To see part one click here.

Wild Swan had arranged with a local wine company, Yunnan Red, for a group of foreigners to perform in the city of Mile, at the local Wine Festival. The group was to be large, and was to accompany a Chinese band, Wild Swan’s own band, and, for the most part, simply sit there and look pretty. We would be paid 200RMB for our troubles, but more importantly, we’d get a free trip down to Mile and would take part in the Wine Festival itself, which would include a tour of the vineyards, the wine factory, a free stay on the premises overnight, and of course, lots and lots of wine.

One of the first things you see upon approaching Mile is a gigantic gold Buddha, of the chubby variety, sitting on a hill overlooking the city. Mile is on the banks of a lake and the city government has very graciously shipped in loads of sand, creating a faux beach, and the Buddha rests auspiciously on the other side, visible from the road leading into Mile, welcoming all visitors. And so we had arrived at the site of wine fest, home of Yunnan’s homegrown reds and whites. Our first stop was of course the wine factory which was hosting this shindig and thus responsible for our accommodations. We unloaded. The hotel was sparse but satisfactory, and we obviously weren’t there for the five star treatment either, being foreign monkeys and all. No, we were there for the free wine, the free trip, and the 200RMB.

Photo: simplyla

That first day there wasn’t a lot to do, so we hit up the faux beach for some sunbathing, naturally. Of course this caused a huge spectacle in little Mile, this rabid bunch of foreigners, looking like nothing if not a UN delegation gone horribly, horribly wrong. I am pretty sure that at one point one of the Italians pulled off his pants and went running bare-assed for the lake. However, it being fairly late in the day we decided to call it an early day and headed back to the wine factory hotel for some Chinese grub. Mile is not known for its nightlife, so rather than brave local KTV we hit the beds, knowing we’d be in for a long day tomorrow. First up? A tour of the wine factory.

The wine factory was truly a sight to behold. Mile was picked by French as prime wine growing land back in the 1700s, when France still had colonial aspirations for this part of Yunnan. Wine growing techniques were taught to the locals, and vineyards were set up in the area flanked by lush green hills, with a semi-tropical climate and plenty of water keeping the land hydrated. The conditions were, the wine company representatives told us, as she led us past a gorgeous view, very similar to what you’d find in France or California. This was actually quite interesting to me, as someone with more than a passing interest in history, but clearly the others were getting bored. I could see Wild Swan glancing around, on the lookout for more free wine samples, which women in qipao were walking around and generously distributing to the crowds, and the Italians had found a decorative rock formation, which served as the perfect cover for joint rolling. The other visitors to wine festival were all Chinese, presumably families and friends of the Yunnan Red company and to be honest I am not sure what they thought of all of us foreigners, irreverent, possibly intoxicated, and most clearly not there for the same reasons, but thankfully they seemed fairly oblivious.

Photo: Lorelei

We were led around to large vats of wine, about twice my size, cooking or fermenting or doing whatever it is that wine does in large vats. The woman explained the process, in Chinese of course, but I wasn’t paying particular attention. There were

 vats for red wine and vats for white wine, and the woman turned a knob on one of the vats and caught some of the liquid in a cup and offered it up to any brave soul willing to try wine in whatever state it happened to be at the time, and Wild Swan grabbed for it and chugged it down in one gulp, giving the wine woman his trademark devilish grin. She rolled her eyes and moved us on to the next item on the agenda, a big banquet in honor of the Wine Festival. Anyone who has attended a Chinese banquet, even one hosted by a large and prestigious company such as Yunnan Red, should know that Chinese banquets are not actually for eating. The food served is generally of the sort that makes it look as if people are eating, when actually what they’re doing is getting drunk, all the while listening to some leader types prattle on and on about their company and honor and just how happy everyone is all the time. Often then, there is some kind of singing or dancing act while people start the heaving drinking. Upon entering the banquet hall the first thing I noticed was a huge table filled with nothing but bottle upon bottle of Yunnan wine, white and red. Certainly this was a good sign!

Stay tuned next week to find out what happens with the foreign monkeys at the wine factories…

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