"Best in the World" award for book on Chinese Wineries.

--> At the international Cookbook Fair in Beijing, China, Janis Miglavs—that's me—received the “Best in the World” award for my most recent book China: The New Wine Frontier.

But the best part of getting the award: the Chinese publisher flew me from Sherwood, Oregon, to Beijing, China, in business class.  

See this big grin on my face, that’s because this was the first publisher to ever fly me anywhere, let alone China, and business class.  You  should see all the different kinds of wine Air Canada offers on Business Class.

For those who couldn't guess, that's me on the far right trying to tell the photographer how to use my camera. I also had to give a 30 second speech. And for those who have never seen me dressed up, I brought an appropriate jacket, but it was too darn hot in Beijing.

After all the people left, the publisher made me sign a stack of books even after I told them that would decrease the value of the 2.2 kilogram tome. It just dawned on me that I should have signed in Chinese characters instead of Latvian.

This Ningxia winery changed my perception of Chinese craftsmanship

When you think of Chinese workmanship, what words come to mind? 

For me, after visiting wineries all over China for the past five years, the descriptors include: Bigger is better, Showy, Poor craftsmanship, Mass produced, Cheap, It won't last long.  I would not have included: hand-crafted with pride.

Yuanshi winery near Yinchuan city in Ningxia Province changed that.

All of the buildings are crafted from local stone. The businessman owner, Mr. Yuan, designed the structures himself, built the winery complex on his family farm all from stone found in the area. 

In the piercing Ningxia desert sun, I watched one craftsman chisel a design of straight lines on a granite-like building block. It will take him five days to finish carving just this one stone.

I can only imagine going into a Zen-like state to chisel this one stone for 10 hours a day.

All day long this craftsman works in the piercing Ningxia desert sun to hand carve a design in the stone. It will take him five days to finish this one building block.

One goal of the owner is to provide jobs for the local people.

Entrance to YuanShi Winery with Helan Mountains in the background.

If the owner takes this much effort to build the winery, imagine the wine. Remind me to talk about that wine in a future post.

All images international copyright 2014 Janis Miglavs.

For a more comprehensive look at the China Wine industry see my recently released book China The New Wine Frontier written in both Chinese and English. (The book already won the "Best in the World" award from Gourmand.)

To order the book in China go to Amazon China. 

To order in the USA or internationally, contact the author/photographer at janis@jmiglavs.com.

Could our kids survive this African Initiation?

I was texting with my oldest grandson—aged 19—while reviewing photographs from my first Senegal trip to study with the remote Bedik tribe. We were texting about using drugs and his plans for the next couple of months. He seemed so clueless about surviving, let alone thriving.

The photographs were of the Bedik in the tiny village of Iwol. I happened to be in the village while the 12 and 13-year old boys were in the first month of initiation. For one month, they run around the village in a very prescribed way from sunrise until sunset. I personally can tell you it was more than 110 degrees F hot.  The boys did get a short mid-day lunch break in the shade of a tree.

For one month of their initiation, these 12 and 13-year old boys run like this from sunrise until sunset through the village.

Then, after the month of running, the initiates would spend another five months in the bush by themselves, living on their own.  Occasionally, elders would visit each boy to give guidance and instructions on how to survive, understand their dreams and thrive.

When I asked Chief Keita why this initiation, he thought for a long time, then replied: "To learn the Secrets of Life."

No small task. This Bedik initiation was definitely not a classroom for the meek. This was not your fraternity drink-booze-until-you-pass-out initiation or the gang style shoot-another person test. Rather the Bedik want to test the boy's inner courage, to face their fears and to experience the mystical.

I could only imagine the thoughts that these Bedik boys experience during those six months of initiation. Then, while replying to my grandson's text, I tried to imagine him going through the Bedik initiation for six months.     What, no iPhone, no video games,.... no electricity?

Part of learning the "Secrets of Life" includes spiritual lessons.

Which is China's most scenic vineyard?

  Estate vineyard at Chateau Changyu AFIP Global Winery, one hour out of Beijing, China.

Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot noir vines in Jade Valley Winery and Resort  vineyard in Shaanxi Province, China.

Chateau Junding winery seen from estate vineyard, near Penglai, Shandong Province, China.

Granite posts in vineyards of Treaty Port winery, Mulangou Village in the Shandong Province, China.

Estate vineyard at Treaty Port winery, Mulangou Village, near Penglai, Shandong Province, China.

Shepherd drives his sheep up walls of Yellow River Valley canyon with vineyard (upper right by the tree) which supplies grapes to Grace Winery in the Shanxi Province, China.

Yes, the nuclear power plant does interfere with the view of this Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard. That's Bogda Peak in the Tian Shan Mountain range, a World Heritage Site, near Fukang, Xinjian Province, China. The grapes are for Citic Guoan Winery (formerly Suntime International Wine Company).

Growing grapes in villages like Beng (also called Bu),  have changed the whole economy of the region. While I think this could be  one of China's best wine growing regions, as you can imagine, transportation is an issue. That's the LanCang (also called Lantsang, Lansang and Mekong) River roiling through in the Heng Duan Mountain Range, Yunnan Province, China. Oh yes, the grapes are for ShangriLa Winery.

This has to be some of the world's most rugged landscape to grow Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. This slopping vineyard near Yunling (Yunlingxiang), above the LanCang River, provides grapes for ShangriLa Winery. This is in Deqin County, Deqen, northwest Yunnan Province, China.

Unique Architectural Panoramas capture it all

Over the past 15 years while I’ve been photographing apartment projects, I’ve looked for ways to capture wide architectural vistas, project views and especially difficult, the entirety of small furnished spaces, like those tiny studio units. Three years ago I started creating panoramas. It took nearly two years to perfect.

Why Ethiopians put Coca Cola in red wine.

 While dining in an upscale local restaurant in Ziway, Ethiopia, (dinner US$1.49), I noticed the waiter serving red wine to the well-dressed trio at the next table. The waiter properly pulled the cork, and with a quick flick of his wrist, he poured out some of the wine onto the floor. Setting the wine bottle onto the table, the smartly-dressed waiter then popped the cap on a Coca Cola bottle and poured the contents into the vino bottle to replace what he had discarded. Then he served the mixed wine.

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Being a curious worldwide wine lover, I asked the waiter about this Ethiopian mixed drink. He replied, in a manner that subtly implied the whole world did it this way, “Ethiopians add Coca to red wine to decrease the alcohol content. And we add Sprite to white wine.”

Is this an idea for worldwide-designated drivers?

 

These are bottles of Red Wine and White Wine produced by Ethiopia's only winery prior to the French arriving several years ago as mentioned in a previous blog.

What happened when I gave cameras to remote tribes

For my First Stories (Undiscovered Myths) Project, I live with and study the Myths and Archetypal Dreams of Africa's most remote tribes, including the Mursi.

Since tourists flock to Ethiopia's remote Omo region to photograph the Tribes people, especially the Mursi women with the lip plates, I thought it would be fun to give Nikon cameras to the Mursi. My original idea was for the Mursi to photograph tourists as they photographed the Mursi, like everyone looking in a photographic mirror. Unfortunately, no tourists came to Belle, the remote village where I chose to live for a week in January of this year.

So what subjects did the Mursi--who are considered by far the most fierce of the Omo tribes—photograph for the first time in their lives? Well, duh, they photographed each other. 

Actually, the very first subject was me while taking a photograph of the first Mursi photographers. This was the first time they had ever held a camera.

Even the elders got into taking photographs. It did take this guy 3 snaps before he figured out he had to take his finger off the front of the lens.

No one did a selfie.

My personal Mursi guard, Mamoosh, became very popular with the ladies when he had the camera. 

My guide Andu, said that he had never seen the Mursi so "calm" as during our visit. Usually, the Mursi—the fiercest of the Omo tribes—are constantly agitating for something, like money.