Hansen Chinese Cabernet priced at €500

Chinese winery Chateau Hansen, based on the edge of the Gobi Desert, is set to sell a new icon wine for €500 a bottle in its home market.

Chateau Hansen Red Camel 2010 – credit: grapewallofchina.com

Hansen, based in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, is poised to release the new wine, a single varietal Cabernet Sauvignon called Red Camel, this summer.

Up to 10,000 bottles of Red Camel will be produced, sourced from a single parcel of vines in organic vineyards in the neighbouring region of Ningxia.

The grapes are harvested in two waves: the first batch, making up about two-thirds of the blend, when the grapes reach about 12% alcohol; and the second very late, when the vines are bare and the grapes are beginning to shrivel.

The wine is matured for two years or so in 100% new French oak under the supervision of winemaker Bruno Paumard, sommelier, author and former winemaker at Bouvet-Ladubay in the Loire Valley.

Château Hansen is based in an area of Inner Mongolia more renowned for coal-mining than winemaking, but is close to the winegrowing regions of Ningxia and Gansu province.

Hansen’s production – wines include Cabernet Gernischt, Semillon and Riesling – has reached 2m bottles, with the vast majority of sales in its home market of China.

Written by Richard Woodard