Mystic Island’s chief winemaker oversees every step in the process at one of mainland China’s most promising boutique wineries.
“I’m an advocate for ‘small things make a big difference,’” says New Zealand-based winemaker Allen Hedgman, who speaks in relaxed terms of the big difference he has made in the operations of Mystic Island Winery since he came onboard five years ago.
TK recently caught up with him in Hong Kong following his visit to Mystic Island’s vineyards and state-of-the-art production facility in the Penglai region of Yantai prefecture in the northeast province of Shandong. At the same latitude as Napa Valley and Bordeaux, Penglai now has fifty-plus wineries scattered across its more than one thousand square kilometers of fertile, coastal-influenced terrain. Mystic Island and six neighboring producers are nestled in the Qiushan Valley, which has fast become Penglai’s up-and-coming subregion.
The winery was founded in 2008 by husband-and-wife team Rita Cheung and Kuo Chuan Kung (known as KC), natives of Hong Kong and Taiwan, respectively. Planting of the vines and construction of the facility commenced at the same time as its neighbor, French producer Château Lafite Rothschild, launched its first wine operation in China, Domaine de Long Dai.
Hedgman joined the team in 2018, with vines in the ground for six to seven years and a facility built. “My job,” he says, “is to lead the winemaking direction to the finished product, to determine styles, to assist in fruit quality and harvesting decisions. I also help with storytelling at events and in promotional areas.”
“I’m an advocate for ‘small things make a big difference.’”
—— Allen Hedgman
Mystic Island set out to be a boutique operation focusing on quality over quantity. “We produce around thirty to forty thousand bottles annually,” says Hedgman. “Our varieties are cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and petit verdot – those famed in Bordeaux. And we have a white variety, chardonnay, which we use with our vineyard’s wild yeast – and this is working really well. We have two new plantings going in now, tempranillo from last year and carménère from this year. We hope to make some quality standalones from both.” The winery currently offers red and rosé blends and pure chardonnay and petit verdot varietals.
“The Penglai area,” says Hedgman, “certainly has its challenges, including rain at harvest time, like Bordeaux and Burgundy.
The terroir, particularly in the valley, though, has a sandy, loam soil with a granite base that brings us great character in the wines. To the north, Mount Qiushan breaks up the harsh winter wind, and a reservoir nearby moderates the extreme temperatures of the summer. It’s one of only two regions in the north of China that don’t need to lay down vines in winter.”
Mystic Island includes a little more than sixteen hectares, including unworkable wetlands that it purchased as one of its contributions to sustainability. It also harnesses some solar power and uses as many natural fertilizers and components as possible in its fruit growing and production facility.
With winery construction still in progress when he arrived, Hedgman became the winery facility consultant, making sure that a gravity-flow operation was put in place throughout the four-story structure. “I worked with KC a lot to determine the equipment that should be put in to allow very soft handling as the fruit flows down to the next level.”
A gravity-flow setup also conserves power that would otherwise be consumed by pumps and is a system Hedgman was very much used to overseeing in his operations role at Domaine Drouhin in Oregon in the US. He also worked at other wineries in the US and Europe earlier in his career to broaden his knowledge, and he still consults for wineries in New Zealand and has traveled to Spain to consult during harvest periods.
Experience, says Hedgman, has led him to insist on a number of protocols, “like getting picked fruit out of the sun into refrigeration until all the grapes are harvested and using only the very best fruit. And I have very strict harvesting criteria. We have great equipment, and I’m big on constant analyses of the wines throughout the process.”
In the four years since launching its first vintages from the 2018 harvest, Mystic Island has garnered a number of accolades. Says Hedgman, “I think that’s due to our attention to detail.”
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