What wine goes with guacamole?
Fresh from her UFO, a female alien speaking fluent English, bearing the physique of a comely woman of our own species (with glowing green skin and cute antenae to boot), and holding two still-steaming seven-layer burritos from Taco Bell flown in at supersonic speeds from the U.S. - even that (almost) would have been a less delightful surprise than what I discovered on my doorstep as I arrived at home tonight (last night).
Call it a watershed moment, but it’s not every Beijing day that one receives a 16-page booklet titled “2007 Spring Wine Fair.” This one’s from Carrefour and has deals on wines from 12 countries from six continents. Instead of just listing the wines and their prices, this booklet includes:
- An icon for each wine that suggests whether it would pair best with meat, fish, spicy foods or “desert & sweat” (obviously “desserts and sweets” is meant).
- Write-ups on some of the wines (it’s pretty much the info on the back label, but that’s better than nothing) and a small section called “How to drink Rose wines?”
- Volume deals: buy six bottles of Ruffino Chianti 2004 for 540 kuai and one of them is free.
- A sale on wine glasses, corkscrews and bottle stoppers (although glasses at the flower market are a better value).
This is an excellent way to market wine to customers who might be shy about perusing the hypermarket shelves. Most of the more than 100 wines included in the booklet are entry level, which provides a lot of choice at reasonable prices for beginners. And for those into bubbles, there’s Veuve Clicquot at 388 kuai and the budget friendly magnum (1.5 liters) of Changyu sparkling cider at 22.8 kuai (which attendees at my latest blind tasting of Chinese wines easily polished off).
(By the way, I had no idea that Carrefour was selling wines such as Chateau Margaux or Chateau Latour – RMB 3800 and up.)
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