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Elite French wine-makers plant roots in China

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Elite French wine-makers plant roots in China
"It's a new El Dorado, it's a New World." Elite French wine-makers are turning to Chinese soil to produce their cabernet sauvignon and merlot. File photo: Philippe Desmazes/AFP

Some of France's elite wine-makers are looking beyond the vineyards of Bordeaux and Côtes-du-Rhône to grow the grapes that go on to become their world-famous merlots and cabernet sauvignon, planting roots in China, the "New World" of the wine industry.

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The world's fine winemakers have exacting standards for soil, climate and cultivation to produce the perfect grape. And they are looking to recreate that unlikely blend in China – better known for cheap mass production.

The potential harvest will be more drinkers in the world's most populous country, where wine consumption more than doubled in the four years to 2011 and is set to rise another 40 percent by 2016, according to the industry's top trade-fair organiser Vinexpo.

France's Domaines Barons de Rothschild (DBR), maker of the renowned Chateau Lafite reds, is planting roots in China with an initial 15 hectares (37 acres) in Penglai, a hilly green peninsula dotted with vineyards on the east coast of Shandong province with a century-long history of winemaking.

Its great rival, French luxury group LVMH – owner of Dom Perignon champagne among other brands – has 66 hectares for sparkling wine in the up-and-coming wine province of Ningxia in the north.

LVMH is also harvesting its first cabernet sauvignon and merlot grapes from 30 hectares in the cool hills of southwestern Yunnan.

"It's a new El Dorado, it's a New World," says Jean-Guillaume Prats, who oversees the firm's wine division.

"No one knows really where and how vines should be grown. We have some ideas. People have tried. But nothing has been proved."

The three areas' winemaking reputations are just beginning to develop, with experts gaining confidence in Ningxia – whose products have won international tasting competitions – and seeing promising conditions in Yunnan, but worrying that Shandong's wetness could encourage disease.

Even so, bottled results could still take years, as winemakers experiment with the terroir – the soil, climate and other conditions that influence the grape – going so far as remaking the land to improve their odds.

China's first wine company began production in Shandong in 1892, but a tradition of high-quality vintages never took root.

DBR chose the province after scouting several sites and has spent years blasting through thick layers of rock and digging up earth to create the ideal soil depth, says vineyard director Olivier Richaud.

To counter the summer rain, leaves on each vine – most of them cabernet sauvignon, but six different varietals in all – are thinned to give the grapes more sunlight, and weeds have been planted between each row to absorb more water.

"Everything is completely different from what the company is used to in all the vineyards we have," says Richaud, standing amid rows of terraces overlooking green hills and a lake.

"Until the end we won't really know what quality we should get."

For its part LVMH settled on Yunnan after a three-year search for elements such as good summer months, natural soil drainage and access to water.

The area resembles Bordeaux but at a higher altitude, says Prats, but it could be a decade before the firm makes something it is happy with, he adds.

French wine-makers like LVMH and DBR may also be reacting to this year's wine harvest in France, which was badly disrupted by a cold and rainy spring and severe storms.

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