Ao Yun Shangri-La 2013
- Decanter
-
Wong
Wilfred -
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc, this is a bold, dramatic and compelling debut wine from winemaker Maxence Dulou. Particularly impressive is the strong sense and imprint of place which is partially revealed by its saturated colour, exquisite ripeness, silky, grainy tannins and exciting freshness. The palate also provides sweet black and red cherry fruit overlaid with cool graphite, camphor as well as notes of juniper, pepper and cumin. Most surprising of all is the 15.1% alcohol which is both balanced and well hidden in the texture and freshness. It’s difficult to predict how long the wine will age and develop. But all the elements are there for a long and happy life.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
The 2013 Ao Yun Red wine from the Yunnan Province—the first ultra-premium Chinese wine I have tasted—is quite amazing. What were my expectations? Whenever I taste wines from regions which I have never experienced before, I approach the moment with caution. This wine came to the marketplace with lots of excitement, but I did not want the publicity to cloud my judgement. This wine shows an alluring fragrance of red currants and flowers. On the palate, it brings elegance and pleasing sweet tannins to the fore. The wine's flavors, reminiscent of the Right Bank of Bordeaux or perhaps Sonoma Mountain in California, stay in the red fruit, savory spice, and forest floor areas of the flavor wheel. This Yunnan Province red is indeed a remarkable first attempt. Ao Yung means “flying above the clouds” and refers to the clouds that cap the summits of the Himalayan mountains. This wine is just beginning to open up, and will require a few years of bottle age before it reveals its true essence. It marks the beginning of what could become a wine growing region of significant international importance. (Tasted: August 24, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
-
James Suckling
Aromas of blackberry, blueberry and olives. Hints of bark and mushroom. Currants. Full body, ultra-fine tannins and a beautiful finish. A lovely dark fruit undertone. Minerally and very fine. Made of cabernet sauvignon with a touch of cabernet franc. This is 28 hectares in total. The vines have 10 years. It’s all handmade. Beautiful structure and depth. This is a wine that really impresses with all the finesse and quality of tannins. Goes on for minutes. Better in 2020 but so fine now.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is Ao Yun’s inaugural vintage and is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. The 2013 Ao Yun has a deep garnet appearance, with only a slightly orange rim now emerging. On the nose, there is abundant toasted new oak with clove, smoke and vanilla-scented woody notes marrying with the marked herbaceous character of both Cabernet-family grapes. Expect blackcurrant leaf, grass and green bell pepper. The 2013 vintage has shown quite differently in bottle: It has consistently shown distinct pyrazine notes and plenty of new oak, but some bottles show a deeper core of cassis and bramble fruit than others. On the palate, the wine is full-bodied with a ripe coating and crunchy tannins, lifting acidity and generous alcohol—the 15% alcohol not integrating as well compared with other Ao Yun vintages such as 2015—shot through with marked herbaceous character, woody notes and a core of black fruit.
Other Vintages
2018-
Suckling
James - Decanter
-
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
-
Suckling
James
-
Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert -
Enthusiast
Wine
-
Suckling
James -
Enthusiast
Wine -
Parker
Robert
Grapes grown in ancient soil; a terroir steeped in history and tradition. A place that honours the quiet dignity of humans working at one with nature. A high plateau nestled among the Himalayan peaks, reaching for dreams in the sky, grounded by the hallowed earth. A wine shaped by generations of precious knowledge blended with forward-thinking, worldly attitudes.
Ao Yun means "flying above the clouds" or "roaming above the clouds." The name refers to the thick, wandering clouds of this incredible region and celebrates the birthplace of the legend of Shangri-La. Hidden paradise among the Himalayan Mountains. The vineyards are located just below the sacred Meili Mountain at altitudes soaring to 8,530 feet in height, to allow the Cabernet Sauvignon to give its finest expression of a unique terroir. Ao Yun is made from 314 blocks on 68.4ac of vineyards. All viniculture processes are conducted entirely by hand.
Ao Yun celebrates the visionary, the iconoclastic, the brave and the singular. Our continuous quest to reimagine what’s possible defines the very notion of luxury — extraordinary, exceptional and rare.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
China’s wine regions are spread throughout the country. In terms of volume, China ranks among the world’s top 10 wine producing nations. Interest in wine (particularly red wine) is growing here, especially among the younger generations.
China’s most lauded appellation, Helan Mountain, on the border of the popular region of Ningxia, close to the Yellow River, is known for Cabernet blends. Ningxia as well as Shanxi are at higher elevations, receive a lot of sunshine and experience large diurnal temperature variation, ideal conditions for winegrowing. The humid, eastern coastal regions of Shangdong and Hebei Province are responsible for over half of China's yearly wine production. Here the key variety of Chinese wine is called Cabernet Gernischt, which has proven to actually be Carmenere.
Though China has been producing wine from its own native varieties for 1,500 years, the Chinese wine industry didn’t gain any real inertia until the end of the 19th century when about 100 European varieties arrived. Today many international companies (Moet Hennessy, Remy Cointreau, Pernod Ricard, Torres and Barons de Rothschild) have a stake in the country’s Chinese wine scene. However, the Chinese government continues to invest, now exceeding foreign funding.