China’s Wine Journalists visit Misha’s Vineyard

Today we had the opportunity to welcome three prominent wine journalists from China to visit the vineyard and taste through some of our wines. The visit was arranged by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise through their China office and hosted by NZTE representatives David Desmond and Tony Chen.

Mr De Mei Li is one of the most respected wine writers and wine judges in China. He writes for the Chinese edition of La Revu du Vin de France (monthly publication with 50,000 circulation in China), is a wine columnist for the bi-monthly Food Report, and contributes to other titles such as Wine in China, Food and Wine, the Robb Report and Beijing Youth Daily (wine page). His visit is part of the research for a two page feature with a focus on what NZ has to offer in addition to Sauvignon Blanc. We’re looking forward to our next trip to Beijing – De Mei has invited us to come to the Beijing University for Agriculture where he is a Professor in the Food Science Dept.

Ms Zhen MA writes for the monthly Wine in China Magazine which was founded in 2006 and now has a circulation of 67,000. It is the only wine magazine that is approved by the general administration of Press and Publication of the People’s Republic of China. The magazine devotes itself to spreading wine culture and encouraging a healthy consumption of wine. She will produce a 16 page feature in the magazine following her trip to New Zealand which is very exciting for the New Zealand wine industry.

Mr Jun Fang writes for Wine and Spirits Magazine, a monthly magazine for wine professionals, with a circulation of 15,000 nation-wide. He plans to write a four page article focussing primarily on two key interviews for this publication. He also writes for C2 One Living Magazine an elite lifestyle magazine with a circulation of 10,000 in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, in which he will be writing a 4-6 page feature on touring the NZ wine regions.

With our somewhat unique position on the Lakefront Terrace of Bendigo, and our protection of several Chinese gold mining sites on Misha’s Vineyard, the tour had more interest for the visitors than just the vines. We talked about the Chinese who had worked on the land and visited our “Lucky 8” vines and Ah Foo’s House – special for Jun who lives in the southern area of China, originally home to many of the gold miners came from. De Mei was keen to see if he could dig under the Lucky 8 vines to find the original gold coins placed there!

We were delighted to meet the group – although a brief visit it does make such a difference to understand more about our region and also for New Zealand wine producers to learn about the market in China. We’re now looking forward to seeing the articles!