About

Launched in 2007, Grape Wall covers the China wine market, from tastings and winery visits to trade news and ‘Q&8s‘ with winemakers, retailers, critics and academics, all from a consumerist view.

I have organized over 100 wine tastings (see below) and write the Grape Wall newsletter where many articles on this website first appear (sign up free here and see past editions here.)

I also have written about China’s wine scene for numerous publications, such as Wine Searcher, Wine Enthusiast and Wall Street Journal, or been interviewed / quoted by local media like China Daily, People’s Daily and CGTN and international media like AFP, EFE and The Economist.

Grape Wall founded World Marselan Day in 2018, to put a spotlight on a variety that has spread across China the past 20 years and is seen as a “signature” grape. Marselsan is also commercially made in over two dozen other nations.

Other projects include the Grape Wall Challenge, with consumers as judges, and casual tastings focused on everything from local wines / regions to imported wines around the world, including the inaugural San Marino tasting in Beijing and a fun ArgenChina tour. (Plus, some pretty good Marselan parties!)

Finally, I worked on several major projects with the Ningxia wine region, including two two-year contests that featured 55 winemakers from 20 countries in total, with US$100,000 in cash prizes.

The Chinese name of Grape Wall of China is ‘Pu Tao Wei Cheng 葡萄围城.’

Pu Tao 葡萄 means ‘grape’ while Wei Cheng 围城 means ‘besieged city.’ It’s a play on one of China’s best and funniest novels ‘Fortress Besieged’, in which a man leaves China for Europe to study but fitters his time away and, needing to save face, buys a fake degree before returning home to relationship and career chaos.

The title is based on a French saying that married people want to be single and vice versa. In 2007, when Grape Wall began, the idea was the world wine trade desperately wanted to enter the China market while many in China had their sights set on getting outside.

The Grape Wall site and newsletter have no advertisers. If you find them useful, please consider helping to cover domain fee, hosting and other costs to keep the stories flowing.

You can also find my posts about wine and other China alcohol niches on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Cheers, Jim Boyce
grapewallofchina (at) gmail.com

Grape Wall has no sponsors of advertisers: if you find the content and projects like World Marselan Day worthwhile, please help cover the costs via PayPal, WeChat or Alipay.

Sign up for the free Grape Wall newsletter here. Follow Grape Wall on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And contact Grape Wall via grapewallofchina (at) gmail.com.