Xinjiang: Estates You Should Not Skip
Chateau Loulan
Section titled “Chateau Loulan”Xinjiang’s First
Section titled “Xinjiang’s First”In 1976, Shanshan County Fruit Wine Factory was established. The manager Huang Jiaming and ten staff began producing unfiltered grape wine and grape candy, with 10 tonnes of annual output.
This was Xinjiang’s first wine producer.
In 1982, the patriarch of Chinese wine Guo Qichang came to Shanshan, introducing French winemaking varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Grenache, Syrah) and establishing the Shanshan mother vineyard. One of China’s three major old mother-vineyard sites. Its significance: many varieties later planted at scale across Xinjiang and China started life as cuttings from Shanshan.
In 1996 the company was renamed Xinjiang Loulan Wine Industry. In 2007, Zhejiang Shangyuan Group acquired it. In 2013, RMB 70 million invested in a modern winery with 10,000-tonne capacity. Listed on the New Third Board in 2016.
The name Loulan comes from the ancient kingdom on the Silk Road: a vanished oasis state in the Lop Nor area. Han-dynasty Loulan was a major East-West crossroads. Naming a winery after a 2,000-year-old Silk Road state generates direct, strong brand association.
Wines and Achievements
Section titled “Wines and Achievements”Loulan’s portfolio has four tiers: Castle (top), Estate, Silk Road, Deep Root.
In 2016, at the G20 Hangzhou summit, Loulan’s Small Castle Cabernet Sauvignon was a designated wine. The same year and the next, Small Castle earned Robert Parker 92 in successive vintages: at the time, the highest international score for any Chinese wine.
Loulan also grows Chenin Blanc, exceptionally rare in Xinjiang.
Positioning
Section titled “Positioning”Loulan is the largest and oldest estate in Turpan. 10,000-tonne capacity, designated as a national AAAA tourism site. The path: cultural tourism + mid-to-large scale. Complementary to Puchang’s boutique route.
If Puchang is Turpan’s poet, Loulan is Turpan’s entrepreneur.
CITIC Niya
Section titled “CITIC Niya”Asia’s Largest
Section titled “Asia’s Largest”CITIC Guoan Wine (renamed CITIC Niya in 2023) sits inside the CITIC Group, one of China’s largest diversified conglomerates.
Numbers first:
| Item | Data |
|---|---|
| Vineyard base | 150,000 mu (largest in Asia) |
| Production scale | 115,000 tonnes |
| Storage capacity | 150,000 tonnes |
| Bottling capacity | 80,000 tonnes |
| Core regions | North Tianshan (Manas) + Yili Valley |
150,000 mu. For comparison, all of Ningxia combined is 600,000 mu. CITIC Niya alone equals a quarter of Ningxia.
Brand Matrix
Section titled “Brand Matrix”Niya is the core brand. Named after the Niya site: the ruins of the ancient Jingjue Kingdom in Minfeng County, where archaeologists have found extensive grape cultivation 2,000+ years old. An archaeological site turned into a wine brand, with the same logic Loulan uses: Silk Road history as the strongest marketing material.
Xiyu is the desert-vintage line. Xiyu Liè Yàn (Western Region Flame) is a grape brandy.
At the 2025 IWSC China review, Niya Legend Marselan Blend M5 2020 earned 96. A volume-producer Marselan blend hitting 96 says something about the technical accumulation at scale.
The Big-Producer Ceiling
Section titled “The Big-Producer Ceiling”CITIC Niya is, fundamentally, an industrial-scale producer. International critics’ field of view structurally disfavors big producers. Not because the wine is bad, but because the story is not compelling enough. No one writes an emotional feature on a state-enterprise 150,000-mu base.
CITIC Niya’s recent direction is building a boutique tier inside a volume base: deeper Manas terroir study, parcel-by-parcel selection. The direction is right. But growing boutique culture out of volume DNA requires more than technique; it requires a brand-narrative shift at the root.
Xiangdu Winery
Section titled “Xiangdu Winery”Three Generations for One Bottle
Section titled “Three Generations for One Bottle”Li Ruiqin, a Shandong woman, came to Yanqi at 21 in 1972.
She opened a brick factory in 1986; it failed in 1988, leaving her over RMB 200,000 in debt. In 1998 she began planting wine grapes. In 2002 she formally founded Xiangdu Winery.
At 47 she was planting grapes on the Gobi. At 50 she built the winery. She set out a vow that earns respect: “Three generations to make one bottle of premium Chinese wine.” Her generation plants. Her son’s generation makes the wine; she sent him to study oenology in France for six years. By the grandchildren’s generation, the brand may finally be mature.
“One mu yields one barrel of wine. One vine yields one bottle.” Extreme yield restraint.
Cabernet Franc: Xiangdu’s Label
Section titled “Cabernet Franc: Xiangdu’s Label”Xiangdu has 40,000 mu under vine, the largest in the Yanqi Basin. What earns international recognition is its Cabernet Franc.
Antonie Cabernet Franc was included in the Bettane + Desseauve Yearbook in 2015 and won DWWA Gold in 2023. Cabernet Franc’s behavior in Yanqi surprises many. It is usually the supporting role in Bordeaux, but in Yanqi’s dry heat it shows independent varietal character.
In a Xinjiang dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon and Marselan, Xiangdu’s Cabernet Franc route is a meaningful differentiation.
Chateau Aroma
Section titled “Chateau Aroma”China’s First Underground Cellar
Section titled “China’s First Underground Cellar”Chateau Aroma sits in the Yanqi Basin. The central figure is Wu Lei, two decades in wine.
A few key numbers: total land area over 50,000 mu, with over 20,000 mu of wine grapes. A 6,400 m² underground cellar, reportedly China’s first underground wine cellar. Three thousand French oak barrels (225 L). Annual capacity 3,500 tonnes.
Chateau Aroma maintains organic ecological cultivation: no fertilizers, no pesticides, grazing livestock for weed control and natural fertilizer. Harvest threshold: vines over 13 years old; all hand-picked.
Robert Parker 90 in 2016. Gold at the 2017 Paris International Organic Wine Competition.
Chateau Aroma is second only to Xiangdu in Yanqi by scale, but its international visibility is far behind Tiansai and Puchang. It feels like a quiet capable hand (scale, facilities, organic certification) missing one story the international market will remember.
Yili Up-and-Comers
Section titled “Yili Up-and-Comers”Silk Road Estate
Section titled “Silk Road Estate”Founded by Li Yong, two decades in the Yili region. 1,500 mu of vines across two sites: 67th Regiment in Kokdala (~1,000 mu) and Kuerdening (~200 mu, 1,400 m elevation).
The Kuerdening site is the focal point. One of the highest vineyards in Xinjiang. It grows Riesling and Vidal, the latter for ice wine (80% Riesling + 20% Vidal), harvested in below −10°C conditions.
Silk Road is gaining momentum. Multiple DWWA Bronze in 2024; 94-point High Silver at DWWA 2025; IWSC 2025 95 for Bird’s Nest Marselan 2023. Featured in Decanter’s 2025 Chinese Wine Special: Estate Files.
The most promising player in the Yili Valley.
Gongyue Winery
Section titled “Gongyue Winery”Founded by Guo Yongqiang, in the Yili region. Distinctive variety: Marselan. 2024 DWWA Bronze for Single-Cane Selected Marselan 2022 (100% Marselan, 15.5% ABV).
Gongyue’s vision: to be Yili’s favorite wine brand. A pragmatic position: establish the regional brand first; national and international can come later.
Quick Reference
Section titled “Quick Reference”| Estate | Region | Founded | Founder | Core variety | Positioning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loulan | Turpan Shanshan | 1976 | Huang Jiaming / Shangyuan Group | Cabernet, Chenin Blanc | Mid-large + tourism |
| CITIC Niya | North Tianshan + Yili | — | CITIC Group | Cabernet, Marselan | Asia’s largest scale |
| Xiangdu | Yanqi Basin | 2002 | Li Ruiqin | Cabernet Franc, Marselan | Boutique + scale |
| Chateau Aroma | Yanqi Basin | — | Wu Lei | Cabernet, Merlot | Organic boutique |
| Silk Road | Yili Valley | — | Li Yong | Cabernet, Riesling | Organic boutique |
| Gongyue | Yili Valley | — | Guo Yongqiang | Marselan | Emerging boutique |
PLACEHOLDER:hero-other-xinjiang at the top.