Casual drinkers cheer development of local wines

Four clusters of wines sit on a long vintage metal table in a spacious Beijing art gallery, where a mix of Chinese and Western antiques are displayed. Accompanied by popular music from the 1950s, a group of judges take turns sampling the bottles. They pour some of each wine into a glass, take a sip, taste and swirl, spit it out, then write down their impressions.

But this isn't a scene from a professional wine competition. It's the Grape Wall Challenge, one of the few Chinese wine-tasting events that puts the spotlight on Chinese wine consumers instead of oenological experts. This year, the eighth annual event took place at Pop-Up Beijing around the Chinese New Year.

First held in 2009, the event traditionally focuses on popular wines from around the world priced at less than 100 yuan ($15) that are usually neglected by experts and the media. But this year, event founder Jim Boyce from Canada decided to introduce 16 small-scale, high-quality Chinese wines.