Outspoken wine expert and whistle-blower Wu Shuxian was once popular, but today she is an outsider in China’s wine industry. She tells Ruby Gao that’s because she tells unpleasant truths.

Wu Shuxian, the first independent wine critic in China, compares herself to an “earthworm,” which is essential for aerating soil, but is neglected after the harvest.

The 44-year-old wine critic became famous as a whistle-blower, writing exposés about watered-down wine, dishonest labeling, slavish wine critics, alleged smuggling, vast amounts of surplus wine stored in Chinese warehouses and excessive profits.

She is also known for being critical of what she sees as “Western cultural domination of the wine industry” and Western wine education. She considers some Western firms arrogant and condescending and dislikes hearing English spoken at wine tastings.

It’s not surprising that Wu, who does not have formal training, does not have many friends among wine business people, wine circles and wine snobs.

“I feel wrongly and unfairly treated. They (Chinese studying wine) are fed with Chinese milk (Wu’s column and books), but they respect foreigners as their mother,” Wu tells Shanghai Daily in an interview during the Shanghai Book Fair. She was promoting her 14th book, “Wine Buying Tips.” All her books are in Chinese.

Wu was born in Danyang, Jiangsu Province, raised in Qingdao, Shandong Province, and came to Shanghai in 2002, writing the first wine column in China.

Self-taught

“A wine column is the best way to communicate wine culture and Shanghai, a city open to Western culture, is a good place to start,” Wu says.

A senior high school graduate, Wu began her wine career at the age of 27 as sales manager at Qingdao Tony Winery. Although she hasn’t formally studied wine, she studied on her own and went to France to visit Bordeaux.

Her wine column became so influential that she helped rewrite Chinese wine regulations to insist on quality, transparency and truth in labeling.

She made her reputation in 2002 and 2004 by fiercely and repeatedly attacking the quality and authenticity of wine produced by Zhang Yu and Great Wall, two of China’s biggest domestic wine producers, together selling more than half of all wine in China.

She revealed that Zhang Yu’s wine was not 100-percent made from grapes, as claimed, but watered down and added with sugar and other ingredients. So-called “half-juice wine” was unique to China and many ordinary people like the beverage. But too many unscrupulous producers were watering down wine and it was banned in 2003.

Wu also revealed that one Great Wall wine was not what the label claimed it to be.

Turning to a European laboratory, she proved that wine labeled as a 1998 vintage was actually made from grapes harvested in 2000-2002.

Her articles caused an uproar in the Chinese wine market, and played a large role in spurring the government to rewrite the regulations on what can be marketed as wine. Further, labels must specifically state grape varieties, production areas and vintages.

“The dark reality was an open secret among wine insiders but no one wanted to reveal it since they benefited from that system. But I had to make the truth known, or Chinese wine would have no future,” Wu says.

“Speaking anonymously is a good way to avoid taking responsibility. China is often criticized for lacking freedom of speech, but the Chinese wine industry is not taboo,” says Ma Huiqin, a professor of wine growing at China Agriculture University.

For example, Wu uses her own name, Ma adds. After her explosive exposés, Wu was praised by those unafraid of speaking out, especially online.

She was called a hero and became very popular, respected and influential in the wine industry.

That was short lived, however.

After her exposés, many people in the wine industry were seething because she revealed their schemes. She made few friends and has been under considerable pressure.

One retailer, whose bottom line was seriously damaged, threatened to break her leg, she says in the interview with Shanghai Daily.

Wu would not be intimidated and continued her wine column.

Around a year later, in 2005, her influence began to decline. Wine insiders kept distance from her. She was seldom invited to major wine events and tastings. Her columns were gradually discontinued.

Wu became an outsider. She turned to writing blogs and books, aimed at members of the general public who want to know more about wine, but these have been criticized by some wine writers and publishers as “shallow and unprofessional.”

Her publishing editor Li Tongzhou argues that making complicated information understandable cannot be seen as shallow.

This uncomfortable state of affairs continues today. “I agree with my grandma, a farmer, who compares me to an earthworm, which is essential for aerating the soil but is neglected when the harvest comes,” says Wu.

She says she came along and educated people in the early days when few Chinese knew about wine. Later she was discarded for being too outspoken and “simplistic.”

There are virtually no wine experts — from winemakers to writers to sommeliers — willing to comment on the record about Wu’s expertise and her views.

Those who decline to be quoted by name do not hesitate to speak anonymously and call her “opinionated and domineering,” ”biased and paranoid” and “someone who fancies herself to be talented.”

“This obvious change in attitude started in 2005, when First-Growth Bordeaux became increasingly popular in China. They kept their distance from me because I insist on telling the truth behind some imported wines, for example, smuggling and excessive profits.

“Being unpopular doesn’t mean I am worthless,” Wu says.

Some of her uncomfortable “truths” are supported by a few wine insiders, who don’t want to be named, while others call her views “extreme, arbitrary and distortions of fact.”

“The Chinese wine industry was unstable in 2013, which is the inevitable consequence of overinvesting during the last few years. Only 30 percent of the imported wine is really consumed and the remaining overstocked 70 percent is still in the warehouses of Chinese importers and retailers,” Wu asserts.

“In other words, the bubble in the current ‘vibrant, fast-growing wine industry’ is pricked now,” she adds.

Wu says that the figures of 30 percent and 70 percent come from her checks on the storage of more than 10 major wine retailers and importers in China.

“She’s one of a few who dare to say these things publicly,” says Yang Wei, purchasing director of a wine company. “Many wine companies are going bankrupt this year and the price of wine is bound to drop sharply.”

“For companies like ASC and Summergate that were opened by foreigners, arrogant and looking down upon Chinese, the bigger they grow the sooner they die,” Wu once wrote in her blog on December 23, 2009.

“Wine education in China is now dominated by WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust, a British organization) and that is problematic,” she asserts in her interview with Shanghai Daily. “They treat wine students as machines absorbing wine information. I hate to see those Chinese always speak English at wine tastings.”

These kinds of statements — nationalistic and sweepingly critical of Western wine culture and the Western wine system and education — have also contributed to Wu becoming one of the least-welcome wine critics in China.

“The first time I met her, she criticized me for looking down on Chinese just because I told her that I learned about Burgundy wines from books written by Western experts such as Anthony Hanson and Jasper Morris,” says one Chinese sommelier who prefers not to be named.

“Although I am now becoming more non-mainstream, I will survive longer than they (pro-Western figures) in the wine industry because my soul stands proud while theirs kneel,” says Wu.

“I maintain my independent perspective while many so-called ‘popular wine writers’ just write positive stories for Western wineries, like flattering PR for being given a free oversea wine trip. Many wine critics even sell wine themselves!” she explains.

Wu says she plans to cooperate with an illustrator and publish a satire that caricatures China’s wine industry and its sins.

Frozen out

As one of the first people in China to promote and popularize wine culture, Wu has inspired many people to get involved in the wine industry, but many of them now are ashamed to admit they were influenced by her.

She recalls that a young Shanghainese learned wine basics from her and then studied wine overseas. After he returned to China, he says his teacher was Jancis Robinson, although he had never met her, Wu says.

“Probably, he thinks that my Chinese face makes him lose face,” she says.

Being unwelcomed reduces her access to diverse wine tastings and, objectively, limits her knowledge.

Wu disagrees.

“Tasting more wine doesn’t mean understanding wine better. There’s a pervasive problem among Chinese wine insiders, who spend their limited life drinking unlimited wine. What we should pursue is not the width but the depth,” she says.

She advocates a system, to be devised, that can describe all wines. “I am now cultivating my mind to establish a Sinicized wine system,” she explains.

Wu describes this system as “rooted in China, selectively absorbing the elements of Western culture, linking wine with humanities, especially Chinese Confucian thinking and literature.”

When a journalist asks her for more detail and expresses confusion about abstract concepts and Confucian thinking as it relates to wine, Wu shakes her head sadly and sighs.

“Obviously, you are also Westernized, always asking for clarification, concrete details and examples. It’s only those knowledgeable enough with a deep understanding of Chinese culture can understand my meaning. And I don’t want to say more (about my ideas) or they will be copied by others,” she notes.

“I hope you English media can fully express my thinking and words to show Chinese cultural confidence in front of Westerners,” Wu emphasizes at the end of the interview.

Q: How did you start the first wine column in China?

A: It was tough. When I told Feature editors that I wanted to write a wine column, they thought I was crazy, doubting that a beverage could be developed into a column. No one gave me a chance.

I finally succeed by offering them wines, especially sweet wines such as ice wine and Noble Rot because most editors are female.

Further, I invited them on overseas wine trips. Before coming to Shanghai I had written stories for Hong Kong wine magazines and hence built relationships with some consulates and global wine associations. They often ask me for my media list when organizing a trip.

Q: Since you did not formally study wine, how did you become a professional?

A: When I was selling wine, I was often stumped by questions from my customers. I asked the company’s winemaker for help. I also tried to find answers in books. From autumn of 2001 to February 2002, I went to Bordeaux to visit chateaux, taste wines and attend free wine lectures. I think self-study is more important. Robert Parker learned wine himself, didn’t he?

Q: You were famous and respected and then you were frozen out. Do you feel a sense of loss?

A: I don’t. To the contrary, receiving less attention enable me to concentrate more on writing my books. I am single-minded and I don’t use any social media, such as wechat.

Q: Can you compare yourself to a wine?

A: It’s hard to find any wine to represent me because I am always changing.