On April 1, professional winemaker Jamie Martin was busy fertilizing and pruning his vineyard in Hagerman, Idaho. A few days later he was at Cold Springs Winery in Hammett, Idaho, supervising the blending and bottling of the latest vintages.

At the same time, on the other side of the world, Martin's techniques were being used at a winery in southcentral China, where the vintner has worked as a consultant since 2003.

For the past three years Martin and his wife, Kitty, have traveled in spring and fall to Moon Valley Winery near Xichang, a city in the province of Sichuan. There, through a translator, he has worked as a consultant to help the new winery get off the ground.

"Moon Valley Winery was founded in 2001," Martin said. "When I went there in 2003, they were just getting things started."

Martin first made contact with the winery through a mutual friend named Phajan, a native of Thailand who is fluent in English as well as Chinese. Phajan knew China was looking for help in starting grape wineries as a way to ease the national demand on rice.

"They need the rice for food rather than making rice whiskey," said Martin, who was contracted to help produce and promote the three red wine varieties produced - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Zinfandel.

"In China, wine is predominantly red," Martin said. "Red is the color of good luck, and they like things red. And they like dry."

Martin, whose family founded Rose Creek Winery in Hagerman, has worked as a vintner, winemaker and consultant since 1978. When he expressed a willingness to go to China, Moon Valley Winery gave him a three-year contract to work as wine-making consultant.

In the 23-hour trip to Xichang, the Martins flew from Boise via Seattle, Tokyo, Bangkok and Cheng Du, the Sichuan capital city of about 9 million.

"The winery is near Xichang, a town of about 900,000 that is similar in many ways to Idaho," Martin said. "It's up in the mountains. They do logging and farming."

Streams there have good trout fishing, he noted, and a white water rafting trip proved to be a lot of fun.

Agriculture consists of small dairies and crops of corn, wheat and all kinds of vegetables. The Sichuan region is most famous for its lip-numbing hot peppers. Local orchards produce mainly nectarines and apples. Most of the people are the Wi, a working class of Chinese who do agricultural work.

When he arrived in China each fall, Martin - with Phajon interpreting - helped with Moon Valley's grape harvests, crushings and winemaking. He showed winery owners and workers how to pick at ideal times by testing the fruit for high sugar content balanced with the necessary acidity content.

He also helped set up the winery's state-of-the-art equipment and gave instruction on how to use it. In the vineyards, he supervised soil tests, then gave advice on how to fertilize for deficiencies and how to balance soil needs. He also showed how to prune the vines for maximum production.

Returning in spring, Martin supervised blending and bottling processes, which, he admits, is often just a matter of personal preference and personal style. In China, vintners have to follow strict regulation of wine production, which limits alcohol to about 12 to 14 percent and requires more filtration to remove all sediment.

Once bottled, the finished products were ready for promotion.

"We did lots of tastings with hotels to raise consumer awareness," Martin said. "Red wine is relatively new, but it's gaining a strong following. (The Chinese people) are very curious."

Restaurant owners and chefs are eager to learn more about red wine, he said. Also, the Chinese are happy to follow trends and traditions of the Western world.

"They want to be more like that," Martin said. While he was teaching at Moon Valley, the America discovered some very different Chinese ways of life.

"They taught me a lot about how much land we waste here," Martin said. "If there's not a building on it, they're raising an animal there or have plants on it. ... And they don't waste any water. It made me aware of how much land and water we do waste here."

At every meal, the Chinese do not drink unless they toast something, Martin noted.

"Before they'll drink, there's always a toast," he said. "They stand and raise glasses. Everybody has to toast. Their word for cheers is Gan-Bei, meaning 'dry glasses.' We were told to be cautious because there will often be a number of toasts to follow."

Martin marveled at all the new foods that were introduced to him. A pot of boiled chicken broth contained 18 different wild mushrooms with chicken feet and chicken heads popping up. Other dishes featured goose intestines and cubes of duck blood.

"They use everything," Martin said. "They eat a lot of pork, a lot of chicken. Everything is made fresh every day. ... I'd go back just for the food."

From Idaho, Martin has stayed in touch with Phajon by e-mail and telephone, helping the Chinese winery as questions arose. Although his contract is over for now and the winery is producing 200,000 cases of wine per year, Martin hopes to return, perhaps to help another winery get started.

The future of red wine in China looks good, he said.

"I think it will grow and grow. Everything (produced at Moon Valley Winery) was just for China. The demand there is so great that they are not looking to export anywhere else."