Beijingers need fine wines for less

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-09 11:40

John Gai swirls a glass of Abrego 2006, imported from Spain.

"When I choose a wine, it should be ripe," said Palette Vino's founder and managing director, John Gai, as we tasted two wines at its Dongsi Yitiao location. Swirling the glass thoughtfully he added, "And it should taste ripe and balanced."

For the 41-year-old Beijing native, chef and wine expert, wine appreciation is an education that need not be expensive.

And it is this idea that forms the foundation of his two Beijing-based businesses: Palette Wines, a wine wholesale and distribution company, and Palette Vino, bistros he opened to bring affordable foreign wines and his passion for fine dining together.

Palette Wines, the main importer for Palette Vino restaurants, is how Gai manages to keep prices reasonable.

"Seventy percent of our wines we import ourselves," he said. "We negotiate the lowest price from producers, vineyards and agents and then ship them to China, where we manage that cost as well."

Just how Gai got his passion for wines and fine dining has been an odyssey, and spans the entire Eurasian continent.

In 1992, after a job opening a Chinese restaurant in Hungary fell through, he took the time to travel around the Baltic States and fell in love with Talinn, Estonia's capital city.

"It was a beautiful, medieval city," he recalled.

"It was right after it gained its independence from the Soviet Union, so I saw an opportunity to open the first Chinese restaurant in all the Baltic States," he said.

However, it was only when Gai returned to Beijing in 1996 that he started managing the CourtYard hutong restaurant and became closely involved with wines.

Two years later in 1998 he met members of the Zonin family, who run Italy's largest privately owned vineyard and winemaking business, at a Beijing wine exhibition and they took him on as their manager for China.

"It was my job to look for the importers and distributors for the company, analyzing local market trends and reporting it back to the family," he said.

"I also helped train the staff to know about wines."

In September 2002 he founded Palette Wines, a name suggested by a close friend to impart a rich variety of flavors and colors.

Until recently Palette Wines sold exclusively to hotels, companies and private customers.

But in 2005, it opened the first Palette Vino restaurant and wine bar in Shunyi district near Pinnacle Plaza, then a second in Central Park (a retail wine store), and by the end of 2008 another in Dongsi Yitiao.

Palette Wines claims the largest South African wine portfolio in Beijing, using nine different vineyards and each with two or three different wines, plus extensive Spanish, Italian and Australian portfolios.

But his diverse selection is being overlooked by inexperienced and wealthy taste buds.

"Some people drink names, not wine," he said declaratively.

"They just don't know enough, which is why the industry of importing wines into China tends to be big business."

Gai said the costs of wine are dropping in developed markets such as the US and parts of Europe, Holland and Germany.

"It seems costs became more reasonable over time because it became more competitive, and people would not accept these high prices," he said.

"This trend has not really reached big hotels and restaurants here.

Despite his best efforts to keep the cost of wines available at his bistros low, Gai's business struggles to expand beyond Beijing. Gai admits he has had a tough year.

"I think, for now, finance is a big issue," he said.

"It really depends on how we look at this as a long-term investment and whether or not we copy it to another location."

To show off some "absolutely, very delicious" Spanish wines, reasonably priced from suppliers between 200 and 300 yuan, Gai served up a bottle of Abrego 2006, made from Tempranillo grapes found in Castilla, Spain (200 yuan).

With its low tanning, caramel and prune accents with a medium body, it demands to be served all by itself.

"The grapes were picked at the right time," he remarked.

"This vineyard picks them at night and quickly transports them to the winery, and the barrels are medium-toasted oak so as not to overpower."

His full bodied and rich personal insights are evidently present in every bottle he sells.