Chinese Red Wine

Chinese Red Wine

Chinese red wine. That is, red wine from China. No, really. On Tuesday night whilst perusing the aisles of Morrisons supermarket I found one bottle of very dusty and rather trendy labelled Chinese Red Wine. It appears, from the inch thick layer of dust covering these bottles, that Chinese wines are not all the rage in deepest darkest Sutton but, as a Brit who will routinely cheer for the under dog, I took pity on it and took it home to accompany my low fat dinner. Chinese red wine and low fat dinners - Livin la Vida Loca!

Now, whilst trying to find out a little bit about the producer, the area the wine was produced etc etc, I found that no one else in the world, excluding myself has ever tried this wine. FACT. I can't find it to buy anywhere, I can't find another geeks notes, not on cellar tracker, not on the interweb, this wine is my own personal Narnia. In fact I'm really not sure it's called Silkroad anymore so I'm going to have to re buy and then edit this post! Apart from the review there is little more to say about Silkroad Cabernet Sauvignon. No photos or nuffink!

So instead I will tell you what we all know, in every situation in life and that is, that the Chinese are coming. China is one of the fastest growing markets for wine, with white wine a symbol of femininity and class for women and red wine a symbol of power and wealth for men. Whilst the fashion is for European and American top name wines the Chinese themselves are starting to produce better wines, and with their economy can produce wine extremely cheaply with both land and labour insanely cheap. That factor didn't pass itself onto "Silkroad", the wine was £5.99, and for such an unknown quantity this is quite a price.

China doesn't naturally lend itself to grape growing so the fact this wine tasted under ripe and at times, plain bizarre isn't a surprise. Knock £2 off this wine though and we're starting to get into a decent, quaffable price range.

Silk Road Carbernet Sauvignon 2005 - PASS - £5.99
Sitting dark purple in the glass the wine is aromatically forward with a chocolate/cherry nose but also a touch of fake sweetness. On the palate the wine is less interesting and a touch over acidic and under ripe. Pleasant to drink but not with the tell tale signs of classic Cabernet, disappeared fast on the finish. Despite all these drawbacks the wine was more than drinkable though I wouldn't buy it again for £6. 83 Points

Where can I buy this wine?
Morrisons. Supermarkets worldwide are embracing Chinese wines, probably because there is a massive mark up on it!

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Where is the most "left field" country from which you've sampled a bottle of wine?