What a difference a few years (and awards) make. Before Asian wines like Ao Yun and Long Dai made the global wine community sit up and take notice of their premium, terroir-driven releases, you might be greeted with a blank stare, if not an imperious sniff, with the mention of Asian wines.
Yet today, these two award-winning Chinese wine labels, backed by Moët Hennessy and Domaines Barons de Rothschild Lafite respectively, rank among the highest-rated in the world and are emblematic of the new crop of fine wine coming out of Asia.
For Meiyu Li, the first female sommelier in Mainland China to achieve Advanced Sommelier accreditation from the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2014, the reason for the world's newfound interest in Chinese and other Asian wines is simple: better quality.
"Chinese wineries have been investing significantly in refining their production methods and elevating the standard of their wines." She credits the 2011 milestone of Jiabeilan Grand Reserve 2009 winning the prestigious International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards as the turning point, "This recognition brought significant global attention to Chinese wines and helped pave the way for other wineries in China to receive accolades from major international competitions like Decanter, International Wine Challenge, and the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles." It's a far cry from the mass-produced offerings of pioneers like Changyu, founded in 1892.
Japanese grape wine, which has roots dating back to the 1800s, has also undergone a resurgence in recent years.
In the last decade, the number of wineries in Japan has quietly tripled, fuelled by modernising tastes, innovations in viticulture, and, perhaps surprisingly, pop culture. Shows like Apple TV+'s Drops of God and Takuya Kimura's culinary drama Grand Maison Tokyo, partly filmed in Grace Winery's cellar, have ignited curiosity about Japan's vinous pursuits far beyond its borders.
Esta historia es de la edición January 2025 de The PEAK Singapore.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2025 de The PEAK Singapore.
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