While most of the imported wines sold in China come from the big producers (France, Australia, Spain, Italy and Chile), there are some very interesting, high quality wines from smaller countries available in Beijing. In Austria, small family-owned wineries dominate, producing outstanding sweet wines like Kracher (￥336) from ASC, as well as dry aromatic whites, Nigl ‘Dornleiten’ Riesling (￥364) and Nigl ‘Freiheit’ Grüner Veltliner (￥286), both from The Wine Republic. Swiss wines are made in small volumes and difficult to find here, save Helvetica Chasselas (￥180/bottle) and Vin Defaux (￥300/bottle) both reds and whites, available from Café Europa. If you want to try a good Mexican wine (yes, really), order L.A Cetto White Chardonnay (￥290/bottle,￥45/glass) or the Red Zinfandel (￥280/bottle, ￥40/glass) at Saddle Catina. Other noteworthy small producers are Georgia and Cyprus. Last but not the least, with Bhutan now boasting a commercial vineyard, keep an eye out for wine from this Himalayan Kingdom. And let me know if you do find a bottle.

Campbell Thompson