How good is Chinese wine? It can’t compete with Old World grapes from France, Italy or Spain – yet – but give it 10 years …

May 28 , 2021

China is cultivating a new tradition in winemaking. Photo: Kanaan Winery

Great Wall’s merlot/cabernet sauvignon blend has won awards while critics rave about Ningxia-based Changyu Pioneer-Moser XV’s Bordeaux style grapes

Grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, Moët Hennessy’s Ao Yun wine earned a score of 96, with Shandong-based Chateau Lafite’s Long Dai just two points behind

Great Wall is one of the best-known China-made wine brands. Its Chateau Sungod winery, in Zhangjiakou, Hebei, has, despite cold, dry winters, won awards for its merlot/cabernet sauvignon blend.

Another winemaker, Changyu Pioneer-Moser XV, makes largely Bordeaux-style wines that are also critics’ favourites. Located in Ningxia, the chateau is a partnership between Changyu Pioneer Wine, China’s oldest and largest winery founded in 1892, and 15th-generation Austrian winemaker Lenz Moser. The company’s more than a century of experimentation with growing grapes in regions and climates across China has translated into wineries in Xinjiang, Shanxi and Ningxia, as well as in the area around Hanlong Lake in Liaoning, where it makes ice wine – a type of dessert wine produced from grapes that have been frozen while still on the vine.

A new dawn for Chinese wine? Grace Vineyard in Shangxi Province, China. Photo: Grace Vineyard

I’m sanguine that we will see truly world-class wines produced by China in the next 10-15 years

Edward Ragg MW (Master of Wine), co-founder of Beijing-based Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting

Chateau Dynasty Fine Wines, a joint venture between the Tianjin government and French spirits giant Rémy Martin, is another of the most well-known wine producers in China. Like Changyu Pioneer it makes ice wine from vidal grapes, with multiple vineyards, including in Tianjin and Ningxia.

In recent years, it’s not only these bigger and older winemakers but smaller producers from a wider swathe of China that are showing signs of maturity. And there’s recent well-publicised success: last year’s release of the 2016 vintage of Moët Hennessy’s Ao Yun wine, made from grapes grown at an elevation of 2,600 metres in the foothills of the Himalayas in Yunnan, scored an impressive 96 points from American wine critic James Suckling. The 2017 debut of Chateau Lafite’s Long Dai, grown in Shandong despite its monsoons and the resultant risk of vine rot and mildew, earned a score of 94. Both rank as globally outstanding wines.

Ao Yun 2013 wine from Moët Hennessy’s Shangri-La Winery. Photo: Ao Yun

Edward Ragg MW (Master of Wine), co-founder of Beijing-based Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting, says that as the nation lacks the Mediterranean climate of the classic wine-growing regions of Europe, the United States’ West Coast, Chile or South Africa, it is unlikely that the country will ever become a high-volume wine producer.

“The most notable wine-producing regions in China today are Ningxia’s Helan Shan, Shandong’s Penglai, Hebei’s Huailai, Xinjiang’s Tian Shan and Yunnan’s Shangri-La. All of these regions are going through their infancy, and vine age is relatively modest compared with more established regions around the world,” says Ragg. “But in all of these regions there’s a concerted effort to ascertain how best to improve the quality of the grapes and resultant wines.”

The natural forces that winemakers across the mainland face are formidable. In its northerly wine regions – provinces such as Liaoning, Hebei, Ningxia and Xinjiang – extreme winter temperatures and dryness mean that vines need to be buried until spring to avoid vine death. This adds to the cost of production and makes viticulture a challenge overall.

Kanaan Winery is located at the picturesque east foothills of Helan Mountain in Ningxia. Photo: Kanaan Winery

In the maritime east of Shandong, humidity and summer rain can make fungal diseases a problem. In the far south, in Yunnan, although the climate is semi-tropical, it is still possible to grow grapes at high altitude where there is less humidity – as is the case in Shangri-La – but this brings additional logistical challenges in terms of production and getting wines to market.

When Hong Kong born-and-raised Judy Chan encountered her first big storm at her vineyard – which covers more than 100 hectares (almost 250 acres, or about 100 athletic fields) – in Shanxi province, staff asked her exactly which lines of vines she would like them to shield.

“It was idiotic. I really had no idea how big the area was,” says Chan, who took over Grace Vineyard from her father in 2002, at the age of 24. “Until then I had lived my life in the concrete jungle. Through growing grapes, I have come to understand the power of nature.”