Shandong

Where it all began

In 1892 Zhang Bishi, a diplomat and businessman, founded the Changyu winery in Yantai, on the northern coast of the Shandong Peninsula. He brought in hundreds of thousands of vine cuttings from Europe and the United States, many of which struggled to adapt, and hired European winemakers to run the cellar. It was the beginning of the modern Chinese wine industry. Today Changyu is the country's oldest and largest wine company, with estates across China.

Among the vines that arrived in 1892 was a red grape that came to be known as Cabernet Gernischt, from the German gemischt, 'mixed'. For more than a century it was considered a Chinese speciality; DNA profiling has since shown it to be Carmenère, the old Bordeaux grape that survives today mainly in Chile.

The wine city

Yantai has built its identity around wine. In 1987 the OIV, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, named it an International City of Vine and Wine, the only one in Asia, and the city became China's first observer at the organisation. According to recent official figures, Yantai has 204 wine producers and 63 wineries and accounts for more than 40% of China's wine output, although part of that wine is made from grapes or base wine brought in from other regions.

Besides Changyu, the peninsula is home to COFCO's Great Wall in Yantai, and across the peninsula in Qingdao to producers such as Huadong Parry Winery and Chateau Nine Peaks.

A maritime climate

Shandong is the opposite of Ningxia and Xinjiang. Surrounded by the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, the peninsula has milder winters, so mild that Yantai is the only major wine region in northern China where the vines can stay above ground all year. The price to pay is the summer monsoon: rain falls in the growing season, bringing humidity and disease pressure, and fully ripening late varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon is a constant challenge. Growers answer with hillside sites, well-drained soils and careful canopy management, and the best wines are fresher and more restrained than those of the west.

Penglai and the Lafite effect

Most of Yantai's vineyards are in Penglai, a coastal district west of the city. Its 'one belt, three valleys', the coastal strip plus the Qiushan, Nanwang and Pingshan River valleys, has been certified as a Small-scale Wine Region of China.

The Qiushan Valley became famous worldwide when Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) chose it for its Chinese project. After a long search, the group signed for its land in 2009, planted vines in 2011 on terraces of granite soil about 20 km from the Yellow Sea, and in 2019 released its first wine, Long Dai 2017, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Marselan and Cabernet Franc.

Grapes and styles

Red wine dominates. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are widely planted, Cabernet Gernischt remains the historic local grape, and Marselan is increasingly important. Shandong wines tend to be medium-bodied, with fresher acidity and more moderate alcohol than those of the desert regions.