Reports

    China's Growing Love Of Wine Goes To The Extreme

    Liaoning-based Wang Cheng Beverage Co. produced the world's largest bottle of wine this week in honor of the Shenyang Food Festival. Although we can't vouch for the taste of the wine, if Chinese media reports are any indication, it did help kick off a great party.
    Jing DailyAuthor
      Published   in Finance

    15ft Tall Bottle, Containing Nearly 2,000 Liters Of Wine, Sets New World Record#

    We knew that wine was pretty popular in China, but the 15ft high, 1,850 liter (489 gallon) bottle of wine produced by Wang Cheng Beverage Company in Liaoning province may be a bit much. The massive bottle, over three times larger than the previous recordholder, a comparatively puny 490 liter bottle of Grande Cuvee by Austrian winemakers Kracher, has succeeded in getting some attention for Wang Cheng (and, by extension, the Liaoning ice wine industry, which producers there see as a niche they can monopolize thanks to their chilly climate).

    According to an article by the Shenyang Evening News (Chinese), creating the world's largest bottle of ice wine did have a point aside from publicity. As the article states, Wang Cheng, with the support of the Shenyang Food Industry Office, produced the bottle in honor of the Shenyang Food Festival, which began this week.

    Considering Wang Cheng (王城饮品有限公司) advertises itself as a producer of everything from hawthorn juice to a form of V8 to ice wine, it's hard to gauge how serious the company is about being accepted as a top-quality winery. Although we can't vouch for the taste of the wine itself, if the Shenyang Evening News article is any indication, however, it sounds like the giant bottle did manage to help kick off a pretty great party, if nothing else (Translation by Jing Daily team):

    When the host announced that the filling ceremony had begun, a specially-outfitted truck made its way into the filling station. On the truck, in a special wine rack sat a massive, empty ice wine bottle. Amid warm applause, the executive vice-mayor of the Huanren Manchu Autonomous Region, Zhang Yichen, hit the fill button. Immediately, "41 Ice Wine" (so named because the geographical location of ice wineries in Liaoning -- at 41 degrees latitude -- is said to be ideal for producing ice wine - JD) flowed from a massive container through a 6 meter long pipeline into the transparent 4.56 meter high bottle, which can hold nearly two tons of wine. Every journalist's camera seemed to go off at the same time. Then everybody raised their glass to taste a sample, each of them full of praise.



    Ice wine is still a new product and new industry in China, having only been here for a few years. As living standards have risen, ice wine, with its high nutritional value, great taste and appearance, has been accepted as a top-quality beverage. Great Eastern Food Stores (a local grocery chain - JD) and Huanren Wang Cheng Beverage Company, Ltd. have seized the opportunity to ride on the momentum of ice wine in China, introducing this high quality product to the local market.
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