Focus on quality, heritage leads to enhanced taste

Tea and wine are found to share many things in common

Connoisseurs of wine and tea have had the opportunity to find out for themselves just how similar two beverages traditionally regarded as being totally different actually are.

Tea manufacturers from China's Pu'er, in Yunnan province, have in recent years developed strong links with their grape-growing counterparts in France's famous Bordeaux region. The move led to an exhibition opening in Pu'er last month, attracting hundreds of visitors.

It shows how both tea and wine are dependent on terroir - a concept by which a particular region's climate, soils and terrain affects the taste of a product - and how wider influences of geography, heritage and lifestyle bond Bordeaux wine and Pu'er tea together.

Jean-Francois Galhaud, president of Conseil des Vin de Saint-Emillion, says Bordeaux wine and Pu'er tea each have a rich heritage that enables consumers to experience more than just tasting.

The wines of Saint-Emilion-Pomerol-Fronsac and the teas of Pu'er share many similarities: first of all, they are cultivated in exceptional conditions. They also share the same care taken in their elaboration: this involves the importance of the terroir, the selection of grape varieties and tea plants, harvesting, sorting grapes or leaves, assembling, fermenting, preserving. And when it comes to the tasting, the preparation of wine or tea becomes an art, especially the moment of sharing and conviviality. Despite being 10,000 kilometers away, Pu'er tea and Saint-Emilion-Pomerol-Fronsac wines show a representative ancestral knowledge of their history and their own culture, which is very similar to one of the other, according to Galhaud.

For Wang Yuhong, a collector of wine and tea, the more he drinks them the more he feels the two share many other things in common.

"In terms of taste, both have balanced tannin, and have a particular sweetness like cinnamon," said Wang. "In terms of the tasting culture, appreciating wine and tea requires a set of rites, from preparing the glasses or china tea cup set to the appearance-nose-palate observation."

It's also the case that nonalcoholic tea and the alcoholic beverage that is wine share similar production processes - both are picked at certain times of the year and both benefit from a fermentation process and require aging.

Visitors to the exhibition say becoming more terroir-conscious when tasting a local region's food and beverages enriches their travel experiences.

"When you visit the places where wine and tea are produced, you will realize that perhaps drinking the beverages is the quickest way to understand a locality," Zhou Xinyang, from Shanghai, said.

A trip to Europe last year helped Liu Hengxuan, a 32-year-old securities investment researcher based in Shanghai, become aware of the importance terroir has on the appreciation of many other products.

"Cheeses, wines, sausages and even milk tasted different in various cities," said Liu. "When I came back to China, I noticed that even roasted ducks taste different from one area to the next. Some are crispier, some are more marinated. The more I travel, the more I notice the influence of natural conditions and people's lifestyle on food and beverage."

Chen Silin, a 36-year-old clerk at a logistics company, says e-commerce is making products from other regions and abroad more accessible and that parcels shipped through the postal network are increasingly likely to contain food and beverages.

"Some people who work and live in another city miss the taste of hometown," said Chen. "With cold chain logistics, fresh and perishable food such as processed meat like ham and sausages are now can easily delivered. Sitting at home and you can have a wide selection of ham across China and even from all over the world."

SF Express is among the courier providers which have launched services specifically for food and beverage delivery from key production regions.

"Tangerines from Jiangxi province, hairy crabs from Jiangsu province, sausages from Yunnan province, spicy sauce from Guizhou province - you name it, they are all available online," said Bai Zhigui, a keen shopper using SF Express' online shop purchasing local food.

Ma Songlian, an analyst with Shanghai-based Hanshen Commerce Research, said that when consumers have an awareness of a product's terroir it helps them focus more on quality and taste, which benefits the food and beverage sector overall.

"In the past there was a myth about foods and beverages that the quality and taste are associated with the price and branding," said Ma. "With rising awareness for terroir, consumers focus on the taste, quality and heritage of the making of the product. In this way, the meaning of food and beverage have returned to eating and dining, a pure joy and that you can share with family."

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn