Bert
10/14/2025 (Tue) 18:18
[Preview]
No.50535
del
The Tour of Guangxi marks the LAST UCI World Tour event of the season, and that means the last run of /WORLD TOUR WINE/ !! This has perhaps been the most HOTLY anticipated series of wines of the year, with Berts clamoring for inside knowledge for MONTHS.
China is, historically, NOT a wine-drinking country. They prefer to guzzle cheap grain analog beers and insanely overpriced baijiu. However, there are small pockets of wine springing up throughout the country over the last couple decades. The country used to have a bit of a crush on Bordeaux, considering it a prestigious business gift, but since the government ban on wine as a business gift, the market has apparently crashed in China. Still, some wine is made. One of the "premier" regions is Ningxia which borders the Helan Mountains in Inner Mongolia, the opposite side of the country from Guangxi.
Xiaopu "Gathering MV6" ($30)
Well, I know nothing about this wine or region. It is an insane blend of Syrah, Pinor Noir, Chardonnay, "Italian Riesling" (sic), Black Muscat, Marselan, and Dunkelfelder from various vintages (hence the MV designation. The notes from the winemaker include:
>The word "gathering" on the wine label comes from Su Shi's "People Come to the Book Post:
>"I deeply follow the common sense of life and death, gathering and dispersing,
>It is useless to realize sorrow."
So I'm not sure what that's supposed to be mean. It pours a quite opaque jammy red-purple, slightly cloudy. The nose has some light Syrah wild game and olive, but has a lot of Riesling and Muscat funk. It reminds me of low-quality Finger Lakes Riesling. The palate...woof. Sour acidity, a bit of red fruit. It's just not pleasant, very disjointed, all angles and elbows.
This is certainly done in a natural style and seems to be a sort of bistro-style glou glou. The very first Chinese wine the /wtw/ offices have sampled leaves something to be desired. However, it is actually better than some of the Australian horrors we opened the year with.