Ao Yun, a world-class Chinese wine, has launched its latest 2017 vintage. What is arguably China’s top drop to date was born within the foothills of Himalayas, at the heart of Yunnan in a terroir with different microclimates across four villages. The vintage was refined under Ao Yun’s toughest climate yet – a dry, warm winter, followed by a cool spring and wet summer, resulting in a delayed but augmented vine growth.
“This vintage is enhanced through a challenging climate, which was compensated thanks to great vineyard and winemaking adaptations. We managed to harvest powerful but ripe grapes and transform them into a concentrated but fresh and velvety wine,” explains Maxence Dulou, Ao Yun Estate Director & Winemaker.
Ao Yun, which means ‘flying above the clouds’, hails from the legendary city of Shangri-la and presents a story of rich cultural heritage and modern ingenuity. Ao Yun is the brainchild of Estates & Wines, the wine division of Moët Hennessy, with an ambition to explore new and ideal wine-making terroirs in China. The Yunnan region, with its unique climate, was identified as the best location for this endeavour.
Focused on establishing a world-class winery that rewrites the rules of modern winemaking, Ao Yun produces exceptional red wines that matches, if not exceeds, the highest international standards. This beautifully refined wine has persevered through noticeable climate variations from one year to the next, scaling new heights of excellence each year through excellent vineyard management.
Ao Yun develops its unique techniques with a particular focus on process optimisation and precision, enabling the winery to reap the best fruits. It has adopted the way of life of surrounding Chinese locals and maximised the potential of the closed ecosystem within which the wines are produced. The brand exudes respect for a legacy built by its forefathers in searching for the optimum location within China to produce exclusive reds with pristine and competitive standards.
The vintage 2017 encapsulates the uniqueness of this Chinese cabernet. For the first time, Ao Yun added a drop of Merlot into the mix, giving the latest vintage a rounder and more concentrated excitement to the palate. The colour of this vintage is deep; slightly darker than its predecessors.
It is concentrated but fresh and velvety at the same time as a result of the enhancements made to the optimisation process, customised for the challenging climate. Ao Yun had a crucial month-long window to ripen the grapes before harvest, which adds to the truly special experience of consuming the vintage 2017.
Ao Yun’s latest vintage is the brainchild of Maxence Dulou himself, who moved his entire family to Yunnan in 2013 to accept the challenge of rewriting new rules and scaling new heights of winemaking. He has a passion beyond winemaking and vineyard management; taking things one step further in his every move since taking over the responsibility of winemaking and viticulture at the Moët Hennessy Estate. The Vintage 2017 truly showcases his abilities to customise the process of wine-making to complement any climate conditions, while still refining a world-class taste.
“Nobody teaches us the rules. With every vintage, we progress in our wine craftsmanship journey and mastery of the terroir. This is history in the making. If you are looking for something unique to taste or gift, Ao Yun is perfect. The story of Ao Yun is a true adventure, in which anyone can and should be part of,”said Dulou.
Visit https://www.aoyun-wine.com/ to find out more about Ao Yun. You can treat yourself to a bottle of this exclusive red by contacting [email protected].