2009 Changyu Golden Valley Ice Wine, Gold Diamond Label, Liaoning
Critics reviews
Jancis Robinson - jancisrobinson.com - April 2013
Rose Murray Brown, The Scotsman. June 2017.
About this WINE
Changyu Pioneer Wine Company
Chinese commercial wine production began in 1892 when an overseas Chinese diplomat, Zhang Bishi, started his winery in Yantai. He imported half a million plants from the USA and appointed the Austrian consul, Freiherr von Babo, as his winemaker. Most of the plants failed to survive and history does not recount whether von Babo knew how to make wine, but nevertheless today the company is by far the biggest in the country, with a turnover of nearly US$800 million.
Château Changyu (or, to give it its full name, Changyu Pioneer Wine Company) is China’s oldest and largest wine producer, and among the top ten in the world in terms. The company has embarked on an extraordinary programme of building European-style châteaux, architecturally based on examples from Bordeaux and two of them are represented by Berry Bros. & Rudd; Ch. Changyu Moser in Ningxia (Yinchuan province), and Ch. Changyu Golden Ice Wine Valley in Liaoning (home to their ambitious Golden Valley ice wine project, Huanlong province) and further afield in Beijing and Shandong, all with international partners.
Château Changyu Moser XV was developed in consultation with Lenz Moser (pictured right), of the famous Austrian wine family, who has spent several years working with Changyu before identifying Ningxia as his preferred location, which he compares to the Mendoza wine region in Argentina in terms of climate and soil, and having his château built!
The Ch. Changyu Moser XV (90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot) has never been offered in the UK before (a previous incarnation on this market was made without Lenz’s involvement and featured China’s oddity Cabernet Gernischt in the blend). This site is also the first with some certified organic production, from 2011.
Further afield, the extraordinarily remote region of Liaoning has very good conditions for ice wine and this huge estate is capable of producing 300,000 bottles per annum, using the Vidal variety. In Liaoning, three different grades are made, all on show here. The Gold Diamond label has some distribution in the restaurant market, but none have been previously available for the UK retail before BB&R imported it.
Liaoning
The Changyu Golden Ice Wine Valley is situated in the far north-east of China, in the Liaoning Province, close to the borders of North Korea and Russia. In particular it is the area around Huanlong Lake is considered ideal for ice wine production. At an altitude of 380m and with the temperature moderated by that large body of water, the grapes ripen well in summer but when the winter temperature drops to -8C (as required for ice wine production), this can be held naturally for 24 hours. The brix of grape juice after crushis 350gr/litre which meets and even exceeds the standards of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine for ice wines.
For the giant Changyu wine company, vineyards have been developed in partnership with Aurora, a Canadian wine company, themselves no strangers to ice wine. Ch. Changyu is the home to their ambitious Golden Valley ice wine project.
Initially the Vidal grape variety has been planted, a hybrid cross of Ugni Blanc and Seibel, chosen for its hardiness. It would be interesting to see how Riesling would fare. This is the region with the largest, commercial, regular production of ice wine in the world.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
This is the lightest of the three ice wines made at Changyu, with 140g/l residual sugar. The wine is made from the juice of the third crush and accounts for 75 percent of the estate’s total ice wine production.
Because the fruit for ice wine is frozen, but healthy and not botrytised, the attack is always very fresh and pure, with a very positive level of acidity. Here the profile is more of citrus and tropical fruits, blossom and honey. Creamy desserts work well, such as crème brûlée, or try simply with tropical fruits like pineapple or mango.
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