Wines from across the Great Wall

China, being the third largest country in the world and second largest country in Asia, can easily be called the manufacturing hub of the world. Being the most populated country, it has turned its weakness (huge population) into strength (skilled manpower). The country intelligently used its vast manpower and ventured out in various directions in the business of manufacturing. Cheap labour, abundant land, easy availability of raw materials and favourable government reforms has helped it to become a pioneer in the business.

China has many diversified manufacturing businesses with a staggering population of 1.2 billion people all heading towards a common goal of continual progress and sustainable supremacy.

A country with such a legacy in the field of production makes one wonder how can it be left behind in the business of making and selling wine. For the record, China has been producing wine for centuries. The earliest records date back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC) but wine was a precious commodity used only in sacred temple rituals and in the palace of the Emperor. Wines were made from various base ingredients like herbs, grains and fruits. Grape wine though not a traditional Chinese product was first mentioned in a Chinese poem during the Han Dynasty. Since 1900, it has increasingly been produced and consumed in China as a result of increased Western influence.

‘Jiu’ is the Chinese word for alcohol and is used to mean all types of alcoholic beverages. Therefore a grape wine would be called ‘Putao Jiu’ (literally meaning grape alcohol). This lumping together of all intoxicating beverages gives a great insight into the traditional use for alcohol, intoxication. Even in modern China, alcoholic beverages are generally classified by the general population on the basis of how much intoxication it delivers for the money. From this point of view, table wine is at the bottom rung of the consumer preference list, with brandy being much higher.

Chinese wines can generally be classified into two types, namely yellow liquors (huangjiu) or clear (white) liquors (baijiu). Chinese yellow liquors are fermented wines that are brewed directly from grains such as rice or wheat. Such liquors contain less than 20 per cent alcohol, due to the inhibition of fermentation by ethanol at this concentration. These wines are traditionally pasteurised, aged and filtered before their final bottling for sale to consumers.

Yellow liquors can also be distilled to produce white liquors, or baijiu. White liquors (baijiu) are also commonly called shaojiu, which means ‘hot liquor’ or ‘burned liquor’, either because of the burning sensation in the mouth during consumption, the fact that they are usually warmed before being consumed, or because of the heating required for distillation. Liquors of this type typically contain more than 30 per cent alcohol in volume since they have undergone distillation. There are a great many varieties of distilled liquors, both unflavoured and flavoured.

Premium cork finished wines made from vinifera grapes (such as Cabernet and Chardonnay) are still a minority. This is because of the market resistance to wines and their pricing techniques. In China, a bottle of beer would be much preferred over a bottle of wine not because of the taste but because it comes at one-fourth of the price of the wine and provides a better level of intoxication. The Chinese wine-makers are not competing with other winemakers for market share but are fighting with other spirits and distilleries for preference.

Today, there are over 200 grape wineries in china but the most famous are Dynasty and Great Wall Wine Company Ltd. These wineries work in the form of a Sino-French joint venture. The Dynasty was established in 1980 as a joint-venture between Tianjin City Grape Garden and Remy Martin, France. It was the first Sino-foreign joint venture in Tianjin city and one of the earliest of this kind in China. Till date, the Dynasty wines have won 10 times ‘The Certificate of Best Selling Grape Wines’ in the People’s republic of China (PRC) by the China Industry and Enterprise Information Centre.

The Dynasty wine’s dry reds and extra dry whites are produced from Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling, Chardonnay respectively. The grapes are handpicked at their maturity and fermented in stainless steel tanks under strict temperature supervision, the reds are rich in grape flavour and have the characteristics like well balanced, smooth, round and full bodied with long finish. The whites can boast of pale yellow with slight green in colour, crystal clear in appearance, fruity, refreshing and perfect balance in taste. These white wines when taken with seafood like fish, shrimps and crabs enhances the delicious taste of these delicacies, while at the same time, it expresses its own best quality to the maximum. Their Sparkling Wine is made from Chardonnay and Italian Riesling grown in the coastal region of Tianjin by applying French Champagne-making technology.

The Great Wall Wine Co Ltd has their own range of dry reds and whites. Their reds mainly use merlot and go the skin-soaking fermentation way making the fruity merlot wine smooth and mellow in taste. Their whites use Chardonnay and after oak ageing those, the wines pronounce a golden hue with crisp flavours. The Great Wall sparkling wine are made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir using French Champagne-making technology, these wines are crisp and tasty, light-yellow in colour and slightly smell of yeast and toast.

Apart from these grape wine giants, the Chinese are also famous for their traditional wines. Some of the renowned ones are:

Fen jiu: This wine was dated back to Northern and Southern Dynasties (550 AD). It is the original Chinese white wine made from sorghum with a whopping ABV (Alcohol by volume content) of 63-65 per cent.

Da Gu jiu: Originated from Sichuan with a 300 year history. This wine is made of sorghum and wheat by fermenting in a unique process for a long period in the cellar. It has an ABV of 52 per cent.

Yuk Bing Shiu jiu: A rice wine with over a 100 year history. It is made of steamed rice. It is stored a long period after distillation. Its ABV content is 30 per cent. The Chinese domestic market for wine is projected to become the largest in the world in a few decades, even though the current yearly consumption of wine in China is only 0.35 litres per person. In 2008, wine merchant Berry Brothers and Rudd predicted that within 50 years, the quality of Chinese wine will rival that of Bordeaux. Notable wine-producing regions include Beijing, Yantai, Zhangjiakou Hebei, Yibin Sichuan, Tonghua Jilin, Taiyuan Shanxi and Ningxia.

The largest producing region is Yantai-Penglai, with its more than 140 wineries producing 40 per cent of China’s wine production. Majority of their wines sell below the USD 10 mark in the international market with few of the classics going up to USD 25. With such quality, affordability and a humongous cuisine to accompany, these wines surely have an immense potential to find inroads in the International Asian, East Asian and European restaurants.

Sleepless in Melbourne!

There are times when you are super excited about a journey and cannot sleep even for a minute you just lay in the bed with eyes wide open in anticipation, sometimes watching the alarm clock as if to check its accuracy whether it rings on time.

 I had the same feeling cause  after all I was going to Melbourne & when the alarm rang, It brought an instant smile on my face and the feeling started to sink in that the time has finally come…I got up, looked in the mirror and said….  YAY ‘…it's your time to visit Melbourne NOW!’  

The next 14 hours in the flight were spent looking at the travel magazines & planning my itinerary in Melbourne. 

Being a cricket fanatic the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) is top on my list, taking the tour of the stadium walking the stands that many legends have walked probably is the dream of many cricket lovers, also a visit to the National sports Museum located at the MCG.

Next on the list is the Eureka Skydeck 88. This Skydeck is the highest point in Melbourne and best time to visit it I feel would be early evening to just after sunset wherein you can see the changing day & night effect of this beautiful city.

Hmm a walk along the Yarra River would surely seem fit to see a whole lot of Melbourne along its banks & also to take the hop on hop off ferries & enjoy the scenery, so that’s on for sure.

Being the beverage guy The Carlton Brewery visit is next on my list, to see the Australian beer making process and have some freshly brewed Victoria Bitter beer right at the factory is something I don’t want to miss.

A visit to St. Kilda beach is something I look forward to, not only for the spectacular beach line but also to taste the local delicacies at the numerous street cafés lined up near the beach, another tick for the Royal botanical Garden to explore the local Flora and walk through the landscaped sections of the garden. 

Next in the list would be to visit the St. Paul’s & St. Patrick’s Cathedral they truly are one of the historic and iconic buildings of Melbourne.

For some outdoor fun activity how can I miss the Luna Park to experience the oldest wooden rollercoaster and of course the grandeur of The Galactic circus.

I wanted to plan more but all the excitement of the previous sleepless night seemed to be taking a toll so I just pulled the blanket and dozed off.

I must have been asleep for a short while when I suddenly heard the pilot bell, which was uncannily similar to my door bell, still I tried to get up from my seat thinking that it might be a seatbelt warning sign as we must be nearing Melbourne, but the bell went on ringing louder and louder, when finally I opened my eyes, I got a shock of my life, there I saw a huge jet fan hovering over my head.

It took me a while to realize that this entire flight trip to Melbourne was nothing but a dream and the horrifying jet fan was my humble ceiling fan and that the pilot bell was actually my milkman trying to wake me up.

A dream nonetheless but a very pleasant, exciting and very real, my dream took me to those places which I would love to bring back as memories from the ever vibrant city of Melbourne. 

This post is written for Indiblogger contest. To learn more about Melbourne please visit  

 www.visitmelbourne.com/in. 

All the pictures are taken from various websites. I do not own them I have used them for just this blog. If any person has objections  regarding the picturesplease write to me and I would delete them.

Thanks 

Rise of The Brew Pubs

What is a Brew Pub?  Literally it means a pub or a bar that makes its own beer or any spirit and is licensed to sell it on its premises.

 As a concept, it has been present in the western culture for quite some time now but in India it is still at a very grass root level.. So let’s get some basics clear about these brew pubs by understanding their operation outside India.

In the United States, it refers to breweries that produce not more than 15,000 barrels of beer annually (1 Barrel is roughly 120-160 lts.) . Brew Pubs or micro brewing is now being seen as a popular approach amongst the new generation who like to experiment and prefer customized service.

The term came to be used in the 1970s in the UK to imply individual pubs that create their own traditional cask ale or beer.

You may ask that when we have such fantastic International brands dishing out some really iconic beers then why we need these so called brew pubs selling their own brands of beer?

Well the answer lies in the very product that is beer… you see, Beer often loses its flavor and freshness due to excessive storage, just imagine that a bottle of beer might take anywhere upto 3-4 months to reach your refrigerator from the factory,  during which time it sadly loses its freshness and the hoppy flavor, these are the things that made it famous in the first place. That is why hundreds and thousands of beer lovers from around the globe have come to love the taste and feel of the beer brewed in microbreweries mainly due to their unique touches and freshness.

Internationally microbreweries do not pose any real competition or an alarming threat to major beer brewing companies as they claim a very dismal market share when compared to these giants. Still, their influence and uniqueness has caused these major market players to open their own microbreweries based on their brand name. In some cases, these companies have been forced to buy the local microbreweries outright.

Comparatively, India has woken up to this brew-pub business rather late. In a country where beer consumption is very high, it is surprising to see very few entrepreneurs wanting to take a plunge into this lucrative business. There are only a handful places today in the country where you can enjoy the vibrant and crisp taste of a freshly brewed beer.

Today the beer loving Indian has matured, he has travelled the world and has tasted different styles of beer available, and he now knows that beer is not just lager. He also has acquired a taste for ales, stouts and porters. He is truly ready to experiment with different flavours of beer and enjoy it with the fusion of Indo-Asian cuisine. This according to me is rather a great time for business opportunities in a new sector called brew-pubs.  

Cheers!

Big, Bigger, Biggest

The other day I was reading an article, in which a particular bar in Cuba had made a huge Daiquiri in the memory Ernest Hemmingway the Daiquiri amounted to 71 Gallons (almost 250 lts) and was poured in a specially made fiber composite 6.5ft tall cocktail glass.. 

That led me to search for more of such big, bigger and biggest feats in the drinks and food world. I have noted a few feats that interested me hope it interests you as well.

Largest Cocktail

To celebrate over 30 years in business, Ricardo’s Mexican Restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA created a giant margarita cocktail measuring a whopping 28,871 litres that included a mind numbing 4600 lts of tequila & 710 lts of triple sec along with other ingredients 

The solution was made in a giant tank measuring 4.5 m (14 ft 10 in) tall and 3 m (10 ft) in diameter, and covering the outside to make it appear as much as possible like a glass of margarita. To make it simple to understand, the tank held around 80,000 servings of margarita. They hold the Guinness record for the largest cocktail.

 Largest Wine Glass

A Lebanese company holds the record for the world’s largest wine glass that measures just over 7 ft in height and can hold up to 1557 lts of wine that’s over 2100 regular bottles of wine in one glass. Phew..

 

Largest Wine Bottle

      The 1,850 litre bottle from Wang Chen Wines in Liaoning, Northern China is 15 feet high and contains nearly 1850-liters of wine - setting the new world record for the world’s largest wine bottle.

Largest Whisky Bottle

The record for largest whisky bottle is held by UK’s Tomintoul Distillery that produced a bottle of whisky weighing in at 164kg and stands some 144cm tall (just under 5ft), filled by hand with 105 litres (the equivalent of 150 standard bottles) of 14-year-old Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Scotch.

Something to eat with such Giant drinks

World’s largest Sandwich

This sandwich from Mexico holds the Guinness record for being the world’s largest weighing just over 3178 kgs. It took almost eight workers just to lift one slice of bread.  

Finally we come to India with   Largest tea party-world record set by Indore

More than 32,000 people sipped their way into a new world record as India hosted the world's largest tea party in Indore.

For making the ‘Largest Tea Party’ a success, almost 980 volunteers made 5000 litres of tea with 2500 litres of milk and water. About 250 kilograms of tea dust and sugar was used in making the tea. 

Hope you found the read interesting. The data and the pictures are from the internet and from Guinness blogs if anybody finds them inappropriate, write to me & I would remove them.

Cheers!!

Planning for a Holiday!!

   The thought of “going on a holiday” is such a happy thought that it can put a smile on almost everyone’s face. Actually, the fun starts with planning the holiday, the hours, days & weeks of planning for that weeklong holiday or just that weekend getaway is equally exciting as going on the holiday itself. Nowadays it’s very easy to research on a new destination and feels like a breeze if compared to about a decade back.

I still remember spending hours together at those long booking queues at the railway counter exactly two months prior to the date of the journey trying to get confirmed tickets. Sometimes we were successful and sometimes not. The times we were able to get tickets we felt like God and other times when we couldn’t, we used to look up to the “devils”, the booking agents for their divine intervention. Most of the time they “managed” to get us tickets. 

After tickets it was the turn of hotel bookings, transportation etc. again we were at the mercy of the tour operators for advance bookings, payments and confirmations. Even after taking all the necessary precautions there was no guarantee that the holiday would go as planned. In short there was always an element of uncertainty, a risk… no a “huge” risk according to many… therefore these people never travelled to new destinations and limited their visits to their respective native places or religious tours. In fact it was difficult for them to understand the concept of leisure holidaying. 

The biggest advantage of travel according to me is the learning that you receive, the better understanding of people, their life, their ways and why they are as they are.  

In the recent past this outlook has changed though, stable economy, advancements in web media, online bookings & online travel agents has been a major factor in this new wave of change. People today are looking to travel further. They love to experiment & explore new destinations, understand new culture and meet new people.

A major part of this shift should be credited to travel websites wherein one can plan their holidays up to the last detail. With a wide choice of travel options ranging from airlines to trains to buses and even local cabs, one can decide the options based on their travel plans. Here you are the boss & don’t have to depend on what the tour operator is offering.  You can fully customize your holiday according to your wish.

Hotels are another section where these websites excel, they are armed with photos, videos and information of almost all the hotels listed on their sites, so much so that when you actually visit that hotel you get a feeling of déjà vu. Some hotel deals come with sightseeing and meal options, giving the user an option to suit his plan & pocket.

Then there are websites like tripadvisor that give you information, reviews & ratings by the people who have actually visited those places, so that you may plan accordingly and decide whether to visit a place or give it a miss.

Some of the major players in India are

make my trip

expedia

cleartrip

irctc.co.in

Many of these websites fight for the same pie of the cake so don’t hesitate to call them up to customize your holiday and ask for better deals, you may even end up paying much less than you actually budgeted for. 

So go ahead and have a sooper holiday!  

A Day with Mr. Perfectionist: Aamir Khan

           My wife looked at me, I could see a hint of a smile on her face as she stood staring at me indicating that I was spending way too much time in front of the mirror today. I understood the look on her face, as if trying to tell me hello…. People are not going to watch you, so you better hurry up and leave. I shrugged off and thought she was just being jealous because I was invited to the studio and not her. An hour later I was standing in the lobby of Yash Raj studios with my colleagues, still pinching each other and trying to believe the fact that we were about to meet the ever so illusive, Mr. Perfectionist - Aamir Khan.

             It all started with a simple phone call that went somewhat like this Hello I am calling from Aamir Khan Productions and we are shooting for his TV show, as the topic of the show is very relevant to your industry would your students like to be a part of the show. Without asking too many details we jumped at the offer, a chance to meet the bollywood icon was reason enough to accept it. 

             We were given not many details of the topic but a few vague guidelines, like the name of the show was Satyamev Jayate and that it was based on social causes and knowing how Aamir  likes to keep the details close to his heart we did not ask for any further info. At the studio we were seated at the swanky set, with our cell phones safe deposited at the entrance all plans of clicking pictures were washed off. The production team were going about their chores, then suddenly at sharp 10.30 am as promised  Aamir appeared out of nowhere from behind the set. It took almost a minute or so for everybody to realize that it was actually him. Then a section of audience stood up and started clapping, we too joined in, he just stood there smiling in acknowledgement. Somebody in the audience whispered “arre ekdum same dikhta hai”… & I still thought I was watching him on a big screen TV.

               He was very graceful in his approach. He was meeting & greeting all the guests and putting everyone at ease starting from his production team to the audience & even his make-up man. We had read and heard a lot about his habit of doing re-takes for each and every shot and we braced ourselves as the shooting started, sitting straight, laughing at the light-hearted comments…. cringing and feeling angry at the atrocities by a few powerful people…..  Clapping at the heroics of a few brave hearts. The whole experience was an emotional roller coaster and the driver of this ride was Aamir himself. The transition from one topic to another seemed like a synchronized orchestra in spite of it being a live reality talk show. Never even for a moment was he disoriented from the topic and moderated the discussions like a pro. Of course there were re-takes, but they were far few and genuine.

                           The myth surrounding the bollywood icon was slowly collapsing and a common man with a unique & uncommon will power to showcase something so important & meaningful was emerging. That day I understood why he is referred to as  Mr. Perfectionist. It’s not because he pokes his nose in small nitty-gritty’s of everyday production work but because he works his heart out and does his job with complete honesty and integrity. The fact that for each episode he had a separate team working on the various issues for the past two years itself showcases his commitment toward his tasks at hand.  

                          The day ended with a heartwarming number by composer Ram Sampath.  We left the studio with a happy feeling of having achieved something good and fruitful. Next morning while sipping coffee from the souvenir mug of Satyamev Jayate I thought  that  although we were just an audience to his show, we all were full of hope of the positives that could come out of this noble initiative.

Satyamev Jayate !.

Disclaimer:

 I am in no way related with the businesses or interests of Aamir Khan Productions. The above experience is true as stated as we were invited to be the audience of the talk show.

The tentative telecast date of the above episode dealing with harmful pesticides used in growing food grains, vegetables and fruits is 24^th June 2012. 

A Biker & his Bikes

       I start with a quote by U.S. president John F. Kennedy, “Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride.” That is so true about biking, it sure is a pleasure enjoyed by a lucky lot who ride their beloved machines. In the wee years of my life I don’t exactly remember when this love, this craze, this fever for bikes took over & captured my imagination, the earliest memories I have was of these collages which me and my brother used to make during our summer vacations and the topic of our interest was bikes, with pictures cuttings from various magazines and newspapers we used to adore at our own creations for months at length. I used to save my pocket money to buy those international cars & bikes magazine (second hand) and was quite popular in the group because of them.

      My first bike ride (well sort of) was courtesy my friend who, after a lot of cajoling… reluctantly handed over his bike keys to me, but refused to sit behind. I had learnt to ride bikes a lot of times…. In my head that is…for hours I used to imagine  my bike rides, used to observe bikes on road and used to mentally plan my moves….  But this was the real thing… the first actual physical ride. After confirming the gear position I set off.. only to come to a standstill after about 10 meters…thud… the bike went dead and all my confidence and hours of planning went down the drain. The most relieved person was my friend who promptly took the keys back and hurriedly took control of his bike, giving me no chance to explain.

      I got so nervous about the whole gear and clutch combination that couple of months later when the time came to buy my first own two wheeler I opted for the, then nation’s most loved non geared scooter ‘The Kinetic Honda zx’ (kinee), I loved the high revving auto gear engine, flat footboard,  it was complete freedom the in mind as well as on the roads… I was always first off any red light leaving behind all the other bikes and scooters and I just loved the small races to the next red light… on the open highway well it was no match to the bikes but yeah in the city where there are more red lights than trees, this little kinee was the king. About 3 years & 37000 kms later I parted with it but the memories of those days are so fresh that even today I remember the petrol bunk guys used to fill half litre petrol for 10 bucks and that I used to squirm if anybody called my kinee a scooter.

      My next bike was a Hero Honda Passion.. the fill it-shut it-forget it tagline company was becoming popular as people were now more concerned about rising petrol prices and ‘kitna deti hai’ was the probably the first question on everybody’s mind. The trusted 100 cc motor, improved handling and better looks were the plus points of Passion over its older sibling ‘Splendor’. With this bike I could go further on the same quantity of fuel than my kinee.. it was a no-nonsense bike, it never once let me down mechanically and I loved the go anywhere attitude of this bike. I even changed the colour scheme and gave it a complete makeover in its mid-life. It was my true companion in my job struggle years & its frugal nature only helped. It gave an ultimate final sacrifice when we parted as the money helped me buy a plane ticket for my first international job assignment, for this reason and many others it will always be a long lost true friend.

     As some bike lover has rightly said “Only Bikers understand why dogs love to stick their heads out car windows”, therefore when I came back to motherland, the search for a two wheeler started again, for a few months I relied on a friend’s Hero Honda CBZ, the bike was faster compared to my earlier one and the increased cc only gave me more confidence to look out for a bigger bike as my next companion.

    The Royal Enfield… the name gives me goose bumps even today as it used to when I was a kid collecting pictures for my collages. The company had come out with a new twin spark engine and many reviews suggested it to be a vast improvement over its previous editions. I went to the showroom with the intention to have a look at the lineup as I was aware that the prices were steep and out of my budget. 1 hour and 10 minutes later I walked out of the showroom after having signed the dotted line, I was smiling all the way back home and my face shined as bright as a well lit marine drive…. and all of this was even before I got my bike home.

     The Royal Enfield Thunderbird twin spark came home in late 2009 & since then it is living with me. The moment you start the bike you realize rich legacy of the bike and you are overwhelmed the fact that the company has been churning out heart thumping bikes for over half a century with the same passion. My relation with this bike has been getting stronger by the day. I have been on many solo and group rides and every time I have come back with a greater respect for this legend.

    Today I don’t aspire to be off the red light first (though I know this bike is very much capable of doing that), I don’t engage in those red light races. This bike has taught me to be a more mature human being, but still even today every time somebody gives a second look at this fabulous machine, I have the same hint of grin I had when I first booked this bike.   

I finish with a quote from another biker “Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.”

  

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