From Cheval Blanc to Zinfandel

Teaching the Chinese the ABC’s of wine has become a booming business for entrepreneurs Fongyee Walker and Edward Ragg

Academic Fongyee Walker parlayed her personal passion for fine wine into a fast-growing business by doing what she does best: making seemingly-complex topics understandable to eager students.

For much of her adult life， British-born Walker was a lecturer in Chinese at the prestigious Cambridge University， a fairly remarkable achievement given that she only started learning to speak， read and write the language in her late teens. Walker has a formidable intellect and learns quickly – assets that proved useful when starting a wine consultancy business in China with husband Edward Ragg two years ago.

Both had a keen interest in wine – Walker was captain of the university’s wine-tasting team and Ragg’s brother was and still is in the wine trade. Despite a lack of hands-on experience in the rough-and-tumble world of commerce — or possibly because of it — the pair plunged in headfirst and founded Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting， a Beijing-based company that offers wine-training classes， translation services， wine sourcing and restaurant wine-list recommendations.

“In England， wine educators and wine pundits are two a penny， so we decided to come to Asia，” says Walker， 39. “I was always keen on Beijing， as I studied classical Chinese at Tsinghua University， and taught there at first while we made inquiries about setting up the business.

“At first we couldn’t have a business license because wine consulting didn’t officially exist! We also had a huge problem with the word ‘education’， because foreign-owned companies cannot become involved in education easily， so we had to make it clear that it was wine training. For about a year nobody quite knew what we were doing. We got loads of phone calls asking if we sold wine.

“Our main business is holding wine courses， talking to wineries hoping to enter China， and conducting market research. I do an awful lot of work with translation because wine terms are usually badly translated.

“I love it. A lot of people I work with are surprised with the translations I come up with because my background is in poetry. My job is to make it sound as good in Chinese as it does in English; the one that used to kill me was reading that Syrah was spicy hot， like chili heat. Since when did you have a wine that had chili in it? What people had read was that it had black fruit flavors， with lots of spice – what they meant was cloves and cinnamon， not chili.”

One of the fastest-growing sectors of the business is educating people about wine. Some of Walker’s courses are geared towards wine industry professionals who want to learn more about the technical side of wine production. Others are for individuals keen to improve their overall knowledge. The courses are certified by the UK-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust and range in price from around RMB 2，000 to RMB 11，000 (USD 308 to 1，694); personalized courses tailored to individuals or groups are also offered.

Danielle Liu has taken both the intermediate and advanced level courses. Liu， a marketing executive with importer The Wine Republic， found it a useful tool. “It helps you to identify wine from a specific region and specific village，” she says. “Not so many people in China know a lot about wine so if you have some knowledge people regard you as an expert.

“Most customers don’t know what kind of wine， or style， they need， so they need advice. I am in charge of marketing at The Wine Republic， which also includes training staff in hotels， and sometimes for private companies; I introduce new wines to them and give advice on (choosing) proper wines for specific events.”

Students such as Liu come to the courses with a solid professional grounding in wine， but when Walker ventures out into the second and third-tier Chinese cities， the knowledge level plummets dramatically.

“I have to start from the basics，” she says. “Many of our clients are proactive wine companies who realize they are not selling as much as they could be because they don’t have any knowledge. We generally do introductory courses: they are literally on the levels of ‘there are three kinds of wine， red and white and did you know there was pink wine?’ and there are startled gasps and ‘wow it must look really pretty’. I spoke to someone who told me very proudly he imported Italian wines and yet he had never heard of Chianti.

“In one city， I did a presentation to 100 consumers. I usually go around to every table and sit with them individually. One of the main problems is that people have gotten their education from the wineries whose products they are importing and， of course， they receive a very slanted view. They are actually very weak on the basic fundamentals of wine because their education has not been systematic.”

Education is a topic Walker knows plenty about， having been both a stellar student and an effective lecturer. Among the subjects she pursued to an advanced level were Greek， Latin and chemistry， before embarking on the study of classical Chinese.

“I didn’t begin Chinese until I was 18， which I find quite remarkable now，” says Walker， whose Harbin-born mother Rossana Zhao Xue Zhuang emigrated to the United Kingdom where she worked as a nurse， later meeting and marrying pharmacologist Michael Walker. “I thought， ‘this is ridiculous; this is what I should be learning’ and decided I wanted to study it. I later taught classical Chinese at Cambridge for six years.”

It was at Cambridge， in eastern England， that Walker first became interested in wine. Boyfriend — and later husband — Edward Ragg introduced her to the Cambridge University varsity wine-tasting team， where she proved to be something of a star.

Recalls Walker: “He knew I was a good cook， and knew I had good taste buds， yet I knew bugger-all about wine， which he thought was a disgrace. When I joined， the membership had dwindled， but because I received the top tasting marks I was invited to be captain. I made it more inclusive， wrote a handbook for people， and went out on the streets and asked people if they wanted to learn about wine. I really hate people being snotty about wine， to me wine is like food， something to enjoy for the pure pleasure.”