China’s Wine Market
       

The Chinese like to drink wine and wine consumption is on the upswing. Not only is per capita       consumption rising, but the way the Chinese drink wine is changing. The Chinese host social   gathering   at home and serve wine. Red wine still prevails in China, but more delicate wines are   growing in popularity. China’s wineries have the potential to produce good quality wines in very large quantity. The problems for wine producers are growing top-quality grapes. In the Ningxia, Shanxi and Xinjiang regions, the summers provide perfect conditions, warm and dry, unfortunately fall and winter roll around, conditions are not so great, it’s too cold, which means the growers have to bury the vines to keep them alive, to beat the cold weather, the producers tend to harvest the grapes early, before they have attained proper sugar content.

In the Shandong region, this is the opposite, winters are California-like, so the vines don’t have to be buried, and summer and fall seasons are wet, which means the grapes are susceptible to fungus, rot and rust. The Chinese wineries have to deal with a lot of individual farmers, who may or may not accept to cooperate or who may decide to sell to a competing winery to get more money. Provincial government in Ningxia took decided to change the equation, entering into leases with individual farmers. The leases are then combined and leased out as vast areas to wineries. These big changes appealed to foreign wineries, like Pernod Ricard and LVMH, which purchased leases. The largest exporters of wines to China are France, Chile, Spain, Argentina, Portugal and South Africa.

Chinese wine regions North West & South

Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Xinjiang is the largest China province bordered by eight countries including the former Soviet Central Asian republics, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. It is home to the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighur (about 8 million people) of the total province population of 22 million people. Xinjiang is rich in natural resources, and economic development in the region has been accompanied by large-scale immigration of Han Chinese. Xinjiang is the region with the largest wine production in China with and important production of raisins. Area: 1,660,000 km2 - Language Chinese, Uighur

Main wineries in Xianjiang

Bodega Refine 

Chateau Aroma 

Chateau Changyu Baron Balboa

Chateau Loulan

Chateau Tuoling

Les Champs d’Or

CITIC Guoan Wine – (Suntime Wine)

Skyline of Gobi Vineyards

COFCO GreatWall (Xinjiang)

Wine Company Limited

Xinjiang Xiangdu Winery Co., Ltd.

Zhongfei Winery

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

The first provincial-level of development bureau for wine in China was founded in Ningxia. The wine industry in Ningxia is the most important position in the economic development of Ningxia who has excellent conditions of light and warmth which has an arid climate, and a natural irrigation from the Yellow River. Wines produced in Ningxia region have won many awards.

Main wineries in Ningxia

Changyu Moser XV
Chateau Bacchus
Chateau Saint Louis-Ding
Cofco Chateau Yunmo
Daylong Wine
Domaine Helan Mountain
Helan Qingxue
Imperial Horse Winery
Lanny Chateau
Leirenshou
Moët Hennessy Bodegas Chandon
Ningxia Xixia King Winery Co., Ltd
Ningxia Red Winery
Silver Heights
Yuan Shi

Gansu Province

Gansu Province has a relatively long history of winemaking. The  local vineyards are mainly concentrated in the Wuwei region. Gansun Province, has a cool climate and the performance of the late-ripening grape varieties is barely satisfactory.

Main wineries in Gansu

Grand Dragon
Mogao Wine
Qilian Wine Company
Sunshine Valley
Zixuan Wine
 

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, bordering to the North with the Republic of Mongolia and Russia. The Mongolia is the widest province in China by latitude. The Mongolia has about 24 million people. Many ethnic groups are living in this region who includes the cities of:  Alashan, Banyannur, Baotou, Chifeng, Hohhot, Hulunbeier, Ordos, Tongliao, Wuhai, Wulanchabu, Xilingol, Xing'an. Hohhot is the capital of Inner Mongolia.The Wuhai region in Inner Mongolia has a long history of grape growing and produces raisins with good quality.

Sishuan and Yunnan Province

The Sishuan and Yunnan Province that border on Tibet have cooler weather due to the high elevation, and the terroir in the upper valleys of Lancanjiang River. It’s important to notify that the vines in Sishuan and Yunnan Province can survive winters without any artificial protection. The high elevation brings enough sunlight who produce superior grapes quality.

HongXing Leader Winery
KangDingHong winery
Shangri-La winery
Spirit of Highland winery