China | Wine, above all a women’s affair

(Yinchuan) She had surprised specialists with a Chinese vintage that won a prize at a prestigious international competition: today, Zhang Jing and an ever-growing generation of women are working to make the wine of the Asian country known.

In the world, “there are more and more excellent female winemakers,” she rejoices as she shows AFP around the cellar of her estate, Helan Qingxue, in the Ningxia region.

“But it’s very interesting, in Ningxia […]women owners and winemakers, employed in marketing or reception probably represent more than 60% (of the workforce). That’s a large proportion,” she emphasizes.

In recent decades, tens of thousands of hectares of vineyards have appeared in this region, where the best Chinese wines are produced, many of which – Helan Qingxue, but also Silver Heights, Kanaan Winery, Jade Vineyard… – are produced by women.

Zhang Jing is a pioneer. In 2011, one of her red wines won a gold medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London, one of the world’s largest wine competitions.

She has since been emulated, so much so that “the (Chinese wine) industry is very heavily dominated by women” now, says Fongyee Walker, an expert at consulting firm Dragon Phoenix.

“When I think of the most famous domains in China, many are run by women,” she adds.

More yin, less yang

For this specialist, the explanation lies in the youth of the Chinese wine sector: in the West, it is a field “very largely dominated by men, because it is a traditional industry” while in China, its still recent nature makes it easier to “start a business as a woman”.

Support from local authorities also helps: it was through this that Zhang Jing met the two other co-founders of his estate.

The two men, who wanted to get into wine as a retirement project, asked her to be a cellar master. She asked to be allowed to study the specialty abroad first.

Many other women did the same, Zhang Jing says. When they returned, they were the most qualified to participate in the rise of Chinese wine.

This is the case of Emma Gao, one of the first Chinese women to have obtained a degree in oenology, trained in Bordeaux and at the head of the Silver Heights estate, founded by her father. Her wines are regularly served at official dinners of President Xi Jinping with European leaders.

“I think China is very accepting of women, and we’re even seeing a bit more yin (the feminine side, editor’s note) blossoming, while the yang (the masculine part, editor’s note) is receding,” she smiles, a step forward in this traditionally very patriarchal society.

The estate’s modern, angular buildings reflect the innovative approach of Silver Heights, China’s first certified biodynamic vineyard: the program includes natural techniques such as fertilizers made from cow horns filled with dung.

Experiments

Here, winemaking is done not only in metal barrels, but also in smaller, atypical egg- or vase-shaped containers made from Ningxia clay.

“China is a relatively new production area, so there is still no clear direction,” notes Emma Gao, which opens the way to all kinds of experiments, from planting to winemaking.

A recent experiment, a sparkling wine incorporating local rice alcohol, has been a hit with the Chinese.

And in this country keen on new technologies, influencer Zhu Lili also plays a major role in promoting wine.

Broadcasting live with three cameras from a Beijing restaurant, she describes each bottle with an expertise she gets from her family, her mother running a renowned winery.

As she explains the difference between grape varieties, links appear on the screens of her two million subscribers, inviting them to buy immediately, an important sales channel for wine producers.

“Mothers in their forties love my videos because (it shows them) the life they haven’t had time to explore”: by learning about wine, they feel like “they have their own independent life.”

Classic Chinese alcohols – beer and baijiu, a brandy – are generally consumed by men.

But “the way the wines are promoted here is through sophistication,” an argument that appeals to women, says Fongyee Walker, who notes, like Zhang Jing, that the student body in wine courses is overwhelmingly female.