About Wine Silk Road
The visual guide to Chinese drinks, made in Europe for curious drinkers.
Why this exists
China makes wine in the desert, a spirit that is drunk at every banquet and a rice wine older than most European traditions. Yet in Europe most people have never tasted them, and the little information available in English is scattered, technical or out of date.
Wine Silk Road exists to change that: one place where anyone can understand Chinese drinks, from the first sip to the details that matter to professionals.
Who is behind it
Wine Silk Road is an independent project founded and edited by Filippo Pagnini, based in Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy. A FISAR-qualified sommelier (Federazione Italiana Sommelier Albergatori Ristoratori) with a deep passion for Asia, he grew up in Tuscany, where wine is part of everyday life, and started Wine Silk Road to bring the drinks of China to European glasses.
What you will find
- The Encyclopedia: wine, baijiu, rice wine, beer and spirits, region by region, style by style.
- The Atlas: where every drink comes from, on the map.
- Start here: a six-step path from zero to ganbei.
- How to drink: tasting, serving, glassware, bottles, pairing and etiquette.
- Recipes, characters and charts to save and share.
How we work
- 01
Sources first. We check our facts against specialist sources, such as producers, official bodies, national standards and specialist books, and we do not use Wikipedia as a source. Where a page lists its sources, you will find them at the bottom, and we keep adding them as we verify each page.
- 02
Verified pages. A page is marked as verified only once its facts have been checked.
- 03
Correct Chinese. Every Chinese character and every pinyin spelling is checked.
- 04
Honest images. Our illustrations are made with AI tools and are labelled as such. We never present an AI image as a real photograph; real photographs are credited to their authors.
- 05
Independent. No one pays to appear on Wine Silk Road. If we ever publish sponsored content, it will be clearly labelled.
- 06
Corrections. Spotted a mistake? Write to info@winesilkroad.com. We fix it and note the date of the update.
- 07
Drink responsibly. This site is for people of legal drinking age.
China first, Asia next
We start with China. Japan, Korea and the rest of Asia will follow.
Contact
For corrections, ideas, press and partnerships: info@winesilkroad.com