Introduction
Shaanxi is a perfect place to explore wines from China’s Hebei and Anhui provinces.
Most of the grapes grown here are Chenghua, a red grape with a spicy taste that is one of the most popular varieties in China. While it’s not yet famous, it’s gaining popularity all over the country.
The climate here is moist and mild, which makes it ideal for growing vines of all kinds. The soil also provides good nutrition for plants, including grapes.
Location
The province of Shaanxi is located along the northwestern bend of the Huang He (Yellow River), which brings with it a rich agricultural history. The river supplies a sufficient water source for the arid region, and its soils are extremely fertile. The surrounding landscape also provides ideal grape-growing conditions, giving rise to many famous Chinese attractions, including giant pandas, the Terracotta Warriors discovered in 1974 after being buried for over 2,200 years, and the rich history of Xi’an as China’s capital during 13 dynasties. This wine region borders Inner Mongolia to the north and Ningxia to the east. In addition to grapes and wine, other crops grown include apples and pears.
Shaanxi is home to several wineries including Changyu Winery with vineyards south of Xi’an city in Huayin County and Pernod Ricard’s Great Wall Winery located near Changyuan County.
Climate
Shaanxi is located in the Loess Plateau, with an average altitude of over 1,000 meters. The topography of Shaanxi is characterized by high and low mountains and hills. The climate in Shaanxi is dry and mild with annual frost-free period of more than 200 days. The average temperature is between 3°C to 12°C throughout the province, ranging from 1°C to -1°C in winter and 25°C to 10°C in summer.
Annual rainfall varies from 500 mm to 1,000 mm across this province. It has a temperate continental monsoon climate with four distinct seasons: rainy spring, hot summer, cool autumn and cold winter (with abundant sunshine).
The sunlight ranges from 2,200 hours to 2,800 hours annually. Average temperatures in the region are about 14–15 °C (57–59 °F), but can range from below −5 °C (23 °F) in winter up to 26 °C (79 °F) in summer.
Soil
First, let’s talk about soil types. China’s four major wine regions are divided into alluvial plains, loess plateaus, river valleys and mountainous areas. The most common soil in the Shaanxi region is relatively sandy soil, but there is also clayey sandstone and red earth.
Second, let’s look at the fertility of the soil. When a grapevine puts down roots in a region with fertile soil, it doesn’t have to work so hard to get nutrients out of that place and ends up producing more leaves than grapes—in other words, it will probably give you a lot more yield than quality. If you want to grow high-quality grapes instead of produce crops that just taste good simply because they’re packed with sugar (and therefore alcohol), you need poor soil.
Thirdly, let’s talk about rocks and minerals present in the Shaanxi region’s soils: calcium carbonate and potassium carbonate are among them. And finally, how acidic or alkaline the soil is can determine if it’s suitable for viticulture or not—for example if it’s too acidic (low pH) for certain varieties of grapevines to thrive well in that environment. The ideal pH range for growing many popular wine grape varieties is from 6-8 on this scale; anything outside of this range may be too acidic or too alkaline for those varieties to thrive well there
History of viticulture in the region
The history of viticulture in Shaanxi is one of the oldest in the world. The first Chinese emperor, Qin Shihuang, was born in Shaanxi and his tomb contained a wine cellar that included over 2,000 clay jars (each holding about 50 litres). These were filled with a very light bodied wine made with indigenous grape varieties.
Shaanxi has been producing wines for at least 2,000 years, but there are no records of the history of winemaking until the establishment of Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD). It’s not clear why this is so, but it seems that as different dynasties came into power they became more interested in promoting their own regions.
Famous wines, producers and vineyards
- Shaanxi has a couple of famous wines, producers and vineyards.
- Grape varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Gernischt
- producer: Dynasty Winery
- vineyards: Helan Mountain West Vineyard, Helan Mountain East Vineyard
Grapes and Wine
Moving to China from the U.S. was a big change for us, but it also meant that more food and wine were on our radar than ever before. We made things even more complicated by moving to an area that is home to a number of different types of wine grapes, some with only recently established sub-regions within the province of Shaanxi. Before long, we found ourselves tasting dozens of wines in different styles and price ranges at each vintner’s respective winery or local restaurant.
It helped enormously that we already had a decent grasp of Chinese wine regions through our earlier research into Chinese cuisine—we knew which varieties were most common in Shaanxi and which ones needed exploring further. We then began developing a handbook to help us navigate this new world of wineries and wine tastings: six main categories (grapes, methods for making wine, taste descriptors associated with wines from the area, examples of good value for money wines from the region) linked by their origin in Shaanxi province.
Shaanxi is a wine producing area in China.
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