Chinese wine: a guide to the regions, grapes, wineries and critics

The word covers two very different drinks, and the history page keeps them apart. The older one is a mixed fermented drink. Residue in pottery jars from Jiahu, in Henan, points to a drink of rice, honey and fruit (hawthorn, grape, or both) by about 7000 BC. Patrick McGovern and colleagues called it the oldest chemically confirmed alcoholic beverage then known, in a paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004. The same paper reads liquids sealed in Shang and Western Zhou bronze vessels as cereal drinks.

Grape wine, as distinct from those mixtures, enters the standard account after Zhang Qian's missions west in the second century BC, when the vine and the knowledge of wine came back along the Silk Road. In the Tang dynasty, Wang Han's poem "Liangzhou Ci" put grape wine in a luminous cup, the 夜光杯. The modern industry starts much later: Zhang Bishi founded Changyu on Zhifu Bay in Yantai in 1892, and COFCO Great Wall dates its Château Sungod at Huailai, which it calls the birthplace of Chinese dry wine, to 1979.

The Cabernet on a table today is not continuous with the Jiahu jar. That line between them is the point of the history of Chinese wine.

The critics this site cites say the best of it is, and they say where the weak spots have been.

• Decanter: In 2011 Helan Qingxue's Jia Bei Lan 2009 won the Red Bordeaux Varietal Over £10 International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards, the first time a Chinese wine had won at the competition's highest level. In 2025 China won its first Best in Show awards, for Dongfang Yuxing's Geruihong Yeguangbei 2022 (97 points) and Changyu's Noble Dragon N188 2022. Decanter China says they were the only Asian wines in that year's top 50.
• James Suckling: In one Ningxia tasting of about 150 Chinese wines, 55 percent scored 90 or above. A decade earlier, he wrote, the Chinese wine he remembered was Grace Vineyard Chairman's Reserve 2006, which he had scored 86 as a Wine Spectator editor. He gave Ao Yun 2018 from Yunnan 98 points, then his highest score for a Chinese wine.
• Jancis Robinson: In a blind tasting she named the faults she found, crude oak and sweetened reds, and then the wines that rose above them: Kanaan, which she rated best overall, Château Nine Peaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2011, Silver Heights, Helan Qingxue, and from Xinjiang, Zhongfei and Skyline of Gobi.

Scores that sit behind a subscription, such as The Wine Advocate's, are not guessed here. The critics' corner sets out every public score and links the paywalled ones.

This directory covers six regions. Each guide stays inside what critics and producer pages actually say.

Ningxia (宁夏), Helan Mountain East

The desert strip between the Yellow River and the Helan Mountains was turned over to vines from the late 1990s. Jancis Robinson's 2012 reports describe ripening that stays cool into September and October, and direct local-government support. In 2014 Wine Spectator reported a five-tier winery classification modelled on the Bordeaux ranking of 1855 and renewed every two years. Decanter's 2025 results credit Ningxia with 81 medals: one Best in Show, one Platinum, five Gold, 31 Silver and 43 Bronze. The directory files ten Ningxia entries, including Silver Heights, Helan Qingxue, Kanaan, Li's Estate, Dongfang Yuxing and Xige Estate. Read the Ningxia wine region guide.

Shandong (山东), Yantai and Penglai

Industrial wine in China starts on this coast, with Changyu in Yantai in 1892. The coast is not Ningxia, and the 2025 Best in Show from here says so in its blend: Changyu Noble Dragon N188 2022 is 75% Cabernet Gernischt and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon. In Penglai, Domaine de Long Dai (Domaines Barons de Rothschild, Lafite) and Treaty Port Vineyards share the Qiu Shan valley, and Château Nine Peaks is further south at Laixi, Qingdao. Read the Shandong wine guide.

Yunnan (云南), Deqin

Ao Yun is the featured estate in this guide. LVMH places it in four villages at the foot of Meili Mountain in Deqin County, near Shangri-La, with vineyards from 2,200 to 2,600 metres. The wine is Cabernet Sauvignon, picked and made by hand. It is the Yunnan estate English-language critics actually review. Read the Yunnan wine guide. For the road in and the villages, see the Shangri-La wine region.

Xinjiang (新疆), Yanqi Basin

Robinson named two Xinjiang wines in her blind tasting: Zhongfei, and Skyline of Gobi, a range from Tiansai Vineyards in the Yanqi Basin. Decanter has published a note on Tiansai's Skyline of Gobi Grand Reserve Marselan 2017, a Silver medal. Read the Xinjiang wine guide.

Hebei (河北), Huailai

The confirmed visit near Beijing is COFCO Great Wall's Château Sungod at Shacheng, Huailai County, which travel listings put on the order of 100 kilometres northwest of the capital. Huailai is also where Marselan first reached China (see the grapes section). Read the Hebei wine guide.

Shanxi (山西), Taigu

Grace Vineyard at Dongjia, Rencun, Taigu publishes a tour of its cellar, museum, vineyard and tasting, reached from Taiyuan Wusu airport. Read the Shanxi wine guide, or see all six Chinese wine regions on one map.

The grapes below are the ones named on this site's pages and in the sources they cite. This is not a national planting census, and no area figures are given for today.

• Cabernet Sauvignon is the backbone of the medal wines this directory records. Jia Bei Lan 2009 is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, Yeguangbei 2022 is 85%, Li's Estate Family Reserve 2022 is 85%, and Ao Yun is Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Cabernet Gernischt is the grape Changyu's Noble Dragon N188 is built on (75%). It also appears in smaller shares in Jia Bei Lan (5%) and Yeguangbei (6%). Jancis Robinson describes Silver Heights' first vines as mature Carmenère, known locally as Cabernet Gernischt.
• Marselan was bred in France in 1961 by Paul Truel and reached China in 2001, at a Sino-French project in Huailai, Hebei, later called Domaine Franco-Chinois, according to Li Demei in Decanter China. From 2005 it was planted in Ningxia, Xinjiang's Yanqi Basin, Taigu in Shanxi and elsewhere. Silver Heights makes a Jiayuan Marselan, and Dongfang Yuxing's Geruihong Marselan 2024 took a Decanter Gold marked Top Value in 2025.
• Merlot, Syrah, Dornfelder and others appear in blends: Merlot in Jia Bei Lan, Syrah and Merlot in Li's Estate's Family Reserve, Dornfelder in Yeguangbei, and Grenache, Syrah and both Cabernets in Treaty Port's estate red. Suckling reports a Malbec trial at Helan Qingxue.
• White and sparkling wines are a smaller part of what critics cite here. Kanaan makes Riesling, according to Suckling, and Chandon China makes sparkling wine at Yongning in Ningxia.

The directory of Chinese wineries lists 20 estates. It is a directory, not a ranking. These are the names critics write about most often on this site:

• Helan Qingxue (贺兰晴雪), Ningxia. Zhang Jing makes the wine, with Li Demei named as consultant from 2006. The estate made Jia Bei Lan, the 2011 trophy wine, and Suckling reports its promotion to Second Growth in the Ningxia classification in 2019. The full story is in Jia Bei Lan and the 2011 Decanter trophy.
• Silver Heights (银色高地), Ningxia. Emma Gao's family estate. Vino Joy News reported in 2023 that it was the first Chinese winery certified biodynamic by Demeter. Read Emma Gao of Silver Heights.
• Dongfang Yuxing, Ningxia. Its Geruihong Yeguangbei 2022, from Hongsipu, was one of China's two first Best in Show wines in 2025. The winemaker is Wu Xiuyong. See Dongfang Yuxing.
• Changyu (张裕), Shandong. Founded in Yantai in 1892, and the maker of the other 2025 Best in Show, Noble Dragon N188 2022. See Changyu.
• Kanaan Winery (迦南美地酒庄), Ningxia. Wang Fang makes Cabernet blends and Riesling. Robinson rated Kanaan best overall in her blind tasting. See Kanaan.
• Ao Yun (敖云), Yunnan. LVMH's high-altitude Cabernet, with Suckling's 98 for the 2018. See Ao Yun.
• Grace Vineyard (怡园酒庄), Shanxi. Its Chairman's Reserve 2006 was, for Suckling, the memorable Chinese wine of an earlier decade. See Grace Vineyard.

Decanter's medal tables are the public record most of these pages lean on, because they are not behind a paywall. Best in Show replaced the International Trophy in 2016, which is why the 2011 trophy and the 2025 Best in Show awards are the two landmarks. Nationally, Decanter China counted 181 Chinese medals in 2025.

The other desks: James Suckling publishes Chinese tasting reports, Jancis Robinson's free essays from 2012 are still the clearest English introduction to Ningxia, Edward Ragg MW reviews China for The Wine Advocate behind a paywall, and Liz Thach's 2014 Wine Spectator article reports the Ningxia classification. The Chinese wine critics' corner summarises each, with links.

Two questions come up most: what to drink with Chinese food, and how wine is served at a Chinese meal. The first has its own article. For a shared Chinese meal, the writers it cites look for one versatile wine with good acidity, such as sparkling wine, an off-dry Riesling, or a fruity, low-tannin red, rather than one wine per dish. Read wine pairing with Chinese food.

The second is on the wine in Chinese culture page. Richard Hemming MW attributes red wine's early popularity in China to an auspicious colour, the desirability of the brand, and gifting. Andrew Jefford, writing in Decanter about banquets in Ningxia, describes toasts proposed around the table and wine drunk standing after each speech, not sipped with the food.

Some, and only where a producer or a public tourism page has published the visit. The China wine travel guide lists them:

• Ningxia: Xige Estate at Qingtongxia asks for a free reservation a day ahead. Château Changyu Moser XV is described by Ningxia tourism copy as a 4A scenic spot. Chandon China at Yongning has published advance-booked tastings, about an hour by road from Yinchuan Hedong airport.
• Shandong: The Changyu Wine Culture Museum at 56 Dama Road, Yantai, publishes hours of 8:00 to 17:00. Long Dai in Penglai takes reservations for groups of up to 12. Château Nine Peaks asks for two days' notice.
• Hebei and Shanxi: Château Sungod at Huailai publishes a cellar visit, and Grace Vineyard at Taigu publishes tours by reservation.

Silver Heights, Helan Qingxue, Kanaan, Dongfang Yuxing and Li's Estate do not have a booking page confirmed here, and Ao Yun does not publish a visitor programme. Write to an estate before you build a trip around it.