Giants and Boutique Estates: Who Makes China's Wine

Behind every bottle of Chinese wine there is one of four very different worlds. A state giant born in the 19th century. A French luxury group hunting for the next great terroir. A family that bet everything on a patch of desert. A young winemaker back from Bordeaux with an idea. Knowing which world a wine comes from tells you a lot about what is in the glass.

World 1: the giants

For most of the last century, Chinese wine meant a handful of big companies. They built the industry, taught a nation to drink wine and still produce most of the bottles on Chinese supermarket shelves.

Changyu 张裕

The founder of it all: born in 1892 in Yantai, Shandong, China's first modern winery is today one of the largest wine companies in Asia. Alongside its volume wines, Changyu has invested in quality estates, including Changyu Moser XV in Ningxia.

Great Wall 长城

Owned by the state food group COFCO, Great Wall was for decades the best-known wine brand in China, with estates in Hebei, Shandong, Ningxia and Xinjiang.

Dynasty 王朝

Founded in 1980 in Tianjin as a joint venture with the French group Rémy Martin, one of the first symbols of China's opening to the world of wine.

World 2: the global names

When the world's most famous wine houses started looking for new frontiers, some of them looked to China.

Ao Yun 敖云

The name means "flying above the clouds". After a four-year search for the perfect site, Moët Hennessy settled on the Himalayan foothills of Yunnan, near Shangri-La. More than 300 tiny plots, between 2,200 and 2,600 metres, produce a single Cabernet Sauvignon-based red. The first vintage, 2013, was released in 2016. Since 2022, Ao Yun has been sold through the négociants of Bordeaux, like the great châteaux. For years it was the only Chinese wine traded on the international fine-wine market.

Domaine de Long Dai 珑岱

In 2009 the Rothschild family of Château Lafite bought land in Penglai, on the Shandong coast, then waited ten years before releasing a single bottle. The first vintage, 2017, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and, tellingly, Marselan, grown on terraces of granite. When the most famous name in Bordeaux chooses China's signature grape, people notice.

Chandon China and Helan Mountain

Moët Hennessy also makes sparkling wine in Ningxia under the Chandon name, while Pernod Ricard produces still wines in the region under the Helan Mountain brand. Their presence helped put Ningxia on the international map.

World 3: the family estates

This is the world that has done the most to change the image of Chinese wine. Small, independent, often family-owned, these estates make wines with a personal signature, and many of them are the ones collecting the medals.

Silver Heights 银色高地

A family estate at the foot of the Helan Mountains in Ningxia, led by a winemaker trained in Bordeaux. Silver Heights became China's first winery certified biodynamic by Demeter, and is often cited as the estate that opened the door for fine Chinese wine.

Helan Qingxue 贺兰晴雪

Founded in 2005 in Ningxia, it wrote history in 2011 when its Jia Bei Lan 2009 won an International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London. Winemaker Zhang Jing became a symbol of the new Chinese wine.

Kanaan 迦南美地

A Ningxia estate founded by Wang Fang, one of the leading women of Chinese wine, known for refined reds and a strong focus on the vineyard.

Grace Vineyard 怡园酒庄

Founded in 1997 in Shanxi, on the loess plateau, by a Hong Kong family, and led for many years by Judy Chan, daughter of the founder. One of the true pioneers of quality family winemaking in China.

Tiansai 天塞酒庄

In the Yanqi Basin of Xinjiang, an estate created in 2010 on former desert land, now one of the best-known pioneers of China's far west.

World 4: the new generation

The most exciting chapter is only beginning. A generation of young Chinese winemakers, many trained in France, Australia or the United States, is coming home with new ideas: single-vineyard wines, fresh whites from Petit Manseng and Riesling, low-intervention and natural wines, and above all Marselan in every style imaginable. Their production is tiny and their names are still little known, even in China. They are exactly the people Wine Silk Road wants to introduce to Europe.

What this means for you

• To understand the history of Chinese wine: taste a wine from one of the giants.
• To see what China can achieve at the very top: Ao Yun or Long Dai, if you can find a bottle.
• To discover China's identity and its most personal wines: the family estates of Ningxia, Shanxi and Xinjiang.
• To be ahead of everyone: follow the new generation, starting from our Wineries section.

In one sentence

Chinese wine is made by four worlds: the giants who built it, the global names who validated it, the families who gave it a soul, and a new generation that is inventing its future.