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In 1910 (The
second year of Xuantong Emperor, Qing Dynasty), a French friar converted
the Heishanhu Church's graveyard into a wine cave at Fuwai of Beijing.
He hired a French oenologist to produce both red and white wines for
the mass and daily drinking. The annual capacity then was only 50
to 60 hectoliters. In 1946, the Church officially registered the winery,
named it "La Shangyi Cave de Pékin (Shangyi Winery of Beijing)"
and began to sell its products in domestic market. This winery was
acquired by the state in 1949 with 13 employees and annual capacity
less than 100 hectoliters. In February 1959, the Beijing Government
changed its name into "Beijing Winery" and moved it to the
existing location at No.2 Yuquan Road. At the same time, Beijing Winery
launched the "Zhonghua (中华)" brand and began to produce
quality wine and spirits such as "Kuei Hua Chen Chiew (桂花陈)",
"Lien Hua Pai Chiew (御莲白)" and "Chinese Sweet Red Wine
(中国红)". All these products are pioneers in the domestic and international
markets, which also met the market demand perfectly. Beijing Winery
soon became a renowned producer and the market leader. In March 17th
of 1987, Beijing Dragon Seal Winery was established as a subsidiary
of Beijing Winery in order to introduce French oenology into its products.
The first bottle of Dragon Seal wine was launched in 1988, the year
of dragon according to Chinese lunar calendar.
To guarantee
wine quality, some French viticulturists made a through study of the
soil structure and climate in several vine-growing areas in China
to identify the ideal grape source for Dragon Seal. Eventually, Huailai
of Hebei Province, a county with over 800 years of viticulture history
and 150 km northwest from Beijing, had been selected as the vineyard
of Dragon Seal to cultivate more than 10 varieties of royal grapes
imported from France. Dragon Seal's pledge is to guarantee each bottle
of its wine is made from 100 % quality grapes which are carefully
cultivated in China. The production of Dragon Seal is always supervised
by a French oenologist and two France-trained Chinese oenologists.
Dragon Seal
is a pioneer in the following areas in China:
l One of wineries
which have long history of producing varietal wines - the Dragon Seal
"Cabernet Sauvignon " and "Chardonnay" are highly
regarded by consumers and wine professionals.
l The first sparkling wine producer - Dragon Seal Sparkling Wine is
produced under traditional Champagne method.
l The first producer of regional wine - "Dragon Seal Huailai
Reserve", a wine made from the red varieties of Huailai Region,
was launched in 1996 as its first vintage.
For its outstanding
quality, Dragon Seal attained its first wine medal in 1989 (the following
year of the establishment of the Winery) in Reims of France. Subsequent
to this international recognition, Dragon Seal had been awarded another
27 medals in many important international competitions. To name a
few:
l Dragon Seal
Chardonnay - Sliver Medal at " Chardonnay du Monde " in
Burgundy of France, 1996;
l Dragon Seal Cabernet Sauvignon (Vintage 1997) - " The Best
Chinese Red Wine " at "Hong Kong International Wine Competition",
1999;
l Dragon Seal Sparkling Wine - "Medal d'argent" at "Sélection
Mondiales 2000" in Montreal, Canada;
l Dragon Seal Huailai Reserve Red (Vintage 1997) - Bronze Medal
at "Bordeaux International Wine Competition" in 2000.
Dragon Seal
joins hand in hand with all Chinese wines to create a better future.
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