Wine in China

Wine (Chinese: 葡萄酒, p pútáojiǔ, lit. "grape alcohol") has a long history in China. Although long overshadowed by the stronger huangjiu (sometimes translated as "yellow wine") and the much stronger distilled spirit baijiu, wine consumption has grown dramatically since the economic reforms of the 1980s and China is now numbered among the top ten global markets for wine. Ties with French producers are especially strong and vineyards in Ningxia have received international recognition.

History

The history of Chinese grape wine has been dated back more than 4,600 years. In 1995, a joint Sino-USA archaeology team including archaeologists from the Archeology Research Institute of Shandong University and American archaeologists under the leadership of Professor Fang Hui (方辉) investigated the two archaeological sites 20 km to the northeast of Rizhao, and discovered the remnants of a variety of alcoholic beverages including grape wine, rice wine, mead, and several mixed beverages of these wines. Out of more than two hundred ceramic pots discovered at the sites, seven were specifically used for grape wine. Remnants of grape seeds were also discovered. If grape wine consumption was once present in Bronze Age China, however, it was replaced by consumption of a range of alcoholic beverages made from sorghum, millet, rice, and fruits such as lychee or Asian plum.