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WINES OF THE WORLD

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  • China's Top Wineries
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China's Top Wineries

China is Changyu, Dynasty and Huaxia (which produces Great Wall) and Suntime are the four major manufacturers.

Changyu is the oldest of China's currently operating wineries, founded in 1892. Changyu has been the most ambitious of Chinese vintners, not only did they forge an alliance with France's Castel Group, they did the unthinkable and dumped them in favor of Italy's Illva Saronno.

Dynasty mostly focuses on the domestic market, it was China's top domestic wine in every year but one of the 1997-2005 period. Even if its focus isn't truly global, its pedigree is. Remy Cointreau owns nearly a quarter of the company. Dynasty produced about 3.3 million cases in 2005.

Huaxia was the first of the big four to seriously consider the export market. Huaxia is owned by COFCO, the Hong Kong unit of China's largest grain trader, and its Great Wall Wines are among China's most widely exported.

Suntime is the newest player, and controls the largest single vineyard in China. Like Dynasty, it mostly focuses on the domestic market. Suntime is located in Western China, on the edge of the Gobi desert.

China is the world's seventh largest wine producer, and it's only going to get larger. As its people's palates get more sophisticated, expect interesting things to come from the east.