WBWE Asia: Yantai, the City of Wines

Getting out of the Yantai Penglai International Airport was a seemingly easy chore as a first time visitor. But it dawned on me soon that getting to Crowne Plaza Hotel might not be a smooth ride I had anticipated as I did not see anyone from the organisers to receive me . Though there is a shuttle bus available just outside that takes you to the city hotels including Crowne Plaza about 60 kms away only for 25 RMB ($3.5), the company selling the tickets would not accept my International Credit Cards issued in India. And it occurred to me I was not carrying any Chinese currency.

Back inside the airport arrival lounge (mercifully, entry to the arrival hall is freely allowed, unlike India), I looked for the Currency Exchange booth which was closed at 6:00 pm for inexplicable reasons. A visit to the Tourist Center was no help as the lady did not know any English (which by the way is true for the whole city and perhaps country, from my previous experience during the last 3 visits). She seemed to feel hassled but all I wanted to know was direction to the hotel and how to get a taxi. On my third attempt, she called a number on her phone and talked to a lady on the other end, who knew English.  I requested her to tell the lady to write the name of the hotel in Chinese on a piece of paper.

Elevated with my first minor victory, I went outside to the taxi stand where a cab driver quickly dumped my bags in his car and asked me where I was headed. My reply was obviously all Greek to him as he kept on blabbering something that was totally... well, Chinese to me! The paper I had taken from the lady at the tourist counter seemed to have been misplaced. Eventually I found it and he said with a triumphant look that he knew where the hotel was and sped off. 

I had a vague idea that the city was around 60-70 kms away and was told that the taxi would cost 200 RMB (around $30) so I sat comfortably to enjoy the 40-minute ride. Any attempts by the driver and me to strike any conversation failed as we did not understand a word of each other (unlike in Europe where one night find some common thread to communicate in any non-English speaking country. He was driving at the highest possible speed allowed by law (110 km/hr.) Soon, we were passing through wilderness where one could see cars and buses on the freeway, whizzing past us. I  could see many building structures-some complete, many under-construction or where the work had stopped but no lights inside the multi-storied structures giving the impression there was no habitants inside. But over the last few visits to china, I am accustomed to this sight.

Suddenly, I looked at his fare meter showing 200 RMB that got me worried. We were still on the freeway with no civilization in sight. Worried if he had ready the piece of paper correctly, I showed it to him and asked him again if he was sure of my destination. He nodded and pointed straight ahead! Suddenly I had visions of our Ubers and Olas and the occasional instances of kidnapping and waylaying and I was anxious. But before I became panicky, I saw city lights- a whole lot of them. It reminded me of Las Vegas from a distance after miles of driving through the desert from Los Angeles.

The city and the buildings wore a fancy look with kaleidoscope of coloured lights bathing the buildings. Finally, I could see and pointed towards a 47 tower building in the distance and he gave a triumphant smile that told me, ‘I told you I know where Hotel Crown Plaza is’. The tall hotel reminded me of one in Las Vegas with changing lights around it-in fact I would be surprised if they’d have a bigger Crowne than this 700-room property.  I would learn later that the city has had a massive development in the last 10-20 years and it was nothing like this then but a small town only. Also, a bigger 1200-hotel is in the pipeline to be ready by the end of this year.

Anyway, I was not surprised that the driver won’t accept my credit cards either. I told him I would go inside to change currency and give him the money-which was 300 RMB- though the meter showed 246!! He rushed inside with my bags inside the taxi. A few people later and clicking buttons on a smart phone I was told that the toll had to be added and I should pay the 300 RMB. Glad to be ‘home’ after 15 hours of f tiring flight I paid him off and checked in. It was relatively simple process except that the staff seemed to be very hassled and nervous- perhaps language was a bit of a problem.

Why Wine City

Yantai is called the wine city of China. Being a port town it receives 80% of bulk wine shipments into China. But being at the same latitude as Bordeaux and Napa it has several wineries too. As a starter, the oldest winery of China, Changyu wine company was founded in Yantai in 1892 and is the oldest wine producer located in Shandong province.  Since then, Yantai has become the cradle of the wine industry in China with over 20,000 hA surface of vines. This also makes Shandong province the biggest wine- producing province in China. Another area in which the Yantai Penglai International Airport is situated, is called Penglai which also has several vineyards including Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite)'s Domaine de Penglai winery and China's conglomerate COFCO's Great Wall Penglai winery.

Most of the vineyards lie in the 274km long Shandong Peninsula that juts into the Yellow Sea toward Korea surrounding three main cities：Qingdao, Yantai and Penglai. While Yantai is the most well-known as a wine city, most vineyards are found in Penglai. Yantai Golden Times Winery in Penglai is one such winery which we visited on a special visit followed by the station for dropping and collecting the wines for sea-ageing  (An Article on the Visit will be posted  later).

Yantai International Expo Center, adjacent to Crowne Plaza Hotel Sea View Hotel divided by a road, is the reason I was there in Yantai in Shandong province. World Bulk Wine Exhibition (WBWE) had organised the first ever wine exhibition WBWE Asia in Yantai and I was here to attend the Show on May 30-31.

Details may be seen at

WBWE Asia: China looks more Red in Yantai

Subhash Arora

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