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The China Vine

About The China Vine

What this publication is

Section titled “What this publication is”

The China Vine is an English-language publication on the wine regions, estates and travel of contemporary China.

It exists because the international wine press still covers Chinese wine on the margins, and Chinese-language coverage is mostly local and promotional. There is a gap in the middle: rigorous, well-sourced, English-language writing for the international wine reader.

We try to fill it. One chapter at a time, one region at a time.

What you will find here

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  • Regions. Eight Chinese wine regions, each opened with a terroir-first chapter.
  • Winery Stories. Long-form profiles of the people and estates that matter, from Silver Heights to Ao Yun, Helan Qingxue to Xiaoling.
  • Wine Routes. Five canonical routes, each verified on the ground. From the Ningxia weekend to the 2,600 m Yunnan plateau to the −20°C Northeast ice harvest.
  • Travel Notes. Essays, vintage updates, wines to try lists, and the long-arc context: history, varieties, the modern industry.

The structure follows the underlying book — Chinese Wine Regions, currently in long-form draft — but each piece reads as a standalone publication article.

Who writes this

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The China Vine is written by Tianqi, a wine professional and travel-industry veteran based between Shanghai and southern France. He holds the WSET Diploma, the Weinakademiker title from the Austrian Wine Academy, and a Wine MBA from the Burgundy School of Business in Dijon. In 2026, he joined the Institute of Masters of Wine Bridge Programme and applied for the MW Study Programme.

He has spent nearly twenty years designing and operating cultural journeys, and the last six years working at the intersection of wine, education, and travel. Most regions covered here have been visited on the ground, often more than once.

Who publishes this

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The China Vine is published by Journey X (简兮旅行), a Shanghai-based travel company specialising in high-end and corporate travel since 2020. Journey X also operates Vin Voyager SARL in France, its European wine-region DMC.

This means three things:

  1. The chapters are funded by a working business, not by sponsorship from any estate or producer covered here. We do not accept paid placement.
  2. The routes are operable. Every itinerary on this site can be booked through Journey X. If you want to travel what you have just read, the path from page to vineyard is one click: Plan a China Wine Journey.
  3. The China Vine is a publication, not a marketing site. Editorial decisions are made independently of the travel business. We name what is good, what is overrated, what is interesting. The business benefits from the credibility; it does not direct the writing.

How to reach us

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Editorial principles

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  • Facts before flair. Every named year, score, hectare and bottle price is sourced or has been verified on the ground.
  • No anonymous quotes from undisclosed estates. When we quote a winemaker, we quote the winemaker.
  • No marketing language. We do not write “hidden gem”, “world-class”, “a journey of the senses”, or “soul of the land”. If a wine is good, we say why.
  • Long-form by default. The Chinese wine story is complicated. We do not summarise it into bullets when paragraphs are what is needed.
  • Slow publishing. This site is not a content treadmill.

The China Vine is the long version of a working belief: that Chinese wine deserves to be written about with the seriousness Jancis Robinson gives Bordeaux, the attention Andrew Jefford gives terroir, and the practical eye Hugh Johnson gives the actual bottle. We aim somewhere between those three.

The work will continue for as long as the regions are still being made.

Published by Journey X · 简兮旅行 · Field notes by Tianqi · Plan a China Wine Journey →