An accidental trip to Shandong changed the lives of a couple and set them on a wine-making journey that continues to this day.
When Rita Zhang Lihui (Rita) drank her first Bordeaux wine at the age of nineteen, accompanied by her father, she never imagined that she and her future husband KC would become the owners of Xiandao Winery located in Penglai Qiu Mountain, Shandong Province. She said: “This is completely destined. In 2008, KC went to Yantai on a business trip. The beautiful rural scenery there deeply moved us and made us fall in love with this land.”
Her children, Yi Ning and Yi En, were only seven and eight years old at the time. The Hong Kong couple wanted a place far away from their residence in Shanghai where their children could fully experience nature. “We started out with the idea of building a vacation home where the family could get an occasional change of scenery. After years of living in cities across Asia, Europe and the United States, we just wanted a quieter life. Now, in a way, I have treated the grapevines as my own children,” she said with a smile. “I take care of these grapes and teach them to face challenges with perseverance.”
The Chinese government saw the endless potential of the Penglai terroir and provided the opportunity to invest in the construction of a winery. Rita and KC decided to go ahead and develop it. “There were some wineries from Yantai there, and they provided a lot of assistance from the beginning, imparting various techniques and knowledge to us. We are still grateful for this. We are still good friends until now.”
Chateau Longdai, operated by the Lafite Rothschild Group, also moved in in the same year and began producing Chinese blended red wine, significantly improving Qiushan’s status as a wine-producing region. Fresh air, undulating hills, and fertile soil make Penglai a famous agricultural and fruit-growing area, and apples are a well-known local crop. Today, this region, located at the same latitude as Bordeaux and Napa County, has gained the reputation of “Chinese Bordeaux”.
“I feel blessed to have a winery that can produce great wine for people to enjoy, while also giving back to the environment and people who help us realize our dream.”
– Zhang Lihui
As a coastal wine-producing area, Penglai is somewhat similar to Napa County. Its climate advantages are the cool sea breeze and the huge temperature difference between day and night. This helps cool the grapes, balance the acidity, and keep the grapes from overripe.
Out of love and respect for the local customs, Rita’s business policy emphasizes sustainability and environmental protection. Fair Island Winery not only reduces the use of chemicals, uses natural fertilizers, grows cover crops, records weather patterns as a reference for future harvests, but also uses solar energy wherever possible to reduce electricity consumption. The winery uses a gravity feeding system, which means that water pumps are used as little as possible during the wine processing process, which will minimize damage to the grapes and significantly reduce the use of energy-consuming machines.
Rita and KC built this vineyard from scratch. Through personal connections, they formed a quite diverse team, which included not only local farmers, but also viticulture experts and winemakers from New Zealand and Canada. They assisted in selecting land, planting grapes, and winery management. design. Rita said: “Developing wine special zones can provide stable jobs for local farmers and create new job opportunities for young people. I also believe that the introduction of foreign talents can further promote cultural and knowledge exchanges. I am very fortunate to have a producer who can A winery that makes good wine for people to enjoy, while also giving back to the environment and people who help us realize our dreams.”
On one hundred and seventy-two terraces, Château Fairy Island grows all the major Bordeaux grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot, as well as the white Burgundy grape variety Chardonnay . The first release of the winery is the 2018 Yihu Chardonnay dry white wine, as well as the Bordeaux blend dominated by Cabernet Franc, as well as the Yihu dry red wine of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Xiandao’s Petit Verdot red wine made its debut in 2020. Due to the excellent quality of the grapes, it is used to make a single variety of wine, unlike generally being only used as a member of a blended wine. Native yeast Chardonnay wine was also launched in the same year. Natural fermentation is quite rare in China’s winemaking industry, because its winemaking conditions are strict and must rely on the weather and the quality of the grapes.
Rita said: “Simplicity is the essence. We minimize manual intervention in the brewing process, so that the wine can show the unique terroir, soil structure, weather, nature and environment of the hills and valleys.”
The 2021 harvest report is impressive. Rita said: “2021 is very beautiful, with not much rainfall and some comfortable and pleasant sunny days. The 2021 Yihu wine is definitely worth looking forward to.”
“Every year we explore new things and learn from challenges and successes. Our goal is to highlight the characteristics and strengths of the local people, culture and environment, and we are simply telling the story of the vineyard.”
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