S$400 for a ‘Made in China’ wine: How does this top-dollar vino taste?
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Southward$400 for a 'Made in China' vino: How does this top-dollar vino taste?
Ao Yun, LVMH's Chinese wine venture, is showing it has what it takes to produce world form Bordeaux-style wines in the foothills of the Himalayas. How does its latest vintage, the 2016, fare? CNA Luxury takes a taste test.
Ao Yun'due south latest vintage, the 2016, was unveiled in 2020, making it only the quaternary vintage to be released from the winery. (Photograph: Ao Yun)
13 Feb 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 19 May 2022 06:32PM)
It's non a stretch to say that people who accept on the Himalayas are gluttons for penalty. Harsh, inhospitable terrain. Dizzying, jagged peaks that claw the troposphere. And altitude sickness to kicking. Y'all'd amend come to the unforgiving environs with good reason.
For Moet Hennessy, the drinks division of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, they came for vino.
In 2008, LVMH, then having already acquired top brands similar Krug and Glenmorangie, gear up their sights on making wine in China. It was a bold move since Chinese wines were unheard of exterior of Communist china, and many Chinese wineries were merely too happy to blend their domestic wines with imported bulk wine.
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Moet Hennessy sent Dr Tony Jordan, the late Australian winemaker and scientist, to look for suitable areas for viticulture in China. After a twelvemonth of exploring dozens of regions, he realised that 99 per cent of the state would non exist suitable for winemaking – the due north presented harsh winters and frost risks, while the eastern areas had excessive rainfall and high humidity – save for the possibility of milder micro-climates in the southern regions.
He ended upwardly in Adong, a village on the foothills of the Himalayas in Yunnan province, where the climatic conditions reminded him of Bordeaux. The surface area sits in the shadow of the Meili Mountain range, which rises to half dozen,740m.
The land wasn't virgin territory for wine: In the 19th century, Jesuit missionaries had planted vines on the steep slopes, likely for sacramental wine. In 2000, in an effort to heave the local economy, the Chinese government got local Tibetan farmers to plant vines imported from France – Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc – to sell grapes in majority to some other winery in the area.
In 2013, Moet Hennessy planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot – varieties typical of a Bordeaux-style blend – and Syrah vines. They named their new enterprise Ao Yun, which means "flying above clouds", a reference to the high-altitude region.
Ao Yun currently has 30 hectares of vineyards in four villages: Adong (where the winery is based), Shuori, Sinong, and Xidang, which all sit above ii,000m. All the land is leased from the farmers, who in turn charter from the government. Fifty per cent of the current acreage belongs to the plots planted past the farmers in 2000.
The remoteness of the winery proved to be difficult for logistics. The nearest town, Shangri-La, is a four-hour drive away, through rocky, mountainous roads.
Moet Hennessy has made it a betoken to rent local farmers who have made the surrounding lands their homes for centuries.
"In the vineyard, nosotros work with local [Tibetan] farmers and chief villagers as the first level of optimisation," said Dulou. "They brand upwardly a big function of the squad and consist of more than 100 families.
"For vineyard management, our team of Chinese winemakers are not-locals who are managed by Remi Vincent, our vineyard manager," he added. Communication betwixt employees is a ping-pong between French, English, Mandarin, and Tibetan.
The local farmers' knowledge of the local terrain has been benign to Ao Yun's viticulture techniques, such as flood irrigation management. The steep slopes mean tractors tin can't be used – harvest is done carefully by hand.
The vineyards nestle in a steep valley, in the shadows cast past the mountains, and thus experience shorter daylight hours. In winemaking 101, reduced sunlight exposure is disadvantageous as it affects grape growth. Only Ao Yun's vineyards sit at loftier altitudes, which make them an exception.
"The shorter sunlight hours in the vineyards are partially compensated by the stronger ultraviolet light at high altitudes," said Dulou. "The vines are as well compensated by a longer ripening period: Instead of harvesting in September, we harvest in October – and up till end-Nov for some of the cooler vintages."
Making wine in the cellar at 2,600m means dealing with 25 per cent less oxygen, a factor which tin can impact the taste of the vino (oxygen helps soften the wine and heighten its aromas). To make up for this, the squad ferments some of the wine in porous baijiu clay jars, which allow for more than exchange of oxygen than the standard steel tanks.
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Ao Yun'due south latest vintage, the 2016, was unveiled in 2020, making information technology only the quaternary vintage to be released from the winery. (The commencement vintage, the 2013, was released in 2016.)
The 2022 is a alloy of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, with small amounts of Syrah and Petit Verdot. It is perfumed and luscious, offering notes of plum, incense, spices, cedar and silky tannins. It is a more elegant counterpart to the 2022 vintage, which was produced in a warmer year, and thus packed grippier tannins and a fruitier mid-palate.
Since the release of its first vintage, Ao Yun'due south wines have been getting praise from acme wine critics: Jeannie Cho Lee MW noted that the quality "is improving every year since 2013", while James Suckling awarded 96 points to the 2022 vintage.
A bottle of Ao Yun retails for South$408 (S$428 with a gift box) at The Moomba wine store in Singapore, a price that some may baulk at for a "Fabricated in Cathay" wine. You may even argue that for that corporeality, you'd rather snag yourself a 2d Growth Bordeaux. Only the price reflects LVMH's belief in Ao Yun'southward quality and the potential of Chinese wine.
LVMH'due south faith isn't unwarranted. In December 2020, the Robert Parker Wine Advocate published its first comprehensive report on Chinese wines, including a review of over 100 wines – Ao Yun'southward 2022 vintage earned 94 points – a sign that the vino world is starting to pay serious attention to China's young but exciting vino manufacture.
"I think Ao Yun is a proficient example of the Chinese wine ambition; its quality improved [a lot] last year," said Dulou. "Ao Yun is proving to the world that Red china tin can create an infrequent, luxury product."
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/experiences/ao-yun-lvmh-made-in-china-wine-252296
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