From Vineyard Science to Jazz Festivals: How Canaan Winery Is Taking Chinese Wine Global?

When a group of grape researchers from Europe, the United States and China arrived at Canaan Winery in early August, their visit began not in the tasting room but among young vines. At the winery’s nursery and Site 17 vineyard in Huailai, Hebei province, Their discussions ranged from grape varieties and water management to climate adaptation before moving, eventually, from the vineyard to the glass.

The visit offered a glimpse of how one Chinese winery is pursuing international recognition. For Canaan Winery, going global has never been simply about exporting bottles or collecting overseas accolades. International expertise helped determine where the winery was built, shaped how its vineyards were planted and managed, and influenced how its wines were made.

Now, that ambition is moving beyond production. Through winery tourism, wine education and events such as its annual music festival, Canaan Winery is also trying to build a culture around wine in a country where consumption remains limited.

It is an experiment with implications beyond a single producer: Can Chinese wineries use international knowledge not only to improve their wines, but also to create a new generation of wine drinkers at home?

Scientists in the Vineyard

The visit followed a PIFI Day organised by the Institute of Botany at the Chinese Academy of Sciences on July 27. Held under the theme “Grape Research and New Technology Training of the International Exchange Initiative,” the programme explored subjects including grape gene editing and the mechanisms that regulate drought response.

On August 2, participating researchers travelled to Huailai to study viticulture and winery operations firsthand.

The delegation included scholars from the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment; University of Bordeaux’s Institute of Vine and Wine Science; the University of Valencia; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC); and the University of Virginia. Researchers affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ international exchange programme also joined the visit.

At the winery’s nursery and Site 17 vineyard, the researchers examined vine propagation, field management and the challenges of growing wine grapes in northern China.

For some participants, it was their first visit to a Chinese winery and a rare opportunity to see how international grape-growing practices are being adapted to local conditions.

Northern China presents a particular set of challenges. Winters can be severe, and vines have to be buried into  soils throughout the winter season. Those realities shaped discussions about irrigation, climate adaptation and the management of different varieties.

The visit ended with a tasting of four wines made from Riesling, Chardonnay, Tempranillo and Syrah. What began as a technical discussion among vines continued in the glass, as researchers explored how Huailai’s soils, altitude and terroir were expressed through different grape varieties and winemaking approaches.

A Two-Year Search for the Right Site

Canaan Winery’s relationship with international expertise began long before the first vines took root.

In 2006, a team of overseas specialists in climate, soil, viticulture and winemaking began searching China for a place capable of producing high-quality wine while expressing the identity of a Chinese region.

The search took two years.

According to Canaan Winery, the team surveyed China’s principal grape-growing regions and collected more than 400 soil samples. It assessed each location according to its geology, elevation, soil and climate before settling on Huailai in Hebei province.

The region receives about 400mm of rainfall annually and benefits from abundant sunshine and pronounced differences between daytime and night-time temperatures. The nearby Guanting Reservoir helps regulate the local temperature and humidity.

Canaan Winery now operates three vineyards at elevations ranging from about 498 to 1,050 metres. Variations in soil, altitude and microclimate allow the winery to cultivate grape varieties with different growing requirements.

International consultants have remained involved in the winery’s vineyard development and technical management. But Canaan Winery’s approach has not been to simply reproduce a foreign model in China. Instead, it has sought to combine experience from established wine regions with knowledge accumulated in Huailai and adapt both to local conditions.

That long-term focus has brought the winery international recognition.

In 2023, Canaan Winery became the first Chinese winery to enter the World’s Best Vineyards list, debuting at No. 80. A year later, it rose to No. 77 and was the only Chinese winery included on the list.

Launched in 2019 by William Reed’s 50 Best brand, World’s Best Vineyards evaluates more than the quality of the wine. It considers the complete visitor experience, including vineyard tours, tastings, food, architecture, scenery, hospitality and education.

Canaan Winery’s two consecutive appearances therefore recognised not only what it produced, but also the world it had built around its wines.

Building a Wine Culture Beyond the Bottle

That distinction is particularly important in China.

Wine remains, for many Chinese consumers, a foreign product surrounded by unfamiliar language and rituals. It does not have baijiu’s place at the banquet table or beer’s easy association with everyday social occasions.

That creates a particular challenge for Chinese wineries. Improving quality is essential, but quality alone does not create a drinking culture. Consumers also need occasions in which wine feels relevant, accessible and enjoyable.

Canaan Winery’s location gives it an unusual opportunity to address that problem.

While many Chinese wineries are in remote parts of the northwest or southwest, Canaan Winery is in Huailai, about 80 kilometres from central Beijing. Its proximity to a metropolis of more than 20 million people puts it within reach of weekend travelers, university groups and wine enthusiasts.

The short distance changes what the estate can be. It is not only a production site but also a possible weekend destination – a place where Beijing residents can see vines, enter a cellar and understand the chain of decisions behind a bottle of wine.

The winery has worked with universities, tourism agencies and wine education providers in Beijing to bring students, professionals and travelers to Huailai. Tours are offered in Mandarin, English, French and German, taking visitors through the vineyards, winemaking process and barrel cellar.

Its partnership with some WSET education providers in Beijing brings another kind of visitor: people who have studied wine in a classroom but want to encounter its agricultural and technical realities.

At Canaan Winery, ideas that can seem abstract in a textbook – terroir, canopy management, fermentation and maturation – acquire a physical setting. The vineyard becomes part of the lesson.

When the Classroom Gives Way to Jazz

Not everyone, however, wants a lesson.

On Sept. 5, 2026, Canaan Winery will hold the fourth edition of its music festival, an event that offers a more informal route into wine. Launched in 2023, its first three editions drew more than  1,500 visitors in total, according to the organiser.

The timing is deliberate. In early September, as the grapes approach harvest, visitors arrive at a winery at its most evocative moment. They walk through the vineyards and production facilities, taste wines and linger over food while live music plays.

The format loosens wine from the conventions of a formal tasting. There is no requirement to understand vintages, varieties or tasting terminology before taking part. Wine becomes one element in a larger day out, alongside music, food, landscape and conversation.

That may sound like a simple change of setting, but it addresses one of the most difficult questions facing China’s wine industry: how to reach people who do not yet think of themselves as wine drinkers.

A conventional tasting largely attracts those already interested in wine. A music festival can draw visitors for other reasons and allow their relationship with wine to begin almost incidentally – with a glass poured between a vineyard walk and a jazz performance.

For a category still searching for a secure place in Chinese life, such encounters matter. Consumption habits are not built only through education or marketing. They are also formed through memory: a place visited, a meal shared, a song heard with a glass in hand.

The researchers’ visit brought Canaan Winery’s story full circle. International experts helped select its site in 2006; two decades later, overseas researchers returned to study how those ideas had been adapted to Huailai.

Canaan Winery’s experience suggests that internationalisation is not simply about importing expertise or winning global recognition. It is about combining international knowledge with local conditions – and turning the result into wines and experiences that can bring more Chinese consumers into the category.