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I use this wine key: Forge de Laguiole Ebony
I have used this glass in this Video: Nude Stem Zero
I have tasted the following wines in this Video:
2021 Kanaan Winery Riesling, Ningxia, China
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/kanaan+riesling+ning+xia+china/2021?referring_site=KSB
2021 Silver Heights Family Reserve Chardonnay, Ningxia, China
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/silver+heights+fmly+rsrv+chard+ning+xia+china/2021?referring_site=KSB
Greatwall Dry Red, Hebei, China
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/great+wall+dry+red+hebei+china?referring_site=KSB
2021 Chateau Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon, Helan Mountain, China
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/changyu+moser+xv+cab+sauv+helan+mnt+ning+xia+china/2021?referring_site=KSB
2016 Chateau Changyu Moser XV, Ningxia, China
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/changyu+moser+xv+ning+xia+china/2016?referring_site=KSB
2019 Kanaan Winery Crazy Fang, Ningxia, China
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/kanaan+crazy+fang+ning+xia+china/2019?referring_site=KSB
The 100 Point Scoring System (from www.robertparker.com):
96-100: An extraordinary wine of profound and complex character displaying all the attributes expected of a classic wine of its variety. Wines of this caliber are worth a special effort to find, purchase and consume.
90 – 95: An outstanding wine of exceptional complexity and character. In short, these are terrific wines.
80 – 89: A barely above average to very good wine displaying various degrees of finesse and flavor as well as character with no noticeable flaws.
70 – 79: An average wine with little distinction except that it is soundly made. In essence, a straightforward, innocuous wine.
60 – 69: A below-average wine containing noticeable deficiencies, such as excessive acidity and/or tannin, an absence of flavor or possibly dirty aromas or flavors.
50 – 59: A wine deemed to be unacceptable.
It is one of the biggest, oldest, and yet least well-known wine producers in the world. According to the OIV China is now the third biggest grape grower – ahead of Italy – and the eighth biggest consumer of wine ahead of Argentina and Portugal.
Much of their grape production goes to table grapes and raisins but with its massive domestic market and diverse terroirs, China has the potential to become one of the most relevant wine-growing countries in the world. But are the wines exciting enough to compete with the rest of the world or are they just cheap copies of the wine world’s classics?
Last year I was invited to a tasting in Paris where one of the biggest Chinese wineries showcased their wines in a blind tasting next to some of the most famous wines from the rest of the world: Lafite, Sassicaia, Vega Sicilia, Opus One ..,
The result was not a victory for the Chinese wines, similar to the judgment of Paris of 1976 when Californian wines beat their French counterparts at a tasting in Paris. Instead, it highlighted that China has potential and that their best wines can play ball at that level, even if they are not at the Championship level … sort of like the Washington Wizards.
So let’s dive into China as a winemaking country. To date, the earliest chemically confirmed instance of grapes used in a fermented beverage is from the Neolithic site of Jiahu along the Yellow River in the central plains of ancient China, dating back to the 7th millennium BC. However, the probable native wild grape was just one of several fermentable ingredients in this mixed beverage. It is believed that Jesuit missionaries were the first to encourage the planting of vineyards specifically for wine production here, in the mid-19th century.
36 Comments
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I’m so glad you finally did this! I live in a city with a large Chinatown but it’s still hard to find Chinese wines. A few Asian markets have some, but they’re usually plonk that was not very drinkable when young and looks horrid after 20+ years. They seem to get bottles from all around the world that nobody else would ever buy, vintages that are probably dead twice over, most of the time. There are some that have decent quality wine selections, and get even also in the random assortment old bottle selection come some gems. There is a 2005 Château Changyu Golden Icewine Valley Vidal icewine from Liaoning, China that one market on the northwest side of town stocked a few bottles of. Eventually, when I finally got over there again, I was able to go buy some. It was really tasty and held 18 years worth of bottle age pretty well. Definitely a bit oxidative, but in the way that it takes on some tertiary nutty and dried fruit characteristics that I quite like. We drank it for Christmas last year, and I’ve since gone back to get two of the other three bottles, leaving the third in case I decide to spend the money on it, or in case one other person decides to pick it up and be surprised!
I've tasted most of these wines and some more. Some of them are impressive (yet quite expensive).
❤🇵🇰💙🇨🇳
I have a question for you Konstantine. Sometimes I open a bottle of wine and it has aromas of nail polish remover. I don’t find it unpleasant and it actually disappears after a while. I first found it in Italian barbera but now see it in other red wines. Watching your videos it makes me wonder if you would judge a wine on this character or would you wait for it to disappear and then give it a score. That leads to the question of weather wines just need time to age before you can judge them. 🤯
Check out Ao Yun 👍
I'm not putting in my mouth or skin anything produced in China. You're a brave person!
I was in Ronda, Spain, a couple of years ago and asked a wine seller who was buying the very expensive sherry. She told me it was Asian tourists (Chinese) and they bought it on no other criteria than price with no appreciation of quality. It was simply a status symbol. Same thing in travel retail where Diageo get away with easy Johnnie Walker Blue. Expensive, exclusive, status symbol stuff. They like Cabernet, what a surprise. I know that French companies buy bulk wine from La Mancha in Spain and sell it on to China as French wine (at French prices) just because of the French reputation. It's all smoke and mirrors.
Lenz Moser actually mentioned during a tasting of Purple air that comes from the East (that was very similar to the one you mentioned in the start of the video) that the berries due to the desert-like climate in Ningxia are VERY small and dense, which makes the skin to liquid ratio quite 'unique'. Perhaps that plus the oak use is, what make it taste like chewing on burned coffee grounds. Needless to say that I'm not including it to my wine store's selection anytime soon, especially for those prices. It might soften out in 20 years though (you're not drinking Chateau Margaux before it's drinking window for a reason), but did not feel like it would integrate well into the wine.
Ao Yun is from Yunnan (in the south) and not from Ningxia which is on the north. There was a highly controversial tasting NingxiaVSBordeaux which got people talking about it tho
Tough getting Chinese wine here in the states. And what is available is very expensive. Thank you.
There’s a Chinese car company called Great Wall – many the white ‘wine’ sold as Great Wall is a by product of the car production process…like the cleaning fluid from the engine block after boring the heads
I have tasted mediocre Chinese wines, but I also acknowledge that the terroir has insane potential. Give them another decade and let's see what that brings to the table.
Mao'th feel 😂
I was hoping you would try a Marselan, the chinese hybrid varietal. It's a cross between Cab Sauv and Grenache. I've never tried it, have you?
I first drank Great Wall red wine in a great duck restaurant in Beijing with my fiancé, a beautiful Chinese woman to whom I had just proposed a few hours earlier on the Great Wall itself. It was very pleasant and went well with the roast duck and, while it certainly wasn't a great wine, it is part of a great memory of a wonderful celebratory meal. Since then, I've tasted it a few more times and it always is a decent, pleasant if not particularly special or complex wine. Ganbai!
“This disgusting mess” 💀
It sounds like Great Wall is the Chinese version of the French wines we could buy in 1 liter plastic bottles in my youth. They were costing less than milk. Pure rotgut (tord boyaux in French).
If you can put your hands on some of the wines of the « Celebre » winery. Try it. Especially the Reds (Sulu, Bushung), but good luck. Stunning
15% alcohol. you dont need to say of. just a tip. mjr. tokyo.
As to chinese wine prices. Given the huge demand locally, especially for local well made wine which touch on pride, prices are going to stay high for a while.
Interesting. We plan to visit our son and daughter-in-law in Viet Nam in April 2025. Shoud we plan to drink beer?
Do you ever come to the US? Please let us know if you do!
As a Wizzards fan, I confirm your message.,😂😂😂
Correction: Ao Yun is actually from Yunnan, not Ningxia!
Very interesting video, thank you Konstantin!
Those prices are ridiculously high, hard to think anyone would buy them in Europe, where relatively inexpensive local wine is abundant and of excellent quality
Are Chinese wines generally on the stronger side in terms of alcohol content? Could it be because Chinese people enjoy drinking Baijiu, so their wines also tend to have a higher alcohol?
Hi Konstantin, perhaps you can consider Japanese and Korean wines for future reviews. There are wineries in both countries, albeit the latter is smaller than the former in terms of the number of wineries.
10 years ago I was flying with Southern-China Airways from Beijing to Amsterdam. I sat next to very nice and outspoken French architect. With meal they served Chinese wines from regular size (75cl) bottles. After a glass or two this architect told to stewardess that "just give us a whole bottle!". So yes, I have tasted both red and white, but I don't know which brand and how many bottles… I remember the wine was good, better than many airline wines, and also this FRENCH architect mentioned many times that "this wine is surprisingly good!".
My main concern is the regulation and if/how wines are adulterated. That last wine had the hall marks of Mega Purple. Also used in many US wines btw
Cool episode. Love it. !
Glad to see Chinese wines making a scene on your channel! And yes Great Wall white wines are absolute crap. Hopefully you can get chances to drink some more premium wines in the future, some of wines from Shandong and Hebei are surprisingly good😊
feng as a homonym also means "mad" so it's a word play
Any chance of a collab with Bob Paulinski?
That would be epic indeed.
Maybe some Brazilian wines next time? I have suggestions.
Konstantin, you were right most grapes in China are consumed as fruits, so they tend to be the fruity and sweet varieties. The consumption is so big that imports from North and South America are much needed to meet the demand. For wine grapes, it was actually under the instruction of former premier Zhou Enlai in early 1970s with the first bottle coming out of Huailai, a wine region close to Beijing, now with a museum and chateau owned by the Great Wall. The first bottle was made out of a local grape variety which is still available today as a tribute to the history. You may find some great wines in Huailai but again they are on the expensive side.