By Jim Boyce
One quirk of China’s wine makers is that some of their brands are easier to find abroad than at home. I email interviewed Steve Clarke of China Silk, an export-only wine outfit based in Xinjiang, in the country’s far northwest, and asked him about the company’s wines, export strategy, and marketing strategies.

China Silk’s [...]

The world's love affair with Champagne is reaching explosive proportions and it doesn't look as if the bubble is going to burst any time soon. Worldwide exports of champagne hit an all-time record in 2007, spurred on by booming demand in Asia and Russia. Champagne producers exported 150 million bottles to 190 countries last year, a 7,3% jump since 2006, and figures released early this month showed overall worldwide sales hitting a new record in 2007 with 338.7 million bottles sold. Outside France, Britain was the biggest champagne drinker, with 38.9 million bottles (that's more than half a bottle for every man, woman, and child in the UK). Sales in Russia jumped 41% to pass the one million mark, while in China exports soared 30% to 650,000, a nine-fold increase in five years. Japan also notched up one of the biggest rises, becoming the world's sixth biggest champagne market with 9.1 million bottles sold - up 14.4%.  read more »

By Jim Boyce Here are a few tastes of recent online items about the China wine scene. ‘Millions of Chinese will be disappointed’ In her Financial Times column , Jancis Robinson writes about her recent trip to China. Since her last visit in 2003, Chinese wines have not made the progress she had hoped: On my first forays in 2002 and 2003 I had been struck by the relatively low quality of Chinese wine and by what an extraordinarily high proportion of it tasted like very, very thin, not quite clean, red bordeaux. Wine made from grapes was still a pretty marginal phenomenon in China five years ago but, in the meantime, China has become the worlds sixth most important grower of grapevines.  read more »

Snake wine is a traditional drink found in China and Southeast Asia that is actually made using snakes usually venomous varieties as a main ingredient. The base is an overproof spirit that delivers quite a punch -- it has too, after all, since you are drinking snake. It is illegal to import snake wine to the U.S. because some of the snakes popular in the production are endangered species. That fact did not derail a Texas rancher who says he decided to make snake vodka for medicinal purposes. Bob Popplewell, has raised rattlesnakes and turtles at his ranch south of Mineral Wells. Agents for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission raided the place recently, charging Popplewell with selling alcohol without a license.  read more »

16 Apr, 2008, 1957 hrs IST, PTI MUMBAI: Asia PacificBrewerieson Wednesday said it is looking at either setting up a brewery in north India or acquiring an

Carlsberg's joint venture South Asia Breweries has strengthened its operations in India by adding two more greenfield breweries, one in Maharashtra and one in West Bengal. Both breweries are planned to commence production during the second quarter of

Turkish company Efes Breweries said it will collaborate on projects in Central Asia and Serbia with Netherlands-based Heineken. Efes said it would create a joint venture with Heineken in Uzbekistan, where neither company currently has a production

Last week there was a blog-o-sphere outcry about an article in The Los Angeles Times by one Joel Stein entitled The Language of Wine Snobbery. I can hardly think of a less creative topic than once again whipping on the lingo of wine aficionados. How many writers over the years have heaped ridicule on the patois of wine enthusiasts and put it off as snobbery? Did we really need yet another?  read more »

South East Asia News.Net Thursday 9th October, 2008 Two iconic products of the Australian lifestyle, sunscreen and beer, are the latest to join the growing list of exports strengthening the economic ties ...