never became popular. Instead, Chinese have preferred fiery, inebriating grain alcohol that is quaffed rather than sipped. The country's first modern winery was started in Yantai in 1892 by a former Chinese diplomat who hired the Austrian consul as his chief winemaker. The winery he established, Changyu, dominates the market today with a near 20 percent share of all wine sales.






After the Communist victory in 1949, Changyu and the handful of other wineries were nationalized and began to emphasize quantity over quality, producing "wine" that was mixed with juice, sugar and other additives. Not surprisingly, almost nobody drank it. However, in 1987, the industry got a boost when the government began urging its citizens to consume more wine and beer - and less spirits - to reduce alcohol-related health problems. More wineries were established and the market began to grow, accelerating again after studies in France linked red wine consumption with a healthy heart. Today there are approximately 300 wineries in China, with 100 of these having opened in the past decade.






Wineries today pay more attention to quality than they did in the past, but their primary concern is market share. China does not produce enough high-quality grapes to meet demand, so vintners turn to imports.






"Wine is imported to China in containers," Ren explained. "Many 'vineyards' just bottle wine that they have imported." China does not require them to acknowledge this, he added.






In fact, laws governing wine are so lax that a bottle claiming to be a varietal may contain only a portion of wine made from that grape.






Until last year, winemakers could even sell "wine" that was half juice. Mixing bulk imported wines with domestic products solves the immediate problem of meeting demand and no doubt goes unnoticed by the majority of wine consumers, many of whom still dilute wine with soda or chug it at banquets. But it does little to help the long-term development of a market for good domestic wine. That is where Bodega Langes hopes to make a difference.






"Mr. Swarovski's most important goal is to become a model for Chinese winemakers - to teach them about quality," Ren said. "He said that if everyone learns from us, he has succeeded."






With this goal in mind, Bodega Langes aims to cut no corners when it comes to striving to make the best wine possible.






"We came in 1999 to experiment with planting grapes - we wanted to see if we could get the quality," Ren said. "We started with 20 hectares of cabernet sauvignon and merlot."






Their plantings confirmed that Changli fulfills what Ren calls the "3-S Principle" of "sea, sand and sunshine" for creating the best wine, so they added cabernet blanc and shiraz to their fields and in 2001 began construction of the winery. It produces about 600,000 bottles per year.






"We have one of the best production facilities in the world - it is gravity processing," Ren said. "We don't use a pump. If you use a pump, a lot of air gets in and it hurts the structure of the wine. We use pipes, and it flows freely. There is a 20-meter drop from fermentation tanks to the bottle line."






Inside the pristine facility, the wines "listen" to Strauss waltzes because, according to the tour guide, "wine is alive and we want it be influenced by Austrian culture." Some of the wine is stored in oak barrels that are produced in a separate factory using oak from the Changbai Mountains, the first such factory in China.






But even with the best facilities, making good wine is not an easy task.






"Quality control is very difficult," Ren said. "We are organized like an army. We have the manager, the engineers and group leaders - each group has 20 farmers growing 10 hectares of grapes. We have a rule that each stem can have only one bunch of grapes. But the local farmers don't understand this. It is very hard for them."






Indeed, getting farmers to accept that much fruit must be sacrificed to produce good wine grapes is one of the hardest battles facing vineyards across China. To help in the effort, the Bodega Langes recently hired an Austrian winemaking expert who will oversee quality control for the next two years.






Winning consumers over is another battle, but one that the Bodega Langes has found much easier - even though its cheapest wine costs more than $20 and most wines average around $50.






To attract and educate potential customers, it has established a VIP Club that gives members first dibs on new and reserve wines, like a collector's cabernet that costs 888 yuan, or $110, per bottle and was nearly sold out within weeks of its release. It holds a harvest festival during which visitors can crush grapes with their feet and help make their own wines. It has opened Bodega Langes Vinotechs, wine outlets, in Beijing and Qinhuangdao and is planning one for Shanghai; at an early autumn tasting at the Beijing Vinotech, scores of well-heeled young Beijingers mingled over an elegant buffet as they sipped Bodega Langes wines and discussed their preferences by varietal and year.






"Many people laughed at us in the beginning," said Ren, who mingled hospitably with his guests. "They asked, 'Why are you spending so much money just to grow grapes?' But they aren't laughing now."






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