The Great Wall of China passes through eroded from the desert winds and devoid of Ningxia as it skirts Inner Mongolia and the Gobi tourists excepting the three of us. Desert. We hiked along a section of it with our We were able to stop here because the pass Chinese pioneers guide Kiki on a bright but cold sunny day last sits just a short drive away from the Ningxia October. First built over 2,000 years ago to Route, a series of roads that skirt the defend the Qin, Han, Sui and Ming dynasties foothills of the Helan Mountains and join You may not have heard of it, but Ningxia is being hailed as from Mongolian attacks, some of the oldest together almost 100 wineries. If we’d been here China’s hottest region for the production of quality . remaining sections are seen here, at the 15 years ago, this would still have been desert, Jane Anson travels to the wild stretches of the Great Wall to Sanguankou pass through the Helan with sandstorms an ongoing battle for the ➢ meet the up-and-coming producers who are leading the way Mountains, where Genghis Khan first entered China in 1209. This is the wild Great Wall, Below: colourful vineyard workers at Silver Heights

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N MONGOLIA

XINJIANG Beijing G6 small villages that dot the area. Today it still Yinchuan wines have Ningxia on the label all grapes is easier than in many other HELAN Yellow feels like wild country, at an altitude of MOUNTAINS River have to be from there, an aim that is helped, regions. The incidence of rot and other Lanzhou NINGXIA Yellow 1,000m and with many sections still under Sea Shizuishan as viticulturist Dr Richard Smart points out, diseases is extremely low, so herbicide use is construction, but regularly spaced among the CHINA Shanghai by the region’s remoteness in China’s almost non-existent – although vine-trunk sparse landscape are vast Chinese-style BHUTAN SICHUAN northwest territory, which hinders intra- disease has been an issue in the past. Almost fortresses, Loire-style chateaux and marble Yellow River regional transport. all vineyard work is done by hand (cheap YUNNAN G6 castles with moats and footbridges that are Great Wall Next up was education in viticultural labour helps, of course) and in 2013 the Hong Kong 5 of China surrounded by either newly planted vines or HELAN1 MOUNTAINS techniques. In 2011 the Ningxia University Ningxia Helan Mountain East Wine Region MYANMAR 2 land ready for planting. South China Sanguankou 3 Yinchuan Wine College opened and today has 800 Conservation Regulations were passed, Sea Pass 4 If you’re trying to keep up with what’s G70 INNER students in the shape of 650 undergraduates providing legal protection to the sustainable S27 happening in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous MONGOLIA and 150 postgraduates, learning everything development of the region’s wine industry. INNER MONGOLIA Yongning Region, you had better not leave it too long from to wine marketing and sales Above: viticulturist between visits. The very first winery opened Ningxia vineyards under teachers such as microbiologist Dr Gang Dr Richard Smart Exploring potential Qingtongxia G20 here in 1985, but the first real wave of estates 1 Chateau Helan Qingxue S12 Jin and oenologist Wen Ma, who did her Below: Lenz Moser at The success of all this can be seen through the 2 Silver Heights 3 Château Changyu-Moser XV came over a decade later. None of the S3 post-doctorate studies in Bordeaux. Overseas Château Changyu- number of national and international giants properties along the Ningxia Wine Route date 4 Château Zhihui Yuanshi winemakers have been attracted through Moser XV present here, including COFCO, Changyu, 5 Legacy Peak G70 back further than 1997 and the vast majority NINGXIA competitions to make the best local wine with LVMH’s Chandon and Pernod Ricard (at first Great Wall were built less than five years ago. of China over US$100,000 (�70,000) on offer in prize French-Chinese joint venture but now entirely It’s hard to get an accurate picture of what G6 G2012 money, with several of them staying on after independent). But it’s the high number of Yellow River is going on, at least partly because things are G2012 Hongsibu 0 25 50 the competition ended. boutique wineries such as Silver Heights and changing so fast, but figures from the Ningxia kilometres International consultants also help, Chateau Helan Qingxue that have focused ➢ Bureau of Grape Industry Development show although to be really useful they need to visit that plantings of wine grapes in Ningxia regularly and concentrate on teaching basic increased from 2,660ha in 2004 to 39,300ha Looking to move to a high-value agricultural ‘The challenge winery skills, rather than just flying in for the in 2014. The stated aim is for this to become crop, the local government initially bulldozed winemaking itself. Lenz Moser is at Château 67,000ha by 2020 (1 million mu in local sand dunes and laid irrigation channels to is to ensure Changyu-Moser XV, Ho-Lan Soul has the measurements) with double the number of make way for the vines, planting swathes of Bordeaux oenologist Stéphane Toutoundji, existing wineries. Creating any size of wine forest as an extra windbreak. this breakneck Château Yunmo has opted for Michel Rolland, region from scratch at the edge of the Gobi They then granted 70-year vineyard while Smart is at Chateau Mihope, introducing desert is not a job for the unimaginative or licences to the wineries, offered subsidies for speed of trellising techniques to help refine the local easily defeated. To take it to 67,000ha – more buying vines and equipment, as well as for practice of burying the vines over the winter than twice the size of Burgundy – in little attending international trade fairs, and development is months to help them survive the cold (‘vertical more than two decades (despite winter ensured that the focus from the beginning trellising doesn’t work,’ he says, preferring temperatures that regularly drop to a vine- was on a chateau strategy – meaning wineries sustainable’ instead to angle the vines during the whole killing -25°C) is pretty staggering. growing their own grapes, restricting yields year so that burying puts less strain on them). Lenz Moser, and bottling on site rather than buying in There are, equally, many geographic pictured right Starting out grapes or bulk wine from other regions or positives to the location, which offers extremely It has taken, as is so often the case in China, countries, as has been common in much of the dry summers, over 3,000 sunshine hours

Photograph: (Main image) Joseph Brennan. Map: Maggie Nelsonclear government directives and support. recent history of Chinese wine. In theory, if annually and cold winters that mean organic

Ningxia region – a timeline

1996 2012 Chinese premier Li Peng toasted Establishment of Ningxia Wine his Five-Year Plan with red wine and Bureau, the first provincial wine 2016 emphasised its benefits for health authority in China. Ningxia Chinese premier Xi Jinping 1985 and ‘social ethics’. This ushered in also joins the International visits the region and speaks First winery an initiative to promote Ningxia Organisation of Vine and Wine of the huge market potential opens as a significant wine region (OIV) as an observer of the wine industry

1982 2011 2013 2015 2020 Changyu, Great Wall and Dynasty Opening of Ningxia University Ningxia launches a classification Committee formed in Plans for 1 million mu of vines establish vineyards in the region, Wine College (above). In the system for its wines, with five levels Helan Mountain East to planted (equivalent to 67,000ha). shipping the grapes out from same year Château Helan (like Bordeaux’s 1855 ranking). There oversee planning and To put this in context, there were Ningxia to be vinified elsewhere Qingxue wins DWWA are currently 36 classified wineries construction of wineries 570,000ha of vines planted International Trophy (no second or first growths yet) across China in 2014

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Five leading producers Château Changyu-Moser XV paved pathways and impressive Changyu is China’s oldest wine sculptures and other works of art. producer, founded in the Shandong It produces about 70,000 bottles at Province, with its origins dating to the moment, 10% white, with some the late 19th century. It has marked contract vineyards as well as its its arrival in Ningxia with a stunning own grapes. Certified organic. European-style château that cost £49 million and opened in 2012 with Legacy Peak an 800-strong barrel cellar and Owner Lui Hai was the first to plant museum to Chinese wine history. It in the eastern foothills of the is making some of the best wines of mountains on rockier soils at over the region, especially since it began 1,200m altitude near the Xixia Above: the tasting room at Château Zhihui Yuanshi working in 2005 with fifth- Kings’ Tombs. The vines are now 20 generation Austrian winemaker years old and harvest here begins international attention on the region, and Lenz Moser as a consultant. about 15 days later than at other reinforced the image of quality potential. vineyards in the region, allowing for Chateau Helan Qingxue Cabernet Sauvignon is the main grape at over a longer, slower ripening season. 70% of total plantings, although there are All of this means complexity and some interesting experimentations with nuance in the wines, and the estate Marselan, and the wines are racking up an is known for its excellent impressive number of international awards. Chardonnay (though this grape ‘It’s an exciting but challenging place to be,’ covers just 0.8ha, with most of the says Moser, who has overseen a huge vineyard given over to Cabernet investment programme at Château Changyu- Sauvignon and a small amount of Moser XV and has been rewarded with seeing Chateau Helan Qingxue Merlot). It was the first Ningxia his family name added to the winery. ‘The Founded in 2005, this is one of the winery to get an export licence. challenge is to ensure this breakneck speed of estates that put Ningxia on the map development is sustainable, and to keep through its Jia Bei Lan wine. Silver Heights raising the basic level of wine knowledge.’ Winemaker Zhang Jing was partly Another leading light of the region, I saw a few signs of what Moser means. For self-taught and partly educated by Gao Yuan (known as Emma) runs example, I heard almost no talk of working the Professor Li Demei, gaining the winery with her husband, soils while I was there – even though there’s experience via an exchange Thierry Courtade, who she met no doubt that these former desert sands could programme that took her to the when working as an intern at do with improved microbial structure. Tasting Rhône Valley and then Australia. Château Calon-Ségur in St-Estèphe shows that there needs to be better natural Today she spends part of her year (he was there for 24 years and balance in the vineyard to reduce the need for teaching in Adelaide as a visiting retains a thick Médoc accent). Still acidification or other techniques in the cellar. winemaker, and is one of the most boutique in terms of focus and feel, The four main issues I found were TCA in exciting names in Ningxia. Helan the estate has 70ha of vines across corks, premature ageing in young wines, spiky Qingxue remains a boutique winery two sites, at 1,200m altitude, with acidity levels and issues with barrel with 15ha planted and a focus on more gravelly terroir than many of management. But I also tasted many excellent quality, picking among the earliest the sand-dominant wineries of the wines made by committed winemakers that in the region and avoiding cellar area. Gao is the viticulturist and showed lush fruits and excellent potential. techniques such as acidification. winemaker, while Courtade is the cellarmaster, with 15 full-time staff Brave new world Château Zhihui Yuanshi working alongside them to produce ‘The impact of the winemaker remains The most impressive of all the about 50,000 bottles a year. crucial,’ Smart tells me, when we discuss his wineries that I visited, not because impressions of Ningxia, formed during six of its scale but because it is built years of regularly working there. ‘It can be with local stone (the owners frustrating as there is very little exchange apparently made their money in between wineries, which means a lack of quarries), using local craftsmen, in community awareness around specific the traditional Chinese fortress viticultural and cellar issues. They need to be style of the region. At every turn open to learning from mistakes, and for that you find granite, sandstone, wood you need contact not just with outside carvings, vast cavernous spaces, Silver Heights

influences, but with others in your region.’ ➢ Brennan Joseph Wu, Sylvia Photographs:

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‘But there is clear potential for quality wine adds Smart. ‘There is also not yet a cultural Above: the vineyards at if vineyards are well managed, and I see appreciation of white wine, but the climate Chateau Helan Qingxue similarities with the free-draining soils of shows great potential for both sparkling and regions such as Hawke’s Bay,’ continues Smart. still whites from premium varieties such as ‘Right now the investment is focused on fancy Chardonnay.’ buildings and buying the best equipment, What’s certain is that the will and ambition while vineyard investment is too low down the are there. One thing, above all, convinced me list, but that’s changing. China paradoxically is of the true potential for success in Ningxia. the New World of winemaking, despite the fact It came on the last night of my visit, as we had that it was one of first places to make wine. supper with the local government officials Inevitably it’s a work in progress,’ he says. who were involved in the winemaking What are his hopes for the future? ‘I’d like initiative. I asked Hao Linhai, the now-retired to see more experimentation with grapes chairman of the International Federation of beyond Cabernet Sauvignon, as there are lots Vine and Wine of Helan Mountain’s East of native varieties that might be a route for the Foothill, what he believes should happen over future.’ He adds that some German grapes the next 10 years. His reply was: to slow down. have their ancestry in China, though not many ‘I believe our success has come from the Jane Anson is a producers are currently developing those. fact that our soils have been used from the Decanter contributing ‘Marselan could well be the variety that beginning not for bulk but quality wine. We editor, Bordeaux China embraces as its own, particularly as no need to resist the temptation to go too fast. correspondent and one else has grabbed it yet, and I’ve already We all have a part to play in regulating growth author of the book seen some excellent examples from Ningxia,’ and ensuring we keep this focus on quality.’ D Bordeaux Legends

Anson’s pick of wines from Ningxia

Legacy Peak, Chardonnay tropical fruits and beautiful freshness. A full 75% new oak that is just a touch too 2015 92 Drink 2018-2023 Alc 12.5% evident at this stage. (The winery rather N/A UK No English language honestly admits that the last vintage sold website Chateau Helan Qingxue, out so quickly that it put this on the market This is a very good quality Jia Bei Lan Reserve 2014 92 a little earlier than it wanted to.) Intense Chardonnay, which is barrel- N/A UK No English language concentration with a smoky edge. A blend aged in 100% French oak for website of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot eight months. Rich straw in From different plots than the and 5% Syrah. Drink 2019-2026 Alc 15% colour, with a round and silky main estate wine, aged in 70% texture on the palate, citrus new oak barrels for 18 months, Château Zhihui Yuanshi, Soul notes and a lovely fresh finish. then kept in bottle for a further of Mountain 2013 89 Drink 2018-2023 Alcohol 13.5% year. This is excellent, though N/A UK No English language still young. Smoky, almost burnt website Silver Heights , Family Reserve caramel notes, set against Good grip from the tannins, with Chardonnay 2015 92 intense black fruits. Lovely complexity. A layers of rich, black flesh on the N/A UK www.silverheights.cn blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon with 15% fruit. There’s a little spiky acidity Made from grapes grown along the eastern Cabernet Franc. Drink 2019-2026 Alc 14% on the finish, but this is slopes of the Helan Mountains, this 100% aromatically assured and has Chardonnay is bottled unfiltered and Chateau Changyu Moser XV 2015 90 plenty of potential. A blend of undergoes no malolactic fermentation. £59 (2013) Berry Bros & Rudd 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and I love the colour and richness of this, with Rich deep colour, with clear fruit integrity. 20% Merlot. Drink 2018-2024 Alc 14%

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