French winemaker brings his passion to the Chinese vineyard

He then encountered a Chinese woman he found to be much like Zhang and decided she was the one he was looking for. Soon he quit his job in France to be a wine distributor in Beijing, and he married her two years later.

In 2010, Paumard made a visit to Hansen when he toured Chinese vineyards for his book about wine. While his Beijing business was doing well, Paumard soon accepted the owner's invitation to work there.

"I believed it was a good challenge for me to improve the image of Chinese wines," he recalls. He has helped the vineyard developed many new products, which he proudly calls "my babies".

Paumard says working in China has changed him in a good way - "I am more patient than before" - and he's impressed by the kindness around him.

"People here are so nice to me, which makes me feel like being on another planet compared to when I'm in France," he says. He's mutually cordial and greets every worker at the winery in simple Chinese.

However, there is often a clash of ideas about winemaking, he says.

For example, like many domestic winemakers, Hansen's Chinese technicians wanted to filter wine for sediment-free quality to better accommodate Chinese customers' tastes. For Paumard and French conventions, that is over-processing - he'd rather leave some sediment, which also preserves flavor. The two sides finally agreed that no sediment will appear within the first year after the wine is bottled, which is the minimum period permitted according to China's national standard.

"I am glad they let me have the final say in most cases," Paumard says, laughing.

Paumard has also pushed to take Hansen products abroad, showing the wines at many international wine events.

"Today, our region is on the global map of vineyards, and our brand is known in the world," says Paumard. "That's a good beginning."

At Paumard's suggestion, a small museum about winemaking has been built at Hansen.