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Chinese Wine: Out of China
Dr Wang Chong, MD, MBA, AIWS(Hons). First published April 2010.
Dr Wang Chong is a freelance wine writer and runs Wangi Wines, which specialises in fine wines for Chinese food. Dr Chong holds a MBA from London Business School and a WSET wine & spirits honours diploma with distinction.
Legend has it that General Chang Chien brought grape seeds back from Ferghana in modern Uzbekistan during the Han dynasty in 136-121 BC and planted them in the Xinjiang and Shaanxi provinces. Grape vines were recorded as being cultivated in Western China as early as the second century AD, but European grape varieties were only introduced to Eastern China at the end of nineteenth century. Wine in China traditionally means rice wine and is still the preferred tipple as it is deeply ingrained in the Chinese culture. Grape wine was only integrated into Chinese society in the 1980s when French and Western wines became fashionable, mainly for the reputed health benefits. Consequently, 90% of grape wine consumed in China is red wine and women are more avid wine drinkers. Although young urban professionals and business people are starting to drink wine in an attempt to appear sophisticated, red wine continues to dominate the market despite many Western wine writers recommending white wine as a better match for Chinese food (sic, not this wine writer, as it depends on the type of Chinese food being consumed!). Chinese grape wine consumption has been growing around 15% annually for the last 5-10 years and is now the fastest growing wine market in the world with consumption of more then one billion bottles forecast for 2011. These consumers seem to be content drinking domestically produced wine as Chinese wineries sell out of their wine each year and hardly any wine produced in China is exported, while 17% of wine consumed in China is imported. This explains the scarcity of Chinese grape wine overseas; but is Chinese wine truly scrumptious? I organised a recent tasting of Chinese wine for Central London Wine Society in an attempt to answer this question.
Chinese Wine Growing Regions
To keep up with growing consumer demand, total vineyard area in China tripled in the 10 years to 2003 to 165,000 hectares with more than 500 wineries, making China the world’s sixth largest wine producer. The vineyards are spread across various provinces north of the Yangtze River. Xinjiang has 27% of all vines, which are mostly recent plantings. At the same latitude as Southern France, vineyards established around the Turpan oases in the Taklimakan desert can be 154 metres below sea level. Temperatures range from -40oC in winter to 48oC in summer and the annual rainfall is only 19.6 millimetres. The winters are so cold that vines have to be banked up individually with 20-30 centimetres of earth every autumn. The vineyards are irrigated by a 2000 year old Persian Karaz irrigation system, which taps subterranean water from melted snow off the Tianshan mountains and conveys it in underground channels over 1000 kilometres to avoid evaporation in the desert sun. Shandong has 11% of vines, but 33% of all the wineries, because it is perceived to be the best location to grow European grapes. The vineyards are at the same latitude as California and Sicily with a maritime climate and cool Pacific breezes moderating the humidity. Temperatures range from 3oC in winter to 26oC in summer. There is no need for winter protection on South facing slopes, but the vineyards suffer from monsoons and typhoons and the humid climate leads to vine diseases. Altitude is between 80-100 metres and soils are sandier. However, alcohol levels need to boosted by chaptalisation. The better vineyards are thought to be in the centre of Shandong in the Dazashen mountains on decomposed granite with underlying limestone, at an altitude of 150-250 metres, with south-east and south-west facing slopes. Other major wine growing provinces include Hebei (16% of all vines), Liaoning (10%), Jilin (2%) and Tianjin (2%).
Although thousands of indigenous grape varietals exist in Northern China, including the infamous Dragon’s Eye varietal, classic European varietals were only introduced by foreign investors in the early 1980s. The most commonly planted varietal is Cabernet Sauvignon 48.2%, followed by a mixture of local varietals 17.6% such as Dragon’s Eye (Longyan) and White Feather (Baiyu), Merlot 10.6%, Italian Riesling 6.0%, Chardonnay 5.0%, Riesling 3.1%, Pinot Noir 1.9% and Syrah 0.8%.
Red Grape Varietals Dominate in China
Consumers of Chinese grape wine need to be vigilant as there is no official wine classification or appellation system in China. Therefore, the quality of wine produced in China is highly variable and it is difficult for consumers to distinguish the quality of wine from the label on the bottle. The label (in China) often comprises the brand and grape varietal but there may be no information on the vineyard, location or vintage. In addition to the established practice of blending wine from different grape varietals, the wine in a bottle can comprise a blend from different vintages, different provinces or even different countries. For years, Chinese bottlers were notorious blenders of imported bulk wine but China’s wine labelling rules, if not the controls, have become stricter.
As mentioned earlier, Chinese grape wine is relatively scarce outside Chine including the UK. Therefore, I was only able to source ten different Chinese wines in London a few months ago. Although the larger Chinese supermarkets sold at least one brand of Chinese grape wine, only one national grocer, Morrisons, and one major wine importer, Bibendum, sold Chinese wine. Morrisons has now discontinued selling Chinese wine.
Although there are over 500 wineries in China, wine production is heavily dominated by Great Wall, Dynasty and Changyu wine companies, which produce low priced mass market wines. This is reflected in the Chinese wines exported to the UK and, thus, in our London tasting.
Great Wall was established in 1979 at Sha Cheng vineyards in Hebei by China National Cereals, Oils, Foodstuffs, Import & Export Corporation with some technical assistance from Seagram. Great Wall is one of the best known wine brands in China and the largest exporter of wine. The company produces seven different types of wine and 40 different labels, filling 150 million bottles annually. Great Wall dry white wine and semi-sweet white wine are among the most famous in China winning 14 gold and silver medals from Chinese and international wine authorities. We tasted Great Wall White Wine 2006, 12%, comprising the indigenous Dragon’s Eye (aka Longyan) grape varietal. The wine was pale gold with an aroma of citrus, green herbaceous character, unripe melon, nettles, resin, minerals, but dry and crisp with a medium slightly bitter finish. The wine was slightly dilute and had an unusual flavour; definitely an acquired taste.
Changyu Pioneer winery was founded in 1892 by Chinese entrepereneur Chang Bishi at Yantai in Shandong. Chang introduced 150 Vitis vinifera from Bordeaux, Burgundy and Alsace and employed the Austrian consul as his winemaker. In the 1990s, a joint venture was formed with large French distributor, the Castel Group, using the skills of Austrian winemaker Laurenz Moser. We tasted Noble Dragon Shandong White 2007, 12%, a blend of Chardonnay, Riesling and Muscat. The wine was pale gold with an aroma of limes, elderflower, with a grapey, oily character, but dry and crisp with a medium finish. The wine had good fruit and balance. Noble Dragon Shandong Red 2007, 12.5%, a blend of Cabernet Gernischt, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and a dash of Yantai 73. Cabernet Gernischt is unique to China, but thought to originate from Europe pre-phylloxera and to be an ancestor of Cabernet Franc. Cabernet Gernischt was introduced to Shandong in 1892. The wine was medium-deep ruby with an aroma of strawberries, blackberries, violets and slight oak, but dry, crisp, medium tannins and a medium-long finish. The wine had good fruit but was refreshing and slightly dilute.
Silk Road winery was “discovered by Eric in 2001 using the expertise of Bordeaux wine maker Fred Nauleau” according to the label. The vineyard is located near the original ancient Silk Road in Xinjiang near the Tianshan mountains, north of the Tarim River. We tasted Silk Road Chardonnay 2005, 12%, which was medium gold, with an aroma of citrus, butter, ripe apples, pears, nectarines and pineapples, but dry, crisp with a medium finish. The wine had good fruit with a slightly aged character, but no complexity. Silk Road Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, 12%, was medium-deep ruby with a slight brick rim and an aroma of black fruit, strawberries, violets, oak, herbaceous character, but dry, crisp, medium tannins and a medium finish. The wine had adequate fruit but was slightly dilute.
Tsingtao winery was established by Germans in the 1890s in Shandong but is now owned by the Qingdao Beverage Group Co. Ltd. We tasted Tsingtao Chardonnay Dry White 2005, 12%. The wine was deep gold, with an aroma of lemons, grapefruit, butter, lots of oak, pineapples, bananas and smoky, but dry, crisp with a medium-long slightly bitter finish. The wine had good fruit and balance. Tsingtao Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, 12%, was medium-deep ruby with a slight brick rim and an aroma of cassis, black fruit, oak, herbaceous character, but dry, crisp, medium tannins and a medium finish. The wine was slightly lacking fruit and dilute.
Qingdao Huadong winery was established in 1985 in Qingdao, Shandong by Michael Parry, a British wine merchant from Hong Kong with cuttings imported from France. Huadong became a joint venture with Allied Domecq in the 1990s before being acquired by Qingdao Beverage Group Co. Ltd. Huadong is China’s first Château style wine estate to plant varietal and vintage dated wines with an appellation, Tsingtao, on the label. The Ministry of Agriculture’s Grape Research Centre is based at Huadong’s vineyard. We tasted Huadong Chardonnay 2006, 12%. The wine was medium gold, with an aroma of citrus, butter, lots of oak, pineapples and smoky, but dry, crisp with a longish finish. The wine had good fruit and balance. Huadong Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, 12%, was medium-deep ruby with a slight brick rim and an aroma of cassis, black fruit, oak, herbaceous and antiseptic character, but dry, crisp, medium tannins and a medium finish. The wine was slightly lacking fruit and dilute. Huadong Founder’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, 12%, was medium-deep ruby with a 1 mm brown rim and an aroma of cassis, cedar, slightly herbaceous character, but dry, crisp, medium-high tannins and a longish finish. The wine had good fruit and balance and slight complexity, and was quite acceptable; definitely the best of the Chinese wines tasted.
Discussion
The variety of Chinese grape wine available in the UK is limited and pitched at the low to medium price band. The common themes emerging from the wine tasting are that although the wines appear to be well made technically, the red wines, particularly those based on the late ripening Cabernet Sauvignon, lack fruit and concentration and have green herbaceous characteristics. These flavours are suggestive of young vines or excessively high grape yields and unripe grapes respectively. Many accomplished wine writers have commented on these traits being typical of Chinese wine. These wine writers also invariably noted chemical and rotten odours and tannic and tough unclean wines, which we did not find in our tasting in London.
The fundamental issues are the naïve undemanding consumer base and the fragmented supply chain. Wine is only as good as the quality of the grapes that are used. Most of the wine grapes are grown by families that lease around an acre of land from their local agricultural commune, which is then divided into four small plots with one or two of the plots comprising wine grapes, adjacent to plots of vegetables, which are irrigated and fertilized. These farmers are used to maximising crop yields as they are paid according to the weight of the crop, and picking the grapes early to minimise the risk of rot and poor weather destroying the crop. Therefore, the future of quality Chinese wine would appear to rest with wineries producing wine from grapes grown in their own vineyards.
Another major issue is the consumer preference for red wine. While I am content with red wine dominating the Chinese market for the potential health benefits (see my article In Vino Sanitas: In Wine There is Health published in GrapesTalk 11), I also believe that red wines complement many types of Chinese food, due to the prevalence of red meats and duck in authentic Chinese cuisine. However, the preference for Cabernet Sauvignon is a more tricky issue to resolve unless the vines can be grown in appropriate terroir that ensures that the grapes ripen fully. To date, the relatively short growing season for wine grapes with the combination of very cold winters and hot and humid summers in the principal vineyard areas has made this challenging. It may be possible to find better suited clones of Cabernet Sauvignon, while some wineries are experimenting with Vitis amurensis, which is more resistant to very cold winters. Recent investment in Chinese vineyards is betting on Ningxia, where the climate is much drier than Shandong but winter temperatures rarely fall as low as in Xinjiang.
However, the Chinese grape wine industry could be on the cusp of change. Jancis Robinson MW, in her recent Financial Times article, Enter the Flagon, noted three promising wines during her recent visit to China. Symphony, a young off-dry Muscat white wine, is produced by a joint venture between by Grace Vineyard and Torres. Grace Vineyard of Shanxi, was founded by Hong Kong billionaire CK Chan and French co-founder Sylvain Janvier in 1997 and operated by Chan’s daughter Judy Leissner with an Australian winemaker. Robinson described Grace as “by far the most successful producer of Chinese red wine to date”. Robinson also liked two red wines: Jade Valley’s Pinot Noir, produced in Shanxi, and Silver Heights’ Summit red Bordeaux blend, produced in Ningxia at an altitude of 1200 metres.
Edward Ragg in his recent Decanter article, Chinese Wine: Pie in the Sky, wrote that Chinese wine is now being produced for export and mentioned four wineries as worth watching: Dragon’s Hollow of Ningxia was founded by David Henderson in 2006 and produces Chinese wines specifically for export to the United States, including a Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The Château Lafite/CITIC joint venture based in Shandong was founded in 2009, and although much heralded, has yet to produce its first wines. Helan Mountain of Ningxia operated by Pernod Ricard, which was formerly involved with Dragon Seal winery, produces Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Treaty Ports Vineyard of Shandong was founded in 2004 by Chris and Tiffany Ruffle, and with the help of an Australian winemaker, released their first vintage in 2009 from plantings of Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Syrah and Marselan, a fungally resistant cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache.
Conclusion
It was a privilege to have experienced the opportunity to taste Chinese grape wine in London despite the scarcity of Chinese wine outside China caused by the Chinese happily consuming all their domestically produced wine each year. Although the wines that we tasted were ordinary, they were in the low to medium price range and at least they tasted clean. Now that Chinese grape wine is starting to be produced to modern Western standards, I look forward to discovering a greater variety of Chinese wines in London and tasting the new generation of exported wines albeit at a higher price. Could this be the beginning of a new era in the wine industry?
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