More Chinese wines are heading for New York.
As reported here and here, the first batch from six wineries arrived in April. And despite concerns about relatively high prices—those U.S. tariffs did not help—both interest and sales have exceeded expectations, with Wine Enthusiast recently publishing, “Chinese Wine is on the Rise in America.”
Some wines even did a Florida tour of Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Naples and Miami in August.
Coming Soon
The next shipment includes garage winery Jiangyu from Qiushan Valley in Shandong province—as best I know, China’s sole Grechetto maker—and more traditional producers Canaan and Domaine Franco-Chinois, sibling operations based in Huailai County just outside Beijing.
Domaine Franco-Chinois aka Zhong Fa (literally China France) is best-known for Marselan and Petit Manseng while Canaan has a wide range of varieties planted at three altitudes, including common ones in China such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Chardonnay as well as Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc, plus small patches of grapes such as Muller-Thurgau and Ehrenfelser.
“The price point has been okay so far,” says restaurateur Camden Hauge, who is spearheading this project under China Wine Club, and will now see if New Yorkers are interested in “more classic and more storied” wines such as those from Huailai.
The shipment will also include Chinese ciders, from Gingi Project, and yellow wine aka huangjiu to test the market, says Hauge.
The initial shipment included wines from Xiao Pu, The Cellar Project, FARMentation, Silver Heights, Shofang and Xianghai.
Within two months, a dozen New York venues were clients, including Birds of a Feather, Cafe China, Cellar 36, Dirty Bacchus, Duke’s Liquor Box, Grapefruit Wines (Hudson), Honey’s, La Compagnie (Flatiron), Lai Rai, Lei, Pinch Chinese and Stella’s Juice Box.
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