Soon on Chinese television, the series ‘Wine Beauty’

Remember that long-running television series set in the fictitious Tuscany Valley (a.k.a. Napa Valley) years ago? Quite the soap opera, “Falcon Crest” ran from 1981 to 1990 and starred Jane Wyman, Robert Foxworth, Lorenzo Lamas and the old Spring Mountain Vineyard. This was just when America was discovering its fascination with the wine country lifestyle.

Now that the Chinese interest in wine is growing, it was only a matter of time before someone had the bright idea to make a television series about it. According to Jayne Stars (Hong Kong celebrity news in English), “Wine Beauty,” mainland China’s first television drama on sommeliers and wine production, will finish filming this month.

“With a cast from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the romantic idol drama stars Li Sheng as Lin Xuan, a low middle-class worker who travels to Shenzhen against odds to search for her boyfriend Zhao Xi (Mao Zijun). There, she discovers that Xi and Shen Yiman (Myolie Wu), the only daughter of a prominent wine tycoon, are together and engaged. Xuan also unwillingly gets involved in a winery dealership conflict between Yiman and her stepmother, Dan Li (Joy Pan).”

We’d tell you more, but we don’t want to spoil the plot of the 40-episode series, except for this: “As Xuan is completing her sommelier certification, Zihao goes bankrupt.” Too, too exciting.

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