How we came to start Treaty Port Vineyards Ltd

 

This is the story of how we came to set up Treaty Port Vineyards. It is not strictly true; few stories in China are. I will draw a veil over many of the difficulties of doing business, especially in China, and accentuate the successes. However, I hope it provides a taste of how this improbable project started.

 

 

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Chapter 1. It was May Day

  

It was May Day in 2004. I had been visiting companies in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, a province rich in coal, noodles and history. I was making these visits as part of my day job, investing in China’s stockmarkets. My wife, Tiffany, had accompanied me to take advantage of the public holiday to visit some local tourist sites. Our prime target was Pingyao, a well-preserved old town still surrounded by its walls. I had heard from a colleague that there was in this vicinity a grape wine company, which employed a French winegrower and produced drinkable wine.Read more... 

 

 

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Chapter 2: Setbacks notwithstanding…

 Our next visit to Penglai was in January 2005, accompanied by my Canadian relatives. Terracing had been suspended as the ground was frozen and could not be re-started until March. The government had not been able to provide the 200mu contracted. Some of the land was unsuitable; some was planted with Forestry Commission pine trees or apple trees, and some land the farmers simply did not wish to sell to the government. Faced with the imminent need to decide on the number of vines to import, my aunt made the eminently sensible suggestion that we only plant half of the land in 2005.Read more...

 

 

 

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Chapter 3: A change of direction

 

As if by magic, we now jump forwards to summer 2007. The last two chapters were written during the enforced idleness of the Chinese New Year holiday 2006, all Chinese businesses being closed and Tiffany’s pregnancy preventing us from leaving Shanghai for more pleasant surroundings. Now I already have a 1-year old daughter, Eliza, who has already made several trips to the wilds of Shandong.Read more...

 

  

 

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Chapter 4: First Harvest

 

Disaster. That is the only word for it. Everything that could go wrong did. Shortly before the harvest was due to begin, Christophe contacted me demanding a wage increase. When I suggested we could consider it after I had tasted some wine he was to make for me, he resigned. The six 5-ton stainless steel tanks which Christophe had designed with a factory in Taian, and for which we had paid a premium price,Read more...