China's growing taste for ice wine leads to increased domestic production in
China’s growing taste for ice wine has led to a surge in the number of winemakers producing the sweet wine in Heilongjiang, the country’s northernmost province.
China is the biggest export market for Canada’s ice wine, with over 157,879 litres exported in 2016 with a value of US$6.5 million according to the Canadian Vintners Association. And now the country is ramping up its domestic production to meet consumers’ growing demand for the wine.
On the border with Russia, the rust-belt province’s main ice wine production region is in Dongning city, with about 5,000 mu (333 ha) of vineyards. Home to five local wineries, the city produces around 300 tonnes annually including ice wine, red and white wines.
Vidal is the main varietal used in the production of ice wine in the region, with producers such as Chateau Fenhe International Winery expanding their plantings of the grape. The central government has ploughed around RMB 4 million into the province’s wine industry, and set up one vine nursery. The ministry is also pushing for a geographic recognition for the province’s ice wine production region, which only Hengren in neighbouring Liaoning province has enjoyed so far.
Ice wine must be made from grapes naturally frozen on vines, and no chaptalisation is allowed, according to Chinese regulations, while alcohol levels must be between 9% and 14% and sugar levels above 125 grams per litre. Different areas have different regulations, however, with Hengren stipulating a higher sugar level rule of at least 150 grams per litre.
It is not only Heilongjiang province that is capitalising on growing demand for ice wine; six other regions, including Liaoning province in northern China – the biggest ice wine producing region in the country – Yunnan province in southwestern China, Xinjiang and Gansu in northwestern China, Jilin in northern China, and Hutai in Shaanxi province are all key producing areas.
In volume terms, Liaoning province’s Hengren is the country’s biggest ice wine producing region with 1,400 tonnes of ice wine a year. China’s largest winery, Changyu Pioneers, makes an ice wine from the province called ‘Golden Valley’ using the Vidal grape varietal.