Domaine de Long Dai is the Chinese estate of Domaines Barons de Rothschild, the owners of Château Lafite Rothschild, the most famous wine in China. The project began in 2008 as a joint venture with the Chinese conglomerate CITIC, which later withdrew; Lafite continued alone. After testing hundreds of soil pits, the team chose the Qiu Shan Valley in Penglai, on the Shandong Peninsula, not far from the sea.
Terraces and granite
Where most local vineyards are planted on the fertile valley floors, Lafite chose the higher slopes with the thinnest soils over granite bedrock, preserving the region's traditional terraces. The vineyard now covers more than 40 hectares on almost 600 terraces. The vines are not irrigated, and each terrace is harvested by hand in several passes. Plantings are led by Cabernet Sauvignon (39%), followed by Marselan (27%), Cabernet Franc (19%) and Merlot (9%).
Patience
Wines were made in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but none was judged good enough to release. The first commercial vintage was 2017, launched on the 'auspicious' date of 19 September 2019: 2,500 cases, aged 18 months in French oak barrels.
The winery draws on Chinese traditional architecture and includes a replica of Lafite's famous circular barrel cellar, with red pillars. It obtained LEED Gold certification in 2019 and joined the B Corp community in December 2023.