Winemaker Notes
Intense, deep dark color. Multi-layer identity. We feel the spice with cinnamon/liquorice, the freshness with mint/cedar wood, the earth with leather/humus, the mineral with graphite/lead pencil and red fruit with cherry/black current. Dry, medium to full body the palate offers a long and polished tannic structure. Confirming the nose with a myriad of refreshing, fruity and mineral notes as peony, seaweed, wild black raspberry and graphite. Superb balance between minerality/acidity and sweetness/alcohol.
Pair with braised beef short ribs, black pepper beef ribeye
Blend: 90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The cabernet sauvignon character is shinning through in this second edition of what has quickly become China's best wine. It's full-bodied, structured and chewy with polished tannins and beautiful length and intensity. A super-structured red that needs two or three years to soften completely. Try in 2020.
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Wine Enthusiast
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine from the foothills of the Himalayas offers a bouquet of dark plum, cassis and pipe tobacco. It opens on the palate with bright flavors of blackberry, black cherry and blood orange that slowly back off to reveal sophisticated notes of cacao, anise and shaved truffle. As firm tannins fade, bold fruit returns to the palate for a finish that is marked by a touch of eucalyptus. Drink now through 2028.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Ao Yun is a blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. With its deep ruby appearance, the 2014 Ao Yun shows dark, brooding cassis and leafy bramble fruit overlaid by marked toasted new oak and a touch of development, now at around five years of evolution in a vintage that looks as though it will evolve more readily than the more robust 2015 and 2016 wines. That said, on the palate, the 2014 is still relatively youthful with a ripe core of dark fruit, distinct new-oak notes of clove, smoke, vanilla and toast, ripe chewy tannins and some uplifting acidity. This seems more savory in style overall than either the 2015 or 2016 vintages and a step up in quality from the inaugural 2013 Ao Yun. Still needs time, if approachable now.
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.