By Jim Boyce

Importer and distributor China Wines and Spirits is now handling wines from Inner Mongolia-based operation Château Hansen. Established in 2005 as the third international arm of the HWS Group, CWS carries wine from about a dozen countries, including Italy, France, Australia, South Africa and India.

Hansen is on the edge of the Gobi desert in Inner Mongolia but close to key wine-making areas in neighboring Ningxia region and Gansu province. Wine maker Bruno Paumard says production has risen from 400,000 bottles to 2 million bottles over the past few years.

CWS will add several wines from Hansen, including two made from locally esteemed grape Cabernet Gernischt and a late-harvest dry wine made from Semillon and Riesling sourced in Gansu province. The wines are already available in Beijing at Grand Hyatt and 1949.

Other China-based importers and distributors with local labels include Torres, which handles Shanxi-based Grace Vineyard and Ningxia-based Silver Heights, and The Wine Republic, which handles Ningxia-based Helan Qing Xue.

In April, CWS officially announced Oliver Halley, owner of its parent company HWS Group, bought Château de Meursault and Château de Marsannay in Burgundy.