Columnists

Sour grapes for Beijing's wine drinkers

By Edward Mills (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-01 11:08

Robert Louis Stevenson is often and fondly attributed to saying: "Wine is bottled poetry."

Indeed, nothing quite matches the true feeling of relaxation that arises as you uncork the bottle; the evocative colors splashing into the glass as the liquid is poured; and that exquisite first sip - all but confirming that wine truly is the drink of the gods.

This, of course, makes it all the worse when you discover, by smell and taste if not before, that the plentiful crimson nectar that you purchased in good faith is faulty.

I shan't bore you with too many details, but suffice to say there are a multitude of different factors that cause a wine to become faulty, from bottling to storage, all resulting it one thing: a wine that is undrinkable.

Many will have come across this problem before. They may have seen unusual negative signs on the cork once pulled, or simply taken one sip and known it was gone. Some less experienced drinkers may have gritted their teeth over a nasty-tasting wine only to discover significant, even chunky, sediment that confirmed their worst fears.

Providing one hasn't done the latter and seen off the lot - what does one do with it?

In the UK (and presumably most other big wine-consuming nations too), it's simple: take your receipt and evidence to the shop you bought it from or phone the customer support when it's a web purchase and, in the vast majority of cases, you will receive a refund or another bottle of similar price/grape.

This brings me to one of the largest problems for a budding oenophile in Beijing: if your wine is faulty you seemingly cannot return it.

It's easy to have a theory on how these wines become this way, when they're often stored upright in boiling hot shops for months on end. Possibly overestimating demand and just filling shelves also plays a part.

But regardless of their poor methods, most shops (including specialist wine stores) will refuse to take them back. It's been opened - what are they supposed to do with it?

I'm not familiar with the relevant consumer protection laws in China, but they don't seem to cover this problem, or if they do, they are completely and routinely ignored.

For the wine drinker in China this presents a massive problem, especially when considering which bottle to buy. Most above average wines will command a fairly expensive price compared to their worth back home. Many of these also use a cork.

Thus there's a significant element of risk in one's purchase. Do you spend 200 yuan or more on a wine that could be above average in taste, but could be corked, or does one go for the cheaper but less enjoyable one instead, just in case it's no good?

Sometimes one has a third way - some of the better wines have begun to switch their corking methods to plastic or screw-top (like the traditionally cheaper companies had previously), but often there's little choice in the matter.

Naturally, there are some more knowledgeable wine merchants in Beijing that provide the perfect service, but sadly they seem all too few and far between to give one's regular custom to.

This problem is also clearly noticeable in restaurants as well. Many will just pour the wine into your glasses without permitting a member of your party to taste it first. Most will look with a completely blank expression if you try and explain an issue with what you've just tasted.

Clearly Western restaurants have a larger knowledge of this issue and are more accommodating, but is it such a crime to wish for some nice wine to complement a delicious Chinese meal?

Of course drinking wine is a relatively new phenomenon for some Beijingers and is completely alien to others, but as more Westerners arrive in Beijing and as more native city residents begin to enjoy wine, the currently unfair situation regarding faulty wine will become more and more noticeable.