The Grapes of China: The Classics, the Adopted and the Natives

Every great wine country has its grapes. France has Pinot Noir, Italy has Nebbiolo, Argentina has Malbec. Which grape belongs to China?

The answer is still being written, and that is what makes it exciting. To understand it, think of China's grapes as three families: the classics, the adopted and the natives.

Family 1: the classics

Cabernet Sauvignon 赤霞珠

The undisputed king, covering about half of China's wine-grape vineyards. Chinese winemakers learned from Bordeaux, and Cabernet Sauvignon was the obvious model. In Ningxia and Xinjiang, strong sunshine and cool nights give it ripe dark fruit with good freshness. Most of China's award-winning reds are Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux-style blends.

Merlot 美乐 and Cabernet Franc 品丽珠

The faithful companions. Rarely the star, they add softness and perfume to blends, exactly as in Bordeaux.

Chardonnay 霞多丽 and the white grapes

White wine is still a minority in China, but a growing one. Chardonnay leads, used for both still and sparkling wines. Riesling does well in cooler sites. Welschriesling, known in China as "Italian Riesling" (贵人香), has a long history here. And Petit Manseng, a grape from the south-west of France, is emerging as one of China's most interesting whites, from dry and zesty to sweet and golden.

Family 2: the adopted

Cabernet Gernischt 蛇龙珠: the mystery grape

When Changyu founded modern Chinese winemaking in 1892, European vines arrived in Yantai. One of them became known as Cabernet Gernischt, and for about a hundred years it was treated as a variety of its own. Then modern DNA studies linked it to Carmenère, a forgotten Bordeaux grape. It is a story remarkably similar to Chile, where Carmenère was long mistaken for Merlot. Today Cabernet Gernischt is a proud local speciality, especially in Shandong, with a spicy, herbal character.

Marselan 马瑟兰: the signature grape

If one grape could become China's calling card, it is Marselan.

It was born in France in 1961, when the French researcher Paul Truel crossed Cabernet Sauvignon with Grenache, looking for a grape with the elegance of the first and the heat resistance of the second. In France it remained a minor grape, rarely named on labels. Then, in 2001, a Sino-French project planted the first 2.75 hectares of Marselan in Huailai, north of Beijing. The first wines, made by Professor Li Demei, surprised everyone.

Today China has several thousand hectares of Marselan, more than any country except France, spread from the humid Shandong coast to the deserts of Ningxia and Xinjiang. Small berries give deep colour; the wines are aromatic, with ripe red and black fruit, spice, sometimes a hint of mint, and soft tannins. And no other country has yet claimed it as its own. China is doing exactly that.

Family 3: the natives

The Amur vine 山葡萄

China has its own wild grapes, and one of them is a champion of survival: Vitis amurensis, the Amur grape, native to the forests of the north-east. It withstands winters colder than -40°C, where European vines would die. Its wild berries are small, dark and sharply acidic, and local people have made wine from them for generations.

Beibinghong 北冰红

Chinese scientists crossed the Amur grape with the European wine grape to combine resistance and quality. One of the results is Beibinghong, whose name means roughly "northern ice red". It was bred to survive the extreme winters of the north-east and is used above all for red ice wine, a rarity in the wine world. It is a grape you will find almost nowhere else on Earth.

Where to start?

• To taste China's classic style: a Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Ningxia.
• To taste China's identity: a Marselan, from any region.
• To taste a piece of history: a Cabernet Gernischt from Shandong.
• To taste something truly unique: a Beibinghong ice wine from the north-east.

In one sentence

China learned wine with French grapes, is finding its identity in Marselan, and hides in its northern forests a wild vine that exists nowhere else.