Coming in hot: Ginsberg+Chan launches Chinese wine selection
On a mission to offer curious customers a taste of China unlike anything they’ve tried before, Ginsberg+Chan has debuted a collection of new-wave Chinese wines made by independent producers.
Hong kong fine wine merchant Ginsberg+Chan (G+C) launched a collection of new-wave Chinese wines online in September after previewing the wines in store over the summer.
Co-owner Mandy Chan says interest has been strong, particularly among international customers. “People are really curious about what’s happening in China, and they appreciate our curated selection, which lets them choose with confidence,” she says. Producers including Starting Point, Xiaopu, Tinyuu, and Muxin “are all performing well and building loyal followings, and it’s been great to see those fans visiting the shop”.
Hong Kong could hold the key to overseas success for many Chinese wine producers. As “China’s most international financial hub”, Chan says, “clichéd as it sounds”, Hong Kong also acts as the gateway to the Mainland. She says: “The city attracts business travellers, globally minded tourists, international expats, and the Chinese diaspora. Our dining scene is unmatched for breadth and depth, and – crucially for wine lovers – we were the first city to abolish all wine duties. In short, buying wine here is a no-brainer”.
Chan and her husband, Jason Ginsberg, founded G+C in 2010. The pair have enlisted the help of Yulia Ezhikova, wine consultant and former sommelier, to develop the merchant’s Chinese wine offering. Ezhikova says Chinese wine is in the middle of a “pivotal move”, shifting from “large-scale industrial wine production driven by foreign consultants” to “artisanal winemaking by young, professionally and internationally trained Chinese winemakers”. She has seen first hand the rise of “small-scale wine labels” and greater “risk taking” from producers, all culminating in “greater diversity of ideas and expressions of the terroir that in many cases is still being discovered”.
G+C is braced to be at the forefront of this shift. Its Chinese portfolio focuses on two regions: Ningxia and Yunnan. Nestled between the Helan Mountain range and the Yellow River in northwest China, Ningxia boasts nearly 40,000 hectares of vineyards. “Ningxia is the cradle of modern day winemaking in China, and so no collection aiming to tell the story of the Chinese wine revolution would be complete without it,” says Ezhikova.
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High-altitude terroir
Yunnan’s high-altitude terroir and steep mountain slopes are a stark contrast to Ningxia, and it remains an up-and-coming region for Chinese winemaking.
Ezhikova says its place in G+C’s collection “gives a fuller picture of the bright future that lies ahead for the country’s wine culture”. With only 50 wineries and 800ha under vine, compared with Ningxia’s 40,000 ha, it’s here, high above the clouds, that China’s wine revolution is gaining steam.
G+C is dedicated to giving its consumers a taste of China’s unique and evolving offering, and provides extensive gifting options for the upcoming Christmas and Chinese New Year period.
Ezhikova says: “We’re seeing many young winemakers pondering what it means to produce wine ethically and sustainably, and what a uniquely Chinese wine, not Bordeaux or Burgundy-like, can taste like. The many ways to answer these foundational questions can be tasted in the selection of wines we’ve curated.”
To find out more visit ginsbergchan.com or find the merchant on Instagram at @ginsbergchan for more product details.
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