Winery Stories
Long-form profiles of the estates that matter in Chinese wine — Silver Heights, Ao Yun, Helan Qingxue, Xiaoling, Domaine Franco-Chinois, Long Dai, and more.
Profiles of the people and estates that make Chinese wine worth following. Each piece is research and on-the-ground reporting, not a catalogue entry.
Ningxia
Section titled “Ningxia”| Estate | Read |
|---|---|
| Silver Heights — Ten barrels, a French husband, Demeter biodynamic certification. | Read → |
| Helan Qingxue — The estate that beat Bordeaux blind at DWWA 2011. | Read → |
| Kanaan — Wang Fang and the Riesling line nobody saw coming. | Read → |
| Legacy Peak — 1997 old vines saved by a mother. Now inside a UNESCO World Heritage Site. | Read → |
| Jade Vineyard — A former literature teacher consulting on tannin. | Read → |
| Chateau Mihope — Boutique at 100 hectares. | Read → |
| Domaine des Arômes — China’s smallest registered winery. 2.8 hectares. | Read → |
| Other Ningxia estates (Xige, Changyu Moser, Chandon, Dongfang Yuxing, and others) | Read → |
Xinjiang
Section titled “Xinjiang”| Estate | Read |
|---|---|
| Tiansai — Yanqi Basin’s flagship. | Read → |
| Zhongfei — A privately held Chinese estate often confused with a Sino-French venture. | Read → |
| Puchang — Georgian varieties (Rkatsiteli, Saperavi) in Turpan. | Read → |
| Other Xinjiang estates | Read → |
Shandong
Section titled “Shandong”| Estate | Read |
|---|---|
| Changyu — China’s first modern winery, 1892. | Read → |
| Long Dai — Lafite’s Penglai project. | Read → |
| Nine Peaks — Cabernet Franc and Marselan in a maritime climate. | Read → |
| Runaway Cow Ridge — A Saperavi project on the Shandong coast. | Read → |
| Longting — Petit Manseng and Maréchal Foch. | Read → |
| Other Shandong estates | Read → |
| Estate | Read |
|---|---|
| Domaine Franco-Chinois — Where Marselan and Petit Manseng entered China, 2001. | Read → |
| Great Wall Sangan — The apex of the Great Wall system. | Read → |
| Château Langues — The first organic-certified estate in China. | Read → |
| Other Hebei estates (Amethyst, Reedoxide, Canaan, Kings, others) | Read → |
Yunnan · Shangri-La
Section titled “Yunnan · Shangri-La”| Estate | Read |
|---|---|
| Ao Yun — LVMH’s bet at 2,600 m. Suckling’s first 99 for Chinese wine. | Read → |
| Xiaoling & Mingyi — Burgundian philosophy in the Himalayas. | Read → |
| Muxin — A four-hectare estate making Suckling-96 Chardonnay. | Read → |
| Simang — Li Yangang’s Greater Shangri-La project. | Read → |
| Domujiu — A Han woman, a fourteen-household village. | Read → |
| Yidong — Pinot Noir and Riesling at 3,100 m. | Read → |
| Roduit — A Swiss winemaker, amphorae, no oak. | Read → |
| Celebre — Patrick Valette of the Pavie family. | Read → |
| Other Yunnan estates | Read → |
Shanxi
Section titled “Shanxi”| Estate | Read |
|---|---|
| Grace Vineyard — Where Chinese boutique wine started, 1997. Judy Chan. | Read → |