Ningxia and Xinjiang, China’s two main wine regions, a seminar with Xing Wei
As part of the 2025 Edition of the Wynn Signature Chinese Wine Awards the judges have some education in the form of some seminars, and this one focused on the two largest Chinese wine regions, Ningxia and Xinjiang. This session was presented by Xing Wei who is China’s most recent Master of Wine. He went to Ningxia eight times last year, and Xinjiang he’s been once, but it is so huge that it took him 15 days to get around all the subregions!
Where are vines grown in China? It’s the middle to the north part of China that is suitable for wine because of the latitude, with the exception of Shangri La region which is in the south but at very high latitude. The south is generally too warm.
Ningxia is almost in the middle of China and is the largest region. Shandong is the birthplace of modern wine in China, close to the sea in the west, but is half the size of Ningxia. And Xinjiang is the second biggest, just a bit smaller than Ningxia. This is in the northwest.
Ningxia is 37-39 degrees north. Average growing season temperature is 17.7 C and there’s a relatively short growing season. It’s very continental with high temperatures in the summer, in the 40s C and then low temperatures that can get to -30 C in the winter. Average January temperature is -10, but it is the lows that mean that Vitis vinifera can’t survive without protection. In most Chinese wine regions the vines need to be buried (geotextiles don’t work, because of the dryness and also the wind). This brings a lot of consequences. The only exceptions are Shangri-La and Shandong.
Xinjiang is a harsher version of Ningxia in terms of climate. There’s a hot summer so sugar ripeness is easily reached, but flavour ripeness can be a challenge because of the short growing season.
In terms of GDDs it’s not possible to compare the climate indices used here which are different. Xing Wei estimates growing degrees are about the same as the southern Rhône.
Most of the problems are related to rainfall, which in China is related to monsoons. In the north of China irrigation is needed because there is less then 400 mm rain a year. The monsoon influence spreads almost as far as Ningxia, but one or two years a decade there are problems with rain. Last year in Ningxia, it began raining at the end of August and then rained 20 days out of the next 40, but this is rare.
In Xinjiang there is very little rain except for the Yili River region which has 600-800 m. Most of the region is even drier than Ningxia.
Both regions have problems with frost, winter cold, sunburn and floods. Hail can be a problem in Xinjiang. Wind can also be difficult.
In terms of topography, China is made of three stairs or steps. First, the Tibet plateau, at 3000 m and above. Then there is the second stair, at 1000 m, including these two regions. This brings continentality, and diurnal variation. But the soil stays warm and elevates night time temperature, so acidity can be a problem in the grapes: most wines are acidified for stability and freshness. The third stair is sea level or just above, including Shandong and Hubei.
Ningxia is one of the smallest provinces in China, but Xinjiang is the biggest, the size of France, Spain and Germany all together, and there’s some variation in altitude.
Soils? This isn’t completely known. But in most of the vineyards in Ningxia it is grey desert soil with varying degrees of gravel distribution, quite a bit of calcium carbonate and low organic matter. The pH is quite high. Xinjiang is an alluvial plain with Gobi desert soil, rich in carbon. It’s a coarse gravel.
Varieties? French varieties dominate, especially Cabernet Sauvignon. There’s also Marselan, Cabernet Gernischt (which is thought to be the same as Carmenere), Merlot, Malbec, Chardonnay, Viognier and Petit Manseng. More than 90% of wine sold in China is red, but whites are increasing.
Other varieties include Italian Riesling (Welschriesling), Riesling, Dunkelfelder, Saperavi, Rkatsiteli and Vidal. And there are also some hybrids with Vitis amurensis as a parent, or even from this species on its own. There are lots of grapes with Bei at the beginning which are hybrids.
Xing Wei thinks that Marselan should be considered the signature variety of these regions. He also thinks China has a great potential for sweet wines, not from botrytis, but from late harvest and ice wine.
There is little mildew, but there’s not many organic vineyards. There are two traditional training systems that are widely used and which are adapted to the requirement that the vine trunks must be buried over winter. Single long trunk is one, with the long trunk rising more-or-less vertically without any side arms. The grapes are not in a fruiting zone and this leads to uneven ripeness, especially for reds. It’s really good for Riesling and Syrah apparently (it likes a bit of uneven ripeness). A more modern system is a single cordon (a sort of upside down L shape), with the grapes in a fruiting zone but quite close to the ground, which means faster ripening. There are no cover crops in either of these regions because it’s so dry (with the exception of the Yili River Valley). The need to hill up the vines means that there’s lots of earth movement twice a year, so the only thing growing in most of these vineyards is the vines.
Vinification was heavily influenced by Bordeaux in the past. Lots of oak is common. Many of the wines are made in a full-bodied, intense, powerful style that’s rich and opulent, because there’s plenty of heat, and if yield is restricted then this is possible.
In the last 10 years the Chinese market has faced huge problems. China is making one-tenth of the wine it was making a decade ago, and in that time imports have gone from $4 billion to $1.6 billion, but there seems to be a turning point.
In Ningxia, now the winemakers are focusing on overcoming the problems of the short growing season. Organic and biodynamic farming is on the rise. It’s the best known region in China, and it’s the most supported wine region by the government.
Xinjiang has a long history of grape growing, but is largely about mass production, although there are some boutique wineries. High yields are common here. There are four main subregions. Yanqi Basin is a harsher version of Ningxia. The Yili River Valley is interesting because this gets decent rainfall. Tianshan Northern Foothills is dominated by big companies. And Turpan-Hami Basin has very low rainfall, gets up to 50 C in the summer, and has 3000 mm of evaporation. It’s a challenging time in this region because the big companies are struggling. It’s very remote.
THE WINES
We tasted four interesting wines.
Kanaan Winery Riesling 2022 Yinchuan, Ningxia, China
13.5% alcohol. This has lovely citrus fruit with a little bit of generosity and a nice grainy structure. It’s pure and linear with nice detail. Really expressive and classy. Not super-high in acid but showing really beautifully. There’s fruit sweetness but it is dry. 93/100
Silk Road Riesling 2023 Yili River, Xinjiang, China
12.5% alcohol. 1260 m altitude. Stony and mineral with a savoury twist to the bright citrus fruit with a bit of yellow plum. It’s fresh but it tastes like the fermentation struggled and it finishes with this pronounced wet stone character. 89/100
Silver Heights Vineyard The Summit Cabernet Sauvignon 2021 Helan, Ningxia, China
15% alcohol. Biodynamic. From the gravels in Helan. Supple and sweetly fruited with ripe blackberries and black cherries, with some nice gravelly notes and a touch of chalk. This is appealing and ripe but really nicely balanced with lovely fruit combined with good structure. Impressive. 93/100
Puchang Vineyard 2019 Turpan-Hami Basin, Xinjiang, China
15% alcohol. Organic farming, 300 mm altitude. 50% new oak. This is dense, ripe and sophisticated, and there’s a lovely balance between the sweet fruit (blackberries and blackcurrant) and substantial spicy, tarry, gravelly structure. This has a beautiful density and focus on the palate with good structure as well as classy sweet fruit. This is really good, and very much in a modern Bordeaux style. 95/100
