In The Clouds

In a remote corner in Yunnan at the Himalayan foothills, Moet Hennessy produces a wine that has been met with critical acclaim. Learn more about this winery, which recently launched its second vintage, Ao Yun 2014, in Singapore.

- Kenny Leong

From every angle, it seems the unlikeliest place to make wine. With neither access roads nor electricity and very little water, it would be a nearly impossible feat to build a winery in the remote village of Adong in Yunnan — a province known more for its tobacco and Pu-erh tea.

But it is here in the county of Deqin, straddling the China-Tibet border, that Moet Hennessy has found sites with the greatest potential. “The venture actually began in 2009 when the CEO of Moet Hennessy Christophe Navarre asked Dr Tony Jordan, an Australian consultant, to travel throughout China to identify the ideal place to make a great red wine,” says Jean-Guillaume Prats, president and CEO of Estates & Wines, the Moet Hennessy Wine Division. The search took close to four years.

After studying reports from climate sensors and tasting grapes from the 2011 and 2012 harvests (as early as 2002, the local government had persuaded farmers to grow grapes to diversify their crops), Jordan narrowed down the search to just four villages: Adong, Xidang, Sinong and Shuori. Moet Hennessy proceeded to take a 50-year lease on the vineyards in those sites, and embarked on making its first Yunnan red wine, Ao Yun 2013.