Ao Yun Shangri-La 2017
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Suckling
James -
Parker
Robert
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Aromas of fresh black fruit such as blackcurrant, game, autumn forest floor, a cold fireplace and earth. More concentrated and rounder than previous vintages with a velvety touch, followed by Ao Yun's signature long, salty mineral finish. After decanting, the wine displays notes of fresh fruits, cigar box, ink and leather.
Blend: 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc, 4% Syrah, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Merlot
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Another step up in quality from 2016. Lots of blackberry and blueberry aromas with plenty of richness and ripeness on the nose. Spicy notes, too with dried chili, sweet tobacco and some pine. Very aromatic. Full-bodied and round with creamy, ripe tannins and lots of ripe fruit. Yet, it remains fresh and vivid. A little bit of merlot in the blend for the first time Mostly cabernet sauvignon with cabernet franc, syrah, petit verdot and merlot. Delicious now, but will age nicely. It’s more approachable than the 2016 now. Superb length here. Give it time in the bottle. Better after 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Ao Yun is a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc, 4% Syrah, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Merlot (this latter used for the first time in Ao Yun). Although a relatively cool and wet growing season, the 2017 vintage benefited from a warm August with less cloud cover, and around 60% of the crop from 314 blocks of 28 hectares worked by 120 families from 4 different villages was deemed of Ao Yun quality. The precision of the viticulture is certainly paying dividends, providing winemaker Maxence Dulou with increasingly healthy, high-quality fruit. The 2017 Ao Yun has a very deep ruby appearance. It is extremely young on the nose and palate, with dark brooding cassis, black cherry and black plum fruit that is both perfumed and gently herbaceous (hints of green bell pepper and blackcurrant leaf). There is marked new oak (clove, toast, smoke) that marries impressively with the ripe core of fruit. On the palate, the wine has robust but refined, coating tannins, well-integrated high alcohol, some lifting acidity and a tremendous core of ripe, powerful fruit that harmonizes well with the savory new oak. This is undeniably long and polished and has that Ao Yun "puissance" that characterizes all vintages to date. 2017 shares with 2015 an impressive integration of ripe Cabernet-dominated fruit with robust structure, but the use of Syrah, Petit Verdot and Merlot has given a greater fruitiness and touch of spice to the 2017. This is certainly a vintage that is very young at present and will easily age for 15 years or more. Best approached from 2021 at the earliest.
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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.