Finding the magic in his grapes

Sophie Liu has recently published Grandes Vinos de Chile: Legends of the Top 18.

Sipping by the book

She's published comprehensive books on the wines of Italy and France for Chinese readers, but Shanghai-based author Sophie Liu has a special place in her heart for the wine country of Chile.

That has led to her most recent book, Grandes Vinos de Chile: Legends of the Top 18, which was launched at a reception hosted by Chilean Ambassador to China Jorge Heine at the embassy in Beijing last week.

"People don't really know Chilean wine, its best wine, beyond the entry-level labels," she says. "While French wine is best-known in China, it's famous for five really great wines from Bordeaux. To know Chile's top wines, you have to learn about 18, so it's much more complicated."

That's changing some, thanks to visits to China by Eduardo Chadwick and other premium winemakers, classes and tastings hosted by wine professionals like Liu. "Sales of our highest quality wines were up 36 percent in China last year," says Julio Alonso, director of Wines of Chile Asia. "China will probably be Chile's biggest wine market in 2016."

Ambassador Heine saluted Liu as a true friend of Chile and its wines, adding that books like hers are important platforms for ideas.

"Sophie's book is not based simply on tastings and meeting our winemakers when they come to Asia," he says. "It's based on fieldwork－she has visited many times, done many interviews and conveys to the world vividly what Chile's wine industry is up to."

"I love the wine country of Chile, the laid-back but professional atmosphere and the friendliness of the people," she says. "When my work leaves me feeling stressed, it always feels good to be back in Chile."

The book is currently published only in Chinese, but Liu hopes to one day produce a translated edition.