Hebei: Two Firsts, and the Cost of One Counterfeit Scandal
Guo Qichang: One Man, Two Regions
Section titled “Guo Qichang: One Man, Two Regions”The history of Hebei wine cannot be told without Guo Qichang.
He is called the patriarch of Chinese wine. The title is earned. He did two things that changed where Chinese wine was going.
1979, Huailai. After a joint expedition by five national ministries, Shacheng was selected as the country’s wine-research base. Guo and his team used Huailai’s native Longyan grape to produce a dry white meeting international standards. The wine won gold at the Third National Wine Tasting Contest.
At that time, what Chinese people called grape wine was sweet. Sugar added, water added, alcohol added, this was the Tonghua era (see Roots and Routes). Dry red? Dry white? Most Chinese consumers had no concept. Guo Qichang’s Longyan dry white was the divide between China’s sweet wine era and its dry wine era.
1983, Changli. Guo led the Light Industry Ministry’s Fermentation Research Institute’s national project, Industrial Trials in New Wine Technology. After five years of work in Changli, the team produced China’s first dry red wine.
One person. First the dry-white breakthrough in Huailai. Then the dry-red breakthrough in Changli. Two firsts placed Hebei as the cradle of modern Chinese wine industry. Guo went on to Xinjiang’s Shanshan to introduce French winemaking varieties and build one of China’s three major mother-vineyard parks (see Xinjiang). One man, three regions.
Great Wall is Born
Section titled “Great Wall is Born”In 1976, the Shacheng Winery, predecessor of Great Wall Sangan, produced the first dry-white sample. In 1978, five ministries confirmed Shacheng as the national research base. In 1979, Sangan Winery was founded.
The timeline that follows reads like state strategy.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1979 | Great Wall Sangan Winery founded |
| 1983 | First Chinese dry red made in Changli |
| 1986 | Sangan wines served at the state banquet for Queen Elizabeth II’s visit |
| 1988 | Huaxia Great Wall founded in Changli |
| 2003 | COFCO consolidates the Great Wall brand |
| 2008 | Official wine of the Beijing Olympics |
The Great Wall brand became synonymous with industrial-scale Chinese wine, high volume, wide distribution, accessible price. Which is exactly why, in the eyes of fine-wine drinkers, the name Great Wall has long been bracketed with mass-market. Sangan Winery is the exception inside the system, it is the apex of the pyramid, with high-end positioning and state-banquet credentials. More on Sangan in the Great Wall Sangan profile.
Two Sub-Regions, Two Trajectories
Section titled “Two Sub-Regions, Two Trajectories”Huailai: From State Mission to Boutique Sprouts
Section titled “Huailai: From State Mission to Boutique Sprouts”Huailai’s modern winemaking history breaks into clear phases.
1970s–1980s. Driven by state mission. Shacheng Winery / Great Wall Sangan laid the foundation. The goal was to fill the gap in dry-style wine. This was the engineer’s era, not the winemaker’s.
1990s. Commercialization began, but Great Wall dominated as essentially a monopoly.
2000–2005. Inflection point. In 2000, a Chinese-French government cooperation project, the Sino-French Demonstration Farm, broke ground in Donghuayuan township, Huailai. Construction was completed in 2001. The French brought 16 grape varieties; two of them would deeply reshape Chinese wine: Marselan and Petit Manseng. In 2005, the demonstration farm was officially renamed Domaine Franco-Chinois.
This was Huailai’s pivot from industrial production to boutique winemaking.
2006–2010. Kanaan Winery’s parent, Canaan Wine Group, set up in Huailai (later building its own Chapter & Verse line). Vines planted 2009. Amethyst Manor founded in 2008. Boutique estates began to emerge.
2010s to today. Reedoxide Winery (China’s first biodynamic-trial estate), Martin Manor, Detsang Manor all rose. In 2019, the Beijing–Zhangjiakou high-speed rail opened. The trip from Huailai to Beijing dropped to 40 minutes. Beijing’s back garden moved from concept to transit reality.
In 2023, Canaan’s Chapter & Verse line entered the World’s Best Vineyards top 100 at #80, China’s first appearance. In 2024, it rose to #77.
Huailai finally has its own international voice. Compared with Ningxia, it is still small.
Changli: Glory and Scar
Section titled “Changli: Glory and Scar”Changli’s story took a different turn.
A glorious start in the 1980s, China’s first dry red. In 1988, Huaxia Great Wall opened, and large-scale production scaled fast. Through the 1990s and into the mid-2000s, Changli was the home base of Chinese dry red wine.
Then came the incident.
2010: The Unbearable Weight
Section titled “2010: The Unbearable Weight”In December 2010, CCTV’s Focus Talk exposed a counterfeiting scandal in Changli County.
A number of small workshops were mixing water, food coloring, alcohol, and flavorings to produce wine, attaching prestigious labels from domestic and foreign brands, and selling it openly. Five brands, Yeli, Genghao, Cupid, Jiahua, Hanyu, were named on a national blacklist. Six people were criminally detained. The General Administration of Quality Supervision led on-site corrective actions.
Inside the trade, this is remembered as the unbearable weight of Chinese wine.
The counterfeiters were small workshops, not legitimate estates. Huaxia Great Wall, Château Langues, Kings Estate, these serious producers had nothing to do with the fraud. But consumers did not draw the distinction. Overnight, the words Changli wine shifted from the home of Chinese dry red to the home of counterfeits.
Decanter China’s subsequent reporting carried the headline “Reshaping the Reputation of China’s Changli Wine Region.” The word reshape implies a reputation that has already broken.
It has been fifteen years since the incident. Changli is still walking that road. Kings Estate has won DWWA medals with its Marselan, Château Langues has held to organic farming, but the broader brand recovery is far from complete.
A single counterfeit scandal can wound a region for a generation.
Key People
Section titled “Key People”| Figure | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Guo Qichang | Patriarch of Chinese wine. Made China’s first dry white (1979, Huailai) and first dry red (1983, Changli) |
| Zhao Desheng | Chief winemaker of Domaine Franco-Chinois and Canaan Wine Group. Multiple-time Chinese Winemaker of the Year (RVF and Bettane + Desseauve) |
| Ma Shusen | Founder of Amethyst Manor (2008). Drove the rise of Huailai boutique estates. RVF 2017 Chinese Winery of the Year |
| Gernot Langues Swarovski | Member of the Austrian Swarovski crystal family. Invested in building Château Langues in Changli in 1998 |
| Geng Xuegang | A Changli grape farmer. Founded Geng’s Wine Lodge, China’s first family-style micro-château |
Among these, Zhao Desheng’s position deserves emphasis. He simultaneously oversees winemaking at both Domaine Franco-Chinois and Canaan Wine Group, the two most important boutique brands in Huailai. In a region where capable winemakers are extremely scarce, Zhao is the anchor of Huailai’s boutique tier.
PLACEHOLDER:hero-hebei-history at the top. PLACEHOLDER:portrait-guo-qichang inside §1, an archive portrait if available. PLACEHOLDER:archive-1979-1983 inside §1, the two original bottles (or photos of them) side by side.