Chateau Huahao
- Owner: Cheng Qian
- First production year: 2003
- Total vineyard area: 1,000 mu (67 ha)
- Varietal range: 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc. Annual output: 500,000 bottles
- Targeted annual output: 260,000 bottles
- Address: Shuxin Forest Farm, Tongxia, Ningxia
- Email: 13909553298@ 163.com
The name ‘Hua’ means China and ‘Hao’ is taken from Li Yuanhao, the founding emperor of Western Xia. The winery began planting vines in2003 and was registered as a company in 2006, becoming one of the first wineries to start up in Ningxia.
Marselan is regarded as tomorrow’s star grape variety in China and is highly acclaimed by the industry. Huahao Winery is one of the first wineries in Ningxia to grow Marselan and has one of the largest areas of the varietal under vine in the region. The winery’s award-winning Marselan has an intense redcolour with a fruity nose of black cherry, black plum, coffee and vanilla. The wine is full-bodied and the smooth and delicate tannin structure beguiles, with the soft texture enveloping the palate. The overall performance is very stunning.
Career choice
The owner, Cheng Qian, is a wine enthusiast and forestry engineer. In 1998, he began to work as a grape farmer at the Yinguangxia Company. Sincegraduating from university, he has been engaged in the reforestation industry for many years and has a long-standing experience in the practical operation oflevelling land, sifting stone, fertilisation, soil improvement and other matters.
From 2003 to 2017, he worked in many government departments, mainly responsible for the grape and wine industry. He helped build the largestand most concentrated vineyard at the time with an area of 10,000 mu in Ningxia. He also successfully introduced the first winery to Qingtongxia City -Imperial Horse Winery and served as its manager.
In 2002, when he was in his fourth year in the grape industry, he was fortunate enough to visit major European wineries for work purposes. Theowners of foreign wineries’ strong belief in growing the best grapes and making the best wine and their passion for the wine business touched Chen Qian deeply, and he finally decided to step into the industry to make his dream come true.
In 2003, he organised a joint venture with family members to set up a winery and a 400mu vineyard. Two years later, the grapes were harvested and thewinery began to supply base wine to the Changyu Winery. But Cheng Qian was not satisfied with this role as a sub-contractor and wanted to create his ownbrand – Chateau Huahao.
Having worked in the grape and wine industry for more than 20 years, Cheng Qian’s enthusiasm has continued to increase. In 2018, he resigned fromthe government department and completely shifted the focus of his career to the development of Chateau Huahao.
Thanks to his many years of experience in the wine sector, he was keenly aware that there were new opportunities for the Ningxia wine industry. As theowner of one of the earliest wineries in Ningxia, Cheng Qian has experienced almost the entire process of Ningxia’s grape industry from its early days tothe present and has become a witness to the development of the wine region.
Marselan Liumugao
For a long time, Chateau Huahao was supplying base wines to the big wineries and did not have its own brand. It was not until 2018, when ChengQian officially took over the winery, that it finally launched its first Marselan dry red (2017) and the Marselan by Chateau Huahao has been in the limelightever since.
Chateau Huahao’s Marselan is called Liumugao, and is its main wine. There are two ranges of wine: ‘Big’ and ‘Small’. Big Liumugao, which comes from vineyards in the south, refers to the highest mountain in the Qingtongxia wine region, standing at 1,579 metres tall. Small Liumugao in the north, located in Shaogang, Qingtongxia, stands at 1,514 metres and is the southern part of the Helan Mountains. This area was known as Lingwugao under the Mingdynasty, and is also known as Shaluomo Mountain, a legendary mountain covered in willow trees and renowned for its spring located next to the dragon shrine. The locals came here to pray for rain in the event of drought and better weather when there was snow. The Ming dynasty, also surnamed Liu, used to fightagainst nomads along the frontier and build its camp at the highest point. Therefore, the mountain was named ‘Liumugao’.
Liumugao Marselan is a very warm wine, and the name Liumugao refers to the calm and relaxed manner in which General Liu commanded histroops in the fight.
Another wine from the winery is Yueshan, also a place name. After the victory of the war, General Liu had been in Liumugao to review (‘Yue’ inChinese) troops and named the place ‘Yueshan’. When you taste the wine, you can feel its aromas as if your tongue were climbing slowly to reach the topof the mountain and you feel as if you are standing on the peak and enjoying all the scenery. The owner of the winery uses this metaphor to tell you thatif you work hard at anything, you will achieve the joy of reaching the top.
When you reach the top of Liumugao, you can look down and see the surrounding mountains at your feet, giving you the feeling that you are‘reviewing’ all the mountains.
Baudouin Havaux