Wine Atlas

CHANGLI, China The town of Changli, in Hebei Province, resembles any other nondescript county seat in northern China. Motorized pedicabs, bicycles and overloaded trucks ply past the massage parlors, cheap restaurants and tax administration high-rises that line its dusty main street.

But just outside the town center is a 200-hectare, or 500-acre, vineyard replete with a state-of-the-art wine production facility; a villa with tasting rooms and restaurants; a three-story wine school; a luxury hotel, and an immense private château. The Tuscan-style complex is so opulent and incongruous in the Hebei countryside that it at first seems like a mirage.

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Vinexpo 2006 is to be held in Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre from from 23rd to 25th May 2006.

Bordeaux is the fifth biggest city in France and one of the leading wine regions in the world. Bruno·Lacoste, the vice president of Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce, said Bordeaux chose to hold Vinexpo 2006 in China, and Shanghai and Hong Kong are the optioned cities. Bruno·Lacoste said we believed Hong Kong was the better choice to exploit Asian markets compared with Shanghai, so we chose Hong Kong in the end. Hong Kong has ever hosted a Vinexpo in 1998, and it will be the second time that Vinexpo was held in Hong Kong next year.

Continue reading: wines-info.com

By Emma Graham-Harrison,

MANAS, China, Oct 31 (Reuters) - A slice of onion or lemon, some ice-cubes or a mixer of lemonade are some of the tricks Chinese wine drinkers use to help a glass of red slip down.

The traditionally spirit- and beer-drinking nation only began turning grapes into alcohol on a large scale in the last few decades and is still getting used to drinking the results.

But as the industry matures, and the thirst of China's newly affluent middle classes for wine grows, ambitious Chinese vineyards are trying to educate their countrymen's palates so as to win their cash.

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Proving that this city's out of the doldrums and back to its leading position as restaurant capital of Asia, good things are happening around town. A surge of investment and confidence in Hong Kong's restaurant and bar scene has also seen the introduction of some super wines. The most notable come from Spain, South and Western Australia and the grape-growing gem of South Africa: Stellenboch.

First of the snazzy venues to dazzle diners on Kowloon side is undoubtedly Spoon at the Intercontinental in Tsim Sha Tsui. The brain-child of Spoon's very accomplished sommelier Thomas Scheidt, the regular wine menu already reads like a wine connoisseur's dream, and his latest way of encouraging wine enjoyment is just brilliant: the Wine Explorer Tasting Corner.

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