Catch the Wave: Pre-sales of Ningxia Pet-Nat

Catch the wave! A Ningxia winery is doing pre-sales of its upcoming Malbec and Pinot Noir pet-nats.

I’ve written before about the rise of “craft wine” in China, you know, stuff like natural wine, biodynamic wine, pet-nat et al.

And how it seems COVID accelerated the process with local brands as winemakers were stuck in China, and could not travel or do vintages overseas, and also felt a need to find new niches given a struggling market in which imported craft wines were performing better than most.

Well, whatever the cause of that momentum, it did not end with COVID. In fact, we see more local craft wines than ever destined for store shelves—both actual or online ones—including Mountain Wave from Ningxia.

Mountain Wave, which has some of the quirkiest vineyard plantings—they do a Malbec, Marselan and Pinot Noir blend—even has two upcoming pet-nats at pretty enticing pre-order prices.

One is a Malbec and the other a Pinot Noir, though the pre-orders are not for one-bottle or two-bottle purchases. The minimum order is five cases, or 30 bottles, which gets a price of RMB118 / USD16, with the offer only lasting until the end of September. (The suggested retail price will be RMB238.)

Has the China consumer market at large gone in a few years from being skeptical about local wines to throwing down cash up front? Maybe not but there is a growing number of wine aficionados who are willing to do so.

Those considering this deal should feel some confidence in terms of quality given that the consulting winemaker at Mountain Wave is Deng Zhongxiang, known for his work at wineries like Lansai, Charme and Rongyuanmei.

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