French wine dragon

Bruno Paumard believes great winemakers need powerful passions for life. [Photo by Wang Kaihao / China Daily]

Bruno Paumard believes great winemakers need powerful passions for life. [Photo by Wang Kaihao / China Daily]

Paumard travels around China and returns to Beijing, where his wife lives, a few times a month. But he mostly stays at the chateau, where he's the only live-in employee.

For Angers natives, wine tasting is more of a lifestyle than a hobby. Paumard believes those who've studied wine might be good ecologists but can't be great winemakers without powerful passions for life.

"Many Chinese winemakers lack experience in the vineyards and focus on the winery work, and that is a major deficiency compared with the world's top-level winemakers," says Paumard's colleague Wang Shuchao.

"But we're catching up."

There are also conflicting ideas about winemaking. The winery's chief technician Kang Dengzhao says Paumard insists French convention forbids over-processing. This leaves some sediment but also preserves flavor.

However, many domestic wineries filter wine for years of sediment-free quality to better accommodate Chinese customers' tastes.

The two sides finally compromised and agreed that no sediment will appear within the first year after the wine is bottled, which is the minimum period permitted by China's national standard.

"I am glad they let me have the final say in most cases," Paumard says, laughing.

Paumard says some French people still know little about China and hold stereotypes because of political reasons.

He believes good Chinese wine could be more effective at washing away prejudices than political discussions.

"My friends from France visited our vineyard and winery, and shouted: 'A few days ago, we didn't know Inner Mongolia, but now we find you do more business than Bordeaux! It's impossible!'"

Paumard has also led the winemakers to explore some vineyards farther south along the Ningxia Hui autonomous region's Helan Mountains. He's glad both regions enjoyed big harvests in recent years.

"We can never become Lafite, because we don't have their long history," Paumard says.

"But we don't have to be. As long as we can overcome the cold weather during winter, the world's best wine can be produced in the Gobi Desert."

Chateau Lafite Rothschild is probably the French wine brand that's best known among Chinese.

"Maybe I will hold a blind tasting to invite the world's top winemakers in two or three years," he says.

"I can't wait to see how many of them have the right answer and can tell which is my wine and which is a Lafite."

Yang Fang contributed to the story.