Celebre Winery: Two Chaozhou Tea Merchants Building a Bordeaux Pyramid
From Chaozhou Tea to a Himalayan Estate
Section titled “From Chaozhou Tea to a Himalayan Estate”Zhan Huangen and Zhan Huangrun, two brothers from Chaozhou, Guangdong, come from a tea-trading family. They had previously owned a vineyard in Chile. They sold all of it. From 2015 they spent four years looking for land in China. They settled in Deqin.
The winemaker they hired is Patrick Valette, a member of the Valette family that owned Château Pavie in Saint-Émilion. Patrick has long experience in Chile. Day-to-day operations are run by Valette’s son-in-law Vianney Jacqmin. First vintage: 2018.
The vineyards sit at the foot of Meili Snow Mountain, between 2,000 and 3,000 meters. The label calls the region Hauts Plateaux de l’Himalaya, Himalayan High Plateaus. The two core villages are Sulu and Bucun.
A Three-Tier System
Section titled “A Three-Tier System”Celebre’s portfolio is pyramidal, the most complete one in the Shangri-La region.
Dan Sheng Di (诞生地, Birthplace) is the village-level flagship. Two bottlings, one each from Sulu and Bucun. Dan Sheng Di Sulu Heritage de L’Himalaya 2018, 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, scored 95 points from James Suckling and is reported at 96 from Wine Advocate. Pricing around €1,000.
Julien Boulard MW wrote about the Bucun 2018 with unusual specificity: tea leaves, licorice, jujube, black olive, tobacco, Black Forest cake. He said, “If any Chinese wine deserves a 95, it comes from this estate.” Edward Ragg MW at Wine Advocate listed Dan Sheng Di among “the very top wines of China.”
Celebre (宝庄) is the estate-tier wine. The Cabernet Sauvignon dry red 2018 earned 94 points from Boulard MW and double gold at the Asia Sommelier Awards. A Chardonnay dry white followed in 2021. Red and white sit around £160 a bottle.
All of Me is the entry tier. Cabernet Sauvignon dry red at roughly £45. Rosé at around £32. The rosé was named by Decanter in 2022 as the world’s best rosé outside Provence. For a high-altitude Cabernet rosé, that placing was unexpected.
Rose Honey
Section titled “Rose Honey”Celebre has produced a Rose Honey (玫瑰蜜) wine in 2018. Dried rose, ripe Bing cherry on the nose, with acidity beyond what you would expect.
In a world where Rose Honey exists almost exclusively as home wine made by villagers in Cizhong (see Cizhong & Rose Honey), Celebre is one of the few estates trying to bring the variety into commercial production.
The Rose Honey fruit comes from Deqin producers, probably the Tibetan growers around Cizhong and Bucun. In 2018, a dam was built on the Lancang, reducing arable land at Cizhong. The supply of this variety is becoming scarcer.
Bordeaux’s Shadow
Section titled “Bordeaux’s Shadow”Celebre’s path resembles Ao Yun’s: external capital, an international winemaking team, a Bordeaux style, high pricing. The details differ. Ao Yun is LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group. Celebre is two Chaozhou tea merchants, a different scale of resource, but a comparable ambition.
Patrick Valette’s Bordeaux background is felt in the wines: Cabernet-led, new French oak, focused on structure and aging potential. This stands in clear contrast to Xiaoling’s and Muxin’s Burgundian route.
At the inaugural Meili Snow Mountain International Wine Festival in 2023, Celebre stood out in the eleven-wine official tasting, alongside Ao Yun, Xiaoling, and Roduit. Holding ground at that table says something about substance, not pricing.
Distribution is mainly international, Wines of China in the UK, Oaks Cellars in Singapore, Hong Kong. Domestic e-commerce listings are limited. Part of the revenue from the All of Me line goes to programs supporting Tibetan women. The detail has appeared in Grape Wall of China coverage, though specific project information is limited.
A €1,000 Bet
Section titled “A €1,000 Bet”In a region where Birthplace sells at €1,000, you either believe the land is worth that price, or you think it is marketing.
Julien Boulard MW stands clearly on the first side. Wine-Searcher’s 2025 reporting noted Celebre’s price range as US$230–2,600, an unusually wide spread for a Chinese estate. From a £32 rosé to a €1,000 village wine, Celebre is attempting to cover the entire spectrum from entry to collector.
This full-pyramid strategy differs from Ao Yun’s. Ao Yun makes a grand vin and village wines; no entry tier. Celebre is closer to a complete Bordeaux estate model, grand vin, second wine, entry tier, all present. Whether it works depends on Birthplace continuing to earn its scores, and on All of Me getting the name Celebre into more glasses.
PLACEHOLDER:hero-celebre at the top. PLACEHOLDER:photo-three-tier-pyramid inside §2, the three product tiers side by side. PLACEHOLDER:portrait-patrick-valette inside §1, Patrick or Vianney with the Sulu vineyard behind.