here - the world atlas of wine

P’yongyang˘375

NewDelhi

Delhi Lhasa

Yinchuan

Kathmandu

Dhaka Kunming

Chengdu

Lanzhou

Nanchang

FuzhouT’aipei

Hong Kong

Shanghai

YantaiTianjin

Beijing

Shenyang

Harbin

ChangchunVladivostok

Wuhan

Ulaanbaatar

Ürumqi

Almaty

Huang HeHI

M

AL

A Y A

K u n l u n S h a n

T i e n S h a n

A l t u n S h a n

DaHin

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Ling

G o b i

Bishkek

Q I N G H A I

S I C H U A N

HUNAN JIANGXI

GUANGDONGGUANGXI

GUIZHOU

HUBEI

HENAN

ANHUI

ZHEJIANG

JIANGSU

HEILONGJIANG

LIAONING

X I Z A N G

BHARATA

DRUK-YUL

N E P A L

QAZAQSTAN

KYRGYZ

M O N G O L U L S

R O S S I Y A

NIPPON

DAEHAN MINGUK

CHOSONMINJU-JU INMINKONGHWAGUK

BANGLADESH

Chang Jiang

N E I M O N G OL

Ta r i m P e n d i

HuangHai

Bo Hai Soul˘

FUJIAN

Guangzhou

XianZHONGHUA RENMINGONGHE GUO

P a m i r

YUNNAN

JILIN

HEBEISHANXI

SHAANXI

SHANDONG

GANSU

X I N J I A N G

TIANJIN

NINGXIA

SHANGRI LA

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MOGAO-KIR YIANNI

GRACEVINEYARD

JADE VALLEY

TONGHUA

CHANGBAISHAN

LOU LAN

SUNTIME

LES CHAMPSD’OR

BEIJING

YUNNANSUN SPIRIT

World Atlas of Wine

P374A

MAP000

China Overview

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Rushan

Longhua

Jianchang

Pulandian

Yanggu

Yuncheng

Qingxian

Huanghua

Rongcheng

Xingcheng

LangfangZhuozhou

Bazhou

Renqiu

Longkou

Laizhou

Laiyang

JimoJiaozhou

Zhucheng

Rizhao

Yanqing

Chicheng

Huailai Miyun Suizhong

Lingyuan

Luan

Panjin

Gaizhou

Lüshun

Hejian

Xinji

Nangong

Shouguang

Boxing

Penglai

Pingdu

Juxian

Wafangdian

Linyi

Qinhuangdao

Cangzhou

Dezhou

Hengshui

Botou

DongyingWeihai

Liaocheng

Xintai

Tai’anLaiwu

Binzhou

Chengde

Yingkou

Anshan

Tangshan

Dalian(Lüda)

Zibo

Jinan

Qingdao

Jinzhou

Yantai

LinqingWeifang

Baoding

Huludao

Beijing

Tianjin

Bohai Wan

B o H a i

Laizhou Wan

Bohai Haixia

Liaodong Wan

Huang

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Luan He

Liao He

Hai He

Yongding He

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T I A N J I NH E B E I

S H A N D O N G

L I A O N I N G

H E B E IDRAGON SEAL

COFCOGREAT WALL

BEIJINGFENGSHOU

DYNASTY

CHANGYU

HUADONGQINGDAO

COFCO HUAXIABODEGA LANGESMOUTAI

SINO-FRENCHDEMONSTRATION

VINEYARD

WEILONG

SELLA &MOSCA

COFCO CHATEAU JUNDINGCITIC-LAFITECHATEAU

CHANGYU-CASTEL

World Atlas of Wine

P374B

MAP000

Regions aroundBeijing

QINGDAO

LOU LAN

HEBEI

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HEBEI

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MYANMAR

(NORTH KOREA)

(SOUTH KOREA)

(JAPAN)

TAIWAN

(BURMA)

(BHUTAN)

(CHINA)

(INDIA)

(KYRGYZSTAN)

(KAZAKHSTAN)

( R U S S I A )

( M O N G O L I A )

(Yellow Ri

ver)

Province boundary

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Vineyards

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Land above 1000 metres

Area mapped at largerscale


Provincial boundary

Wine-growing region

Notable producer



374

7H[W

China

HEBEI AND SHANDONGThis lower map shows that part of China first colonized by the wine grape vine, with wineries owned by such giants as Changyu and three by the government-owned COFCO, including its showcase Château Junding on the coast northwest of Yantai.

One of the more potent symbols of the westernization of China has been the extent to which the staggeringly numerous Chinese have taken to wine. Consumption is rising at such a rate, estimated at 15% a year, that not just Shanghai and Beijing but the so-called second-tier Chinese cities have become even more popular destinations for French wine exporters than New York and London. So e!ective has the Bordeaux sales machine been that a considerable proportion of the fortunes recently made in China have been spent on red Bordeaux – especially the grandest names and particularly, for a while, the first growth Château Lafite – with a direct inflationary effect on global wine prices. Then, as the Chinese discovered France’s second most famous red wine, burgundy prices rose, too. China’s new connoisseurs have even begun to invest in foreign wine estates themselves, typically for hard-nosed commercial reasons.

The vine was known to gardeners in far western China at least as early as the 2nd century AD when wine, very possibly grape wine, was certainly made and consumed. European grape varieties were introduced to eastern China at the end of the 19th century, but it was only in the late 20th century that grape-based wine insinuated itself into Chinese (urban) society.

China’s love a!air with grape wine – putaojiu as opposed to mere jiu, meaning any alcoholic drink – was so e!ectively encouraged by the state, partly in an e!ort to reduce cereal imports, that according to the most recent OIV figures, China’s total vineyard area (including those devoted to fresh and dried grape production) nearly doubled to an estimated 1,384,000 acres (560,000ha) between 2000 and 2011. Those same figures suggest that China has been the world’s sixth most important wine producer since the turn of the century. Independently verified Chinese statistics are hard to come by, however, and Chinese wine bottlers have notoriously bumped up production with imported wine, grape must, grape concentrate, and even liquids completely unrelated to grapes.

Throughout the early years of this century, it was di"cult to find wines labelled as Chinese of any real quality. So fashionable was anything presented to Chinese consumers as a fair copy of red Bordeaux (for linguistic and cultural reasons, the average Chinese consumer insists wine must be red) that there was little incentive to try very hard. Cabernet Sauvignon, and to a lesser extent Merlot and Cabernet Gernischt (Carmenère),

A S I A



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035

Yinchuan

Shizuishan

Wuzhong

Huinong

Hongyazi

Gaorenzhen

Xidatanzhen

Toudaodun

Zueyahu

Yeshengpu Lingwu

Shaconggou

Hengshanpu

Baijigou

Rujigou

PingluozhanChonggangpu

Xincheng

PingjipuChangliushui

Huangyangtan

Dabazhan

Qingtongxiazhan

NuangquanZhan

Shihuichang

Zhenbeipu

Huangouqiao

TouzhaPingluo

Mataigou

Helan

He

la

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Sh

an

Yongning

3352

3607

Baotou

Taiyuan

XianLanzhou

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Huan

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DYNASTY/IMPERIAL HORSE

LEIRENSHOU

XI XIA KING

GUANGXIA (YINCHUAN)/HELAN MOUNTAIN

GRACE VINEYARD

DAYLONG

CHANGYU

SILVER HEIGHTS

CH BACCHUS

CHANDONCH ST LOUIS DING

COFCO

HE LAN QING XUE/JIA BEILAN

P375 Ningxia

World Atlas of Wine

MAP000

CHANGYU

2000

P’yongyang˘375

NewDelhi

Delhi Lhasa

Yinchuan

Kathmandu

Dhaka Kunming

Chengdu

Lanzhou

Nanchang

FuzhouT’aipei

Hong Kong

Shanghai

YantaiTianjin

Beijing

Shenyang

Harbin


Wuhan

Ulaanbaatar

Ürumqi

Almaty

Huang HeHI

M

AL

A Y A

K u n l u n S h a n

T i e n S h a n

A l t u n S h a n

DaHin

ggan

Ling

G o b i

Bishkek

Q I N G H A I

S I C H U A N

HUNAN JIANGXI

GUANGDONGGUANGXI

GUIZHOU

HUBEI

HENAN

ANHUI

ZHEJIANG

JIANGSU

HEILONGJIANG

LIAONING

X I Z A N G

BHARATA

DRUK-YUL

N E P A L

QAZAQSTAN

KYRGYZ

M O N G O L U L S

R O S S I Y A

NIPPON

DAEHAN MINGUK


BANGLADESH

Chang Jiang

N E I M O N G OL

Ta r i m P e n d i

HuangHai

Bo Hai Soul˘

FUJIAN

Guangzhou


P a m i r

YUNNAN

JILIN

HEBEISHANXI

SHAANXI

SHANDONG

GANSU

X I N J I A N G

TIANJIN

NINGXIA

SHANGRI LA

YUNNANRED

MOGAO-KIR YIANNI

GRACEVINEYARD

JADE VALLEY

TONGHUA

CHANGBAISHAN

LOU LAN

SUNTIME

LES CHAMPSD’OR

BEIJING

YUNNANSUN SPIRIT

World Atlas of Wine

P374A

MAP000

China Overview

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Baodi

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Luanping

JixianQianxi

Yanshan

Leling Zhanhua

Laixi

Dazeshan

Jiaonan

Rushan

Longhua

Jianchang

Pulandian

Yanggu

Yuncheng

Qingxian

Huanghua

Rongcheng

Xingcheng

LangfangZhuozhou

Bazhou

Renqiu

Longkou

Laizhou

Laiyang

JimoJiaozhou

Zhucheng

Rizhao

Yanqing

Chicheng


Lingyuan

Luan

Panjin

Gaizhou

Lüshun

Hejian

Xinji

Nangong

Shouguang

Boxing

Penglai

Pingdu

Juxian

Wafangdian

Linyi

Qinhuangdao

Cangzhou

Dezhou

Hengshui

Botou

DongyingWeihai

Liaocheng

Xintai

Tai’anLaiwu

Binzhou

Chengde

Yingkou

Anshan

Tangshan

Dalian(Lüda)

Zibo

Jinan

Qingdao

Jinzhou

Yantai

LinqingWeifang

Baoding

Huludao

Beijing

Tianjin

Bohai Wan

B o H a i

Laizhou Wan

Bohai Haixia

Liaodong Wan

Huang

He

Luan He

Liao He

Hai He

Yongding He

Ziya

He

Zi He

J u n d u S h a n

Y a n S h a n

Qi a

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B E I J I N G


S H A N D O N G

L I A O N I N G


COFCOGREAT WALL

BEIJINGFENGSHOU

DYNASTY

CHANGYU

HUADONGQINGDAO



VINEYARD

WEILONG

SELLA &MOSCA


CHANGYU-CASTEL

World Atlas of Wine

P374B

MAP000


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BC

CD

DE

EF

FG

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(Yel

low

Riv

er)

Provincial boundary

Eastern Side of HelanMountain wine region

Notable producer

Vineyards

Contour interval 500m

(KYRGYZSTAN)

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1:1,333,00040 KmKm 0 20

7H[W

375CH I N A | A S I A

Much to everyone’s surprise, a Jiabeilan 2009 waltzed off with an important international trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2011. This bottling shows the footprints of the winemaker’s baby girl. The Chardonnay and Silver Heights are also from Ningxia, while Jade Valley, maker of the Pinot is in Shaanxi; Grace Vineyards is in Shanxi.

NORTHERN NINGXIANingxia authorities have been actively encouraging investment from both Chinese and foreign wine companies on the well-drained slopes between the Helan Mountains and the Yellow River. They have shipped in and rehoused vineyard labourers from less hospitable terrain in the south of the province.

dominated plantings, but wines were typically under ripe and over-oaked. By about 2010, however, a small elite of carefully made, truly Chinese-grown wines finally emerged.

Extreme weatherChina’s vastness can offer a staggering range of soils and latitudes. Climate is more problematical. Inland China su!ers typical continental extremes so that most vines have to be painstakingly banked up every autumn to protect them from fatally freezing temperatures in winter. This adds considerably to production costs, not least because a certain proportion of vines are lost each year as a consequence of being manhandled, but is currently just about a!ordable. The continued movement of the Chinese from countryside to cities, however, means that increased mechanization of this laborious operation is surely likely.

Meanwhile, much of the coast, especially in southern and central areas, is subject to monsoons at inconvenient times for grape-growing. On the face of it the Shandong Peninsula in eastern China looks one of the more likely places to grow European grapes. With a truly maritime climate that requires no winter protection of vines, it o!ers well-drained, south-facing slopes. The first wineries and vineyards of the modern era were established there. Storms can strike inconveniently at any time between flowering and harvest but winters are mild. This is where about a quarter of China’s hundreds of wineries are now based, but fungal diseases in late summer and autumn are the main drawback. Changyu was the pioneer and is still by far the dominant producer while Chateau Changyu-Castel is a separate joint venture with the Castel family of Bordeaux. When, in 2009, the owner of Château Lafite decided to establish a serious winery in China, in conjunction with the Chinese giant company CITIC, rather to the surprise of industry observers, its chose Shandong’s Penglai Peninsula. Further inland, Hebei province has the advantage of being even closer to Beijing, and its viticultural potential is probably not yet fully unlocked, but ambitious wine producers have been moving systematically west.

Grace Vineyard was established in Shanxi province in 1997. By 2004, it was producing some of the finest wines in China but has since, like many others, been exploring Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces further west. Indeed, Ningxia’s local government is determined to make its reclaimed land – at around 3,300ft (1,000m) altitude on the gravelly east-facing banks of the Yellow River – China’s most important wine province. Pernod Ricard and LVMH (for sparkling wine production) have already been lured to set down roots here, and both the tentacular giant COFCO and Changyu, originally based in Shandong, are becoming significant producers in Ningxia. Lack of labour and warmth has dogged some Shaanxi trials. Boutari of Greece has invested in Gansu, although soils can be less well-drained here.

In Xinjiang province in the far northwest, where much of the population is Muslim, ingenious irrigation systems harness meltwater from some of the highest mountains in the world, but the growing season is short – sometimes too short for wine grapes to ripen properly (many of the vines planted are for table and drying grapes) and the vineyards are thousands of miles from most consumers.

Hunnan/Yunnan province in the far south near Tibet is almost as far away, but its latitude means that winters are much milder. The privately owned Shangri-la winery is producing premium Cabernet Sauvignon, with both Chinese and Australian expertise, at well over 9,800ft (3,000m) altitude on the Diqing Plateau. A new frontier indeed.



P’yongyang˘375

NewDelhi

Delhi Lhasa

Yinchuan

Kathmandu

Dhaka Kunming

Chengdu

Lanzhou

Nanchang

FuzhouT’aipei

Hong Kong

Shanghai

YantaiTianjin

Beijing

Shenyang

Harbin


Wuhan

Ulaanbaatar

Ürumqi

Almaty

Huang HeHI

M

AL

A Y A

K u n l u n S h a n

T i e n S h a n

A l t u n S h a n

DaHin

ggan

Ling

G o b i

Bishkek

Q I N G H A I

S I C H U A N

HUNAN JIANGXI

GUANGDONGGUANGXI

GUIZHOU

HUBEI

HENAN

ANHUI

ZHEJIANG

JIANGSU

HEILONGJIANG

LIAONING

X I Z A N G

BHARATA

DRUK-YUL

N E P A L

QAZAQSTAN

KYRGYZ

M O N G O L U L S

R O S S I Y A

NIPPON

DAEHAN MINGUK


BANGLADESH

Chang Jiang

N E I M O N G OL

Ta r i m P e n d i

HuangHai

Bo Hai Soul˘

FUJIAN

Guangzhou


P a m i r

YUNNAN

JILIN

HEBEISHANXI

SHAANXI

SHANDONG

GANSU

X I N J I A N G

TIANJIN

NINGXIA

SHANGRI LA

YUNNANRED

MOGAO-KIR YIANNI

GRACEVINEYARD

JADE VALLEY

TONGHUA

CHANGBAISHAN

LOU LAN

SUNTIME

LES CHAMPSD’OR

BEIJING

YUNNANSUN SPIRIT

World Atlas of Wine

P374A

MAP000

China Overview

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Jiaonan

Rushan

Longhua

Jianchang

Pulandian

Yanggu

Yuncheng

Qingxian

Huanghua

Rongcheng

Xingcheng

LangfangZhuozhou

Bazhou

Renqiu

Longkou

Laizhou

Laiyang

JimoJiaozhou

Zhucheng

Rizhao

Yanqing

Chicheng


Lingyuan

Luan

Panjin

Gaizhou

Lüshun

Hejian

Xinji

Nangong

Shouguang

Boxing

Penglai

Pingdu

Juxian

Wafangdian

Linyi

Qinhuangdao

Cangzhou

Dezhou

Hengshui

Botou

DongyingWeihai

Liaocheng

Xintai

Tai’anLaiwu

Binzhou

Chengde

Yingkou

Anshan

Tangshan

Dalian(Lüda)

Zibo

Jinan

Qingdao

Jinzhou

Yantai

LinqingWeifang

Baoding

Huludao

Beijing

Tianjin

Bohai Wan

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Laizhou Wan

Bohai Haixia

Liaodong Wan

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Luan He

Liao He

Hai He

Yongding He

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Zi He

J u n d u S h a n

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B E I J I N G


S H A N D O N G

L I A O N I N G


COFCOGREAT WALL

BEIJINGFENGSHOU

DYNASTY

CHANGYU

HUADONGQINGDAO



VINEYARD

WEILONG

SELLA &MOSCA


CHANGYU-CASTEL

World Atlas of Wine

P374B

MAP000


QINGDAO

LOU LAN

HEBEI

LOU LAN

HEBEI

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BC

CD

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FG

1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6



( T i b e t )

MYANMAR

(NORTH KOREA)

(SOUTH KOREA)

(JAPAN)

TAIWAN

(BURMA)

(BHUTAN)

(CHINA)

(INDIA)

(KYRGYZSTAN)

(KAZAKHSTAN)

( R U S S I A )

( M O N G O L I A )

(Yellow Ri

ver)

Province boundary

Notable producer

Vineyards

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Provincial boundary

Wine-growing region

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Provincial boundary

Wine-growing region

Notable producer



374

7H[W

China

HEBEI AND SHANDONGThis lower map shows that part of China first colonized by the wine grape vine, with wineries owned by such giants as Changyu and three by the government-owned COFCO, including its showcase Château Junding on the coast northwest of Yantai.

One of the more potent symbols of the westernization of China has been the extent to which the staggeringly numerous Chinese have taken to wine. Consumption is rising at such a rate, estimated at 15% a year, that not just Shanghai and Beijing but the so-called second-tier Chinese cities have become even more popular destinations for French wine exporters than New York and London. So e!ective has the Bordeaux sales machine been that a considerable proportion of the fortunes recently made in China have been spent on red Bordeaux – especially the grandest names and particularly, for a while, the first growth Château Lafite – with a direct inflationary effect on global wine prices. Then, as the Chinese discovered France’s second most famous red wine, burgundy prices rose, too. China’s new connoisseurs have even begun to invest in foreign wine estates themselves, typically for hard-nosed commercial reasons.

The vine was known to gardeners in far western China at least as early as the 2nd century AD when wine, very possibly grape wine, was certainly made and consumed. European grape varieties were introduced to eastern China at the end of the 19th century, but it was only in the late 20th century that grape-based wine insinuated itself into Chinese (urban) society.

China’s love a!air with grape wine – putaojiu as opposed to mere jiu, meaning any alcoholic drink – was so e!ectively encouraged by the state, partly in an e!ort to reduce cereal imports, that according to the most recent OIV figures, China’s total vineyard area (including those devoted to fresh and dried grape production) nearly doubled to an estimated 1,384,000 acres (560,000ha) between 2000 and 2011. Those same figures suggest that China has been the world’s sixth most important wine producer since the turn of the century. Independently verified Chinese statistics are hard to come by, however, and Chinese wine bottlers have notoriously bumped up production with imported wine, grape must, grape concentrate, and even liquids completely unrelated to grapes.

Throughout the early years of this century, it was di"cult to find wines labelled as Chinese of any real quality. So fashionable was anything presented to Chinese consumers as a fair copy of red Bordeaux (for linguistic and cultural reasons, the average Chinese consumer insists wine must be red) that there was little incentive to try very hard. Cabernet Sauvignon, and to a lesser extent Merlot and Cabernet Gernischt (Carmenère),

A S I A



109

109

211

307

110

025

025

035

Yinchuan

Shizuishan

Wuzhong

Huinong

Hongyazi

Gaorenzhen

Xidatanzhen

Toudaodun

Zueyahu

Yeshengpu Lingwu

Shaconggou

Hengshanpu

Baijigou

Rujigou

PingluozhanChonggangpu

Xincheng

PingjipuChangliushui

Huangyangtan

Dabazhan

Qingtongxiazhan

NuangquanZhan

Shihuichang

Zhenbeipu

Huangouqiao

TouzhaPingluo

Mataigou

Helan

He

la

n

Sh

an

Yongning

3352

3607

Baotou

Taiyuan

XianLanzhou15

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1500

2000

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1500

1500

Huan

g H

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DYNASTY/IMPERIAL HORSE

LEIRENSHOU

XI XIA KING

GUANGXIA (YINCHUAN)/HELAN MOUNTAIN

GRACE VINEYARD

DAYLONG

CHANGYU

SILVER HEIGHTS

CH BACCHUS

CHANDONCH ST LOUIS DING

COFCO

HE LAN QING XUE/JIA BEILAN

P375 Ningxia

World Atlas of Wine

MAP000

CHANGYU

2000

P’yongyang˘375

NewDelhi

Delhi Lhasa

Yinchuan

Kathmandu

Dhaka Kunming

Chengdu

Lanzhou

Nanchang

FuzhouT’aipei

Hong Kong

Shanghai

YantaiTianjin

Beijing

Shenyang

Harbin


Wuhan

Ulaanbaatar

Ürumqi

Almaty

Huang HeHI

M

AL

A Y A

K u n l u n S h a n

T i e n S h a n

A l t u n S h a n

DaHin

ggan

Ling

G o b i

Bishkek

Q I N G H A I

S I C H U A N

HUNAN JIANGXI

GUANGDONGGUANGXI

GUIZHOU

HUBEI

HENAN

ANHUI

ZHEJIANG

JIANGSU

HEILONGJIANG

LIAONING

X I Z A N G

BHARATA

DRUK-YUL

N E P A L

QAZAQSTAN

KYRGYZ

M O N G O L U L S

R O S S I Y A

NIPPON

DAEHAN MINGUK


BANGLADESH

Chang Jiang

N E I M O N G OL

Ta r i m P e n d i

HuangHai

Bo Hai Soul˘

FUJIAN

Guangzhou


P a m i r

YUNNAN

JILIN

HEBEISHANXI

SHAANXI

SHANDONG

GANSU

X I N J I A N G

TIANJIN

NINGXIA

SHANGRI LA

YUNNANRED

MOGAO-KIR YIANNI

GRACEVINEYARD

JADE VALLEY

TONGHUA

CHANGBAISHAN

LOU LAN

SUNTIME

LES CHAMPSD’OR

BEIJING

YUNNANSUN SPIRIT

World Atlas of Wine

P374A

MAP000

China Overview

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Baodi

Fengrun

Luanping

JixianQianxi

Yanshan

Leling Zhanhua

Laixi

Dazeshan

Jiaonan

Rushan

Longhua

Jianchang

Pulandian

Yanggu

Yuncheng

Qingxian

Huanghua

Rongcheng

Xingcheng

LangfangZhuozhou

Bazhou

Renqiu

Longkou

Laizhou

Laiyang

JimoJiaozhou

Zhucheng

Rizhao

Yanqing

Chicheng


Lingyuan

Luan

Panjin

Gaizhou

Lüshun

Hejian

Xinji

Nangong

Shouguang

Boxing

Penglai

Pingdu

Juxian

Wafangdian

Linyi

Qinhuangdao

Cangzhou

Dezhou

Hengshui

Botou

DongyingWeihai

Liaocheng

Xintai

Tai’anLaiwu

Binzhou

Chengde

Yingkou

Anshan

Tangshan

Dalian(Lüda)

Zibo

Jinan

Qingdao

Jinzhou

Yantai

LinqingWeifang

Baoding

Huludao

Beijing

Tianjin

Bohai Wan

B o H a i

Laizhou Wan

Bohai Haixia

Liaodong Wan

Huang

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Luan He

Liao He

Hai He

Yongding He

Ziya

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S H A N D O N G

L I A O N I N G


COFCOGREAT WALL

BEIJINGFENGSHOU

DYNASTY

CHANGYU

HUADONGQINGDAO



VINEYARD

WEILONG

SELLA &MOSCA


CHANGYU-CASTEL

World Atlas of Wine

P374B

MAP000


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BC

CD

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EF

FG

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low

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Provincial boundary

Eastern Side of HelanMountain wine region

Notable producer

Vineyards

Contour interval 500m

(KYRGYZSTAN)

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7H[W

375CH I N A | A S I A

Much to everyone’s surprise, a Jiabeilan 2009 waltzed off with an important international trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2011. This bottling shows the footprints of the winemaker’s baby girl. The Chardonnay and Silver Heights are also from Ningxia, while Jade Valley, maker of the Pinot is in Shaanxi; Grace Vineyards is in Shanxi.

NORTHERN NINGXIANingxia authorities have been actively encouraging investment from both Chinese and foreign wine companies on the well-drained slopes between the Helan Mountains and the Yellow River. They have shipped in and rehoused vineyard labourers from less hospitable terrain in the south of the province.

dominated plantings, but wines were typically under ripe and over-oaked. By about 2010, however, a small elite of carefully made, truly Chinese-grown wines finally emerged.

Extreme weatherChina’s vastness can offer a staggering range of soils and latitudes. Climate is more problematical. Inland China su!ers typical continental extremes so that most vines have to be painstakingly banked up every autumn to protect them from fatally freezing temperatures in winter. This adds considerably to production costs, not least because a certain proportion of vines are lost each year as a consequence of being manhandled, but is currently just about a!ordable. The continued movement of the Chinese from countryside to cities, however, means that increased mechanization of this laborious operation is surely likely.

Meanwhile, much of the coast, especially in southern and central areas, is subject to monsoons at inconvenient times for grape-growing. On the face of it the Shandong Peninsula in eastern China looks one of the more likely places to grow European grapes. With a truly maritime climate that requires no winter protection of vines, it o!ers well-drained, south-facing slopes. The first wineries and vineyards of the modern era were established there. Storms can strike inconveniently at any time between flowering and harvest but winters are mild. This is where about a quarter of China’s hundreds of wineries are now based, but fungal diseases in late summer and autumn are the main drawback. Changyu was the pioneer and is still by far the dominant producer while Chateau Changyu-Castel is a separate joint venture with the Castel family of Bordeaux. When, in 2009, the owner of Château Lafite decided to establish a serious winery in China, in conjunction with the Chinese giant company CITIC, rather to the surprise of industry observers, its chose Shandong’s Penglai Peninsula. Further inland, Hebei province has the advantage of being even closer to Beijing, and its viticultural potential is probably not yet fully unlocked, but ambitious wine producers have been moving systematically west.

Grace Vineyard was established in Shanxi province in 1997. By 2004, it was producing some of the finest wines in China but has since, like many others, been exploring Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces further west. Indeed, Ningxia’s local government is determined to make its reclaimed land – at around 3,300ft (1,000m) altitude on the gravelly east-facing banks of the Yellow River – China’s most important wine province. Pernod Ricard and LVMH (for sparkling wine production) have already been lured to set down roots here, and both the tentacular giant COFCO and Changyu, originally based in Shandong, are becoming significant producers in Ningxia. Lack of labour and warmth has dogged some Shaanxi trials. Boutari of Greece has invested in Gansu, although soils can be less well-drained here.

In Xinjiang province in the far northwest, where much of the population is Muslim, ingenious irrigation systems harness meltwater from some of the highest mountains in the world, but the growing season is short – sometimes too short for wine grapes to ripen properly (many of the vines planted are for table and drying grapes) and the vineyards are thousands of miles from most consumers.

Hunnan/Yunnan province in the far south near Tibet is almost as far away, but its latitude means that winters are much milder. The privately owned Shangri-la winery is producing premium Cabernet Sauvignon, with both Chinese and Australian expertise, at well over 9,800ft (3,000m) altitude on the Diqing Plateau. A new frontier indeed.



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