Changyu's uniquely individual approach to wine production(1)
By Zhao Ruixue and Wang Qian
The Changyu Pioneer Wine Co's vineyards in Yantai, Shandong province. Photos provided to China Daily
Chinese wine producers have been looking for a more important place in the global wine market, recently, with Changyu, one of China top brands, ranking 22nd on the World's Top 50 Brands for Spirits and Wine list. That makes it the only Chinese wine brand on the list.
The list is compiled by Brand Finance, a leading brand evaluation consultancy, and appears in Drinks International, a magazine that serves the global spirits, wine and beer market.
Home base
Shao Chunsheng, head of the Changyu planting company and an experienced grape grower, explains, "The Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co Ltd was China's first to introduce European grapes for wine. We now have China's best grape-growing base."
Changyu's grape growing goes way back to 1892, when Zhang Bishi, an overseas Chinese, founded China's first vineyards and winery by planting over 120 types of grapes from overseas.
Now, with more than 100 years of experience, the Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Co is well acquainted with grape growing - and, the natural conditions that contribute grape quality.
Its land lies on a latitude similar to that of France's prominent wine producing region, Bordeaux, and Italy's Tuscany. The city of Yantai gets plenty of rain, has abundant sunshine, a favorable soil, and the right humidity, and is regarded as the best place in China for quality grapes.
Changyu currently has more than 6,000 hectares of vineyards in Yantai.
Li Jiming, Changyu's chief engineer, described why the company has put such a great effort into its grape planting: "Seventy percent of wine's quality depends on the grapes. Top-class grapes are the fundamental reason for a top-class wine company."
And, to meet the growing demand, Changyu has expanded its grape-growing base.
In addition to Yantai, it now grows grapes in the Xinjiang, Ningxia regions, and Shaanxi, Liaoning provinces, and around Beijing, on a total of 16,666 hectares of land, or a quarter of China's grape-planting regions.
If all six of the grape-planting areas go as planned, by 2015, Changyu will have China's largest grape-growing area.
"Grapes from the six bases have a different flavor, so they're used for different types of wine," Li added, to explain why Changyu's vineyards stretch across China.
Management
To ensure grape quality, Changyu set up a dual management system for its vineyards, according to Li, "We have a self-managed system and a contractual system for them."
The self-managed ones are backed and developed by Changyu itself, while the contracted areas are managed jointly with grape growers.
For these, Changyu provides the growers with techniques and instructions and the best methods for insuring grape quality.
"Growers tend to sell their best grapes to us because our price is based on sugar content. That means the price for grapes that are rich in sugar is higher than the market standard," Shao, the company head, explained.
So, grape growing has not only enriched Changyu, but the independent growers as well.
