Grapes and Wines of China: Marselan

Ciao everyone,

welcome to our new series of short educational videos on China’s grape varieties and wines. After the success of our first series of Educational Videos devoted to the world’s wine regions and grape varieties (that is still ongoing and we shall soon be releasing a new video on the Mosel and its wines), we have embarked on our second series of information-packed videos this time specifically devoted to the grape varieties growing in China and the wines made with them. China is already now one of the world’s largest wine producers and the quality of s the country’s wines is improving rapidly: I have visited many different wine producing countries all over the world in my years of wine writing and I can sense that some wines being made in China are not just exciting because of the way they look, smell and taste, but because they also clearly speak of Chinese expressions of specific Chinese terroirs, and that is always exciting to me. And so I think this series of short, user-friendly videos ought to be of real interest not just to wine professionals but to everyone who loves wine and wishes to know more about it.

Differently from our first series of educational wine videos that were longer and more in-depth (with running times of up to four and five minutes in some cases), this second series of videos dedicated to China’s grapes and wines are much shorter, coming in at about two minutes. They serve as a simple, easy-going learning tool for all those who wish to know more about this fast-growing “new” wine producing country (even though China is actually one of the world’s “oldest” countries, boasting millennia of history and with documented vinifera grapes growing there already in the bce or before common era time period!).

The first video in this series out today in the TerroirSense Wine Review features the Marselan grape variety; following videos will highlight other grapes and wines, including Petit Manseng, Cabernet Gernsicht, the international red grapes (Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Tempranillo, Aglianico, Sangiovese but also Chinese grape hybrids such as Beichun, resulting from Vitis Amurensis x Muscat Hamburg), the international white grapes (Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Welshriesling, and even Grechetto di Todi) as well as the grape varieties used to make sweet wines, such as icewines made from frozen Vidal grapes and wines made with late harvested and/or air-dried grapes.

Enjoy, and cheers!

Ian