Famed Chinese wine writer shares passion for grapes
By Max Wang |
September 6, 2012, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FOURTEEN years ago, a sommelier in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Lyon, France, worked magic on a young woman from Taiwan by pairing her food and wine. An angel must have danced on her taste buds as she felt enchanted and "baptized" into the world of wine. That is how Chantal Chi began to study and write about wine.
Chi is now a big name to a growing number of wine lovers in China; she has published several books and penned columns in elite magazines. Her weibo (microblog) has attracted more than 200,000 followers since she opened her "chantalonwine" account a year ago. Recently she was honored as a Knight of the National Order of Merit by the French government for promoting French wine culture.
Since moving to Shanghai in 2005, Chi has seen China's thirst for wine swelling. In a year or two, China will become the world's sixth-largest wine drinker. Wine imports, once a trickle, have become a stream.
Yet, many nouveau riche, especially those in second- and third-tier cities, are wine illiterate. They drink not for appreciation but for the sake of vanity and ostentation. It is not uncommon to see some of these drinkers blending their wine with soft drinks at banquets.
Chi saw a huge need for wine education in a country where distilleries far outnumber wineries. And she is well suited to the task - with years of wine tasting and writing. She spent 13 years studying wine in France and earned a degree in oenology from the prestigious University of Burgundy.
Chi has visited nearly 1,000 vineyards and wineries from Europe to Australia to South and North Americas. Her column appears in South China Morning Post, ELLE, Decanter, Wine Business International, among others.
With the dedication of a missionary, Chi took to educating Chinese about wine drinking and food pairing. She wrote articles, hosted wine tastings, lectured on radio and judged wine competitions. She has a sharp nose, a gift her mother discovered when she was little - she was often asked to smell the quality of food. That ability, combined with her wine knowledge and rich experience, made her a formidable challenger in blind-tasting contests.
But it was her bestseller "The Soul of My Cellar," written in Chinese and published in 2008, that earned Chi wide recognition in China. It describes different wine regions in France and their best wines. Chi says it took her three years to interview all the 300 winemakers covered in the book. She won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2009 for the book, which some regard as a textbook for oenology and sommelier students in China. She also co-authored "100 Questions about Wine" for beginners.
"I only started to write about wine after I spent three years tasting and learning," she says, "since I understood that wine is something you need to try and to study a lot. It's not something you can start writing about after drinking a few bottles."
She took courses at the Universite du Vin in the south of France, then in Bourgogne and Bordeaux. "But I learned much more on the spot," she says.
People tend to envy her mission of mingling with winemakers and tasting fine vintages, but Chi says it is not all pleasure. Wine tasting can make you suffer. She recalls sampling nearly 100 wines in one day and then needing a place to recuperate.
But her wine writer title has opened doors to the world's best vineyards and chateau cellars where she looked like a student, busy taking notes. Over the years, she has accumulated a high stack of notebooks.
"They like you if they find you understand their wines. I once visited a well-known chateau and tasted a special vintage with the owner. After a moment of silence as we tried to define its character, we both blurted out the word 'Debussy.' He was so delighted and insisted on giving me a bottle. But I told him to keep it in the cellar for my next trip," Chi recalls.
She fondly remembers a visit to Cheval Blanc in Bordeaux. After the visit, the winery manager insisted on giving her a bottle. "He said it was a souvenir so I could remember the trip. I said there was no need, but he insisted, so I jokingly asked for a wine bag on his bookshelf. He looked surprised and said he would find a new one for me because a gift should be new."
A month later they met again in Paris and he said, "I have something for you." It was the old bag from his office. "He apologized for not finding a new one, but I said that was exactly what I asked for. The bag witnessed my visit, accompanied him for years in his office and was the best souvenir!"
Chi notes that while many Chinese drink wine today because it's fashionable, in the next few years they will become more knowledgeable. The more wines they try, the more sophisticated their palates will become. As this happens, they will become interested in more complex wines and want to visit wineries.
She now runs a class for new wine lovers and people who want to work in the wine business. "My goal is to share my experiences and my passion. I want to show people how to enjoy wine and that they do not need to be influenced by things such as rankings."
Chi is now a big name to a growing number of wine lovers in China; she has published several books and penned columns in elite magazines. Her weibo (microblog) has attracted more than 200,000 followers since she opened her "chantalonwine" account a year ago. Recently she was honored as a Knight of the National Order of Merit by the French government for promoting French wine culture.
Since moving to Shanghai in 2005, Chi has seen China's thirst for wine swelling. In a year or two, China will become the world's sixth-largest wine drinker. Wine imports, once a trickle, have become a stream.
Yet, many nouveau riche, especially those in second- and third-tier cities, are wine illiterate. They drink not for appreciation but for the sake of vanity and ostentation. It is not uncommon to see some of these drinkers blending their wine with soft drinks at banquets.
Chi saw a huge need for wine education in a country where distilleries far outnumber wineries. And she is well suited to the task - with years of wine tasting and writing. She spent 13 years studying wine in France and earned a degree in oenology from the prestigious University of Burgundy.
Chi has visited nearly 1,000 vineyards and wineries from Europe to Australia to South and North Americas. Her column appears in South China Morning Post, ELLE, Decanter, Wine Business International, among others.
With the dedication of a missionary, Chi took to educating Chinese about wine drinking and food pairing. She wrote articles, hosted wine tastings, lectured on radio and judged wine competitions. She has a sharp nose, a gift her mother discovered when she was little - she was often asked to smell the quality of food. That ability, combined with her wine knowledge and rich experience, made her a formidable challenger in blind-tasting contests.
But it was her bestseller "The Soul of My Cellar," written in Chinese and published in 2008, that earned Chi wide recognition in China. It describes different wine regions in France and their best wines. Chi says it took her three years to interview all the 300 winemakers covered in the book. She won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2009 for the book, which some regard as a textbook for oenology and sommelier students in China. She also co-authored "100 Questions about Wine" for beginners.
"I only started to write about wine after I spent three years tasting and learning," she says, "since I understood that wine is something you need to try and to study a lot. It's not something you can start writing about after drinking a few bottles."
She took courses at the Universite du Vin in the south of France, then in Bourgogne and Bordeaux. "But I learned much more on the spot," she says.
People tend to envy her mission of mingling with winemakers and tasting fine vintages, but Chi says it is not all pleasure. Wine tasting can make you suffer. She recalls sampling nearly 100 wines in one day and then needing a place to recuperate.
But her wine writer title has opened doors to the world's best vineyards and chateau cellars where she looked like a student, busy taking notes. Over the years, she has accumulated a high stack of notebooks.
"They like you if they find you understand their wines. I once visited a well-known chateau and tasted a special vintage with the owner. After a moment of silence as we tried to define its character, we both blurted out the word 'Debussy.' He was so delighted and insisted on giving me a bottle. But I told him to keep it in the cellar for my next trip," Chi recalls.
She fondly remembers a visit to Cheval Blanc in Bordeaux. After the visit, the winery manager insisted on giving her a bottle. "He said it was a souvenir so I could remember the trip. I said there was no need, but he insisted, so I jokingly asked for a wine bag on his bookshelf. He looked surprised and said he would find a new one for me because a gift should be new."
A month later they met again in Paris and he said, "I have something for you." It was the old bag from his office. "He apologized for not finding a new one, but I said that was exactly what I asked for. The bag witnessed my visit, accompanied him for years in his office and was the best souvenir!"
Chi notes that while many Chinese drink wine today because it's fashionable, in the next few years they will become more knowledgeable. The more wines they try, the more sophisticated their palates will become. As this happens, they will become interested in more complex wines and want to visit wineries.
She now runs a class for new wine lovers and people who want to work in the wine business. "My goal is to share my experiences and my passion. I want to show people how to enjoy wine and that they do not need to be influenced by things such as rankings."
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