A Riesling revolution has just swept across China! Peter Barry of Jim Barry Wines, Etienne Hugel of the Hugel family, and Ernst Loosen of Dr Loosen  have joined forces with their importer and distributor Summergate, to challenge the reign of red wine in China. All through the week, the group conducted tastings, master classes, and media events across the region to celebrate the greatness of Riesling in all its many styles. The tour started in Macau, and moved on to the cities of Xiamen in Fujian province, and Chengdu in Sichuan province, followed by gala events in Shanghai, finally culminating in the capital city of Beijing on Saturday April 12th.

"We are championing Riesling as a spearhead of the white wine revolution in China. There is no better way to break China's red obsession than our Riesling Revolution tour with this trio of Riesling magicians" said Summergate founder and General Manager Ian Ford. "I expect our sales of Riesling to much more than double in the months and years ahead" said Ford.

China has been known for years as a red wine market, highlighted in the recent film "Red Obsession". The IWSR recently stated that China is now the largest red wine consuming nation on earth, at an estimated 1.86 billion bottles including domestic production.

"Summergate together with these three great producers are the first to take a huge step forward in promoting and celebrating Riesling and white wine, on a large scale, across this country" said Ford.

The "Riesling Revolution" tour climaxed in Beijing on Saturday April 12th, highlighted by a Riesling tasting review from all three producers, and a gala dinner with the Capital's top wine enthusiasts.

For the Hugel family, a solid presence in Asia dates back to the 1950's and now covers virtually every country in the region. Mainland China is clearly now the latest challenge.

With a website in 4 Asian languages, the simplified Chinese website has just been enriched with detailed product descriptions for the wines featured on this tour: Riesling Hugel 2012 and Riesling Jubilee 2007.

The above selection of photos our the Summergate Riesling Revolution tour can be found here https://www.flickr.com/photos/123206995@N05/sets/72157643938707823/

More details on http://www.summergate.com

Time for some exercise after some brilliant Olympic Games, definitely 2012 can be London pride... very good games ;-)

Our oldest plots of Pinot Noirs are now full into veraison on August 12, mountain bike downhill slalom return through the crowded main street of Riquewihr all the way down to our tasting room... About 6 more weeks until the start of our 2012 harvest