18 wines for the Year of the Rooster - Chinese New Year wine recommendations

Recommended by Li Demei
This is a low-alcohol, lightly sweet sparkling wine carrying calming rose-perfumed fruit aromas. Sweet and refreshing with creamy mousse—this is an easy-drinking wine that doesn’t taste like alcohol and usually favoured by ladies.
You don’t need to think too much about food matching for this wine; at your new year parties, if your guests are not looking for anything too alcoholic and you don’t want to simply serve tea, this may be a perfect choice.

Recommended by Guo Ying
Dlamotte may not be a familiar name for Chinese consumers. But the insiders would know that it’s the little sister of the rare and expensive Champagne Salon, and made by the same Chief de Cave—Michel Fauconnet.
This is a wine that has everything you would expect from a Champagne. A combination of freshness and complexity, citrus fruits are joined with pleasing yeasty characters, white blossom and mineral notes. A palatable and value-for-money Champagne.

Recommended by Lu Yang
You simply have to have some Champagne to celebrate the new year. Now that big cities in China may ban firecrackers all together due to pollution, the pop of Champagne corks may be just as festive.
My recommendation is Jacquesson Cuvée 739, a Champagne House product with the spirit of a grower Champagne.
The wine is made with 57% Chardonnay, 21% Pinot Noir and 22% Pinot Meunier, with 31% being reserve wine.
Fresh and clean, elegant and complex; the sharp acidity is just exhilarating. It’s a reminder of a refreshed new year: Live well, work hard, and drink good wines.

Recommended by Guo Ying
This is one of the most interesting Chardonnays I tried this year. If you have some spare money to treat yourself, this is a delicious wine of choice.
In simple language: This wine is clean, fresh but not frivolous. So smooth! I need a case of it.
In the words of a wine nerd: This is a surprisingly clean and tight Chardonnay coming from granite soil. Hints of minerals lead to nice texture in the mouth. It shines more after decanting.
A purely hand-made wine with no new oak, no batonnage and no filteration.
It’s a good match to lightly seasoned fish, chicken and pork. The refreshing acidity makes it a good company to fried food as well.

From: Decanter Magazine - Top sweet wines of 2017
Notes of beeswax on the nose with great concentration on the palate and fresh, orange zest acidity balancing a touch of sweetness. This is all about wet wool and Chenin typicity, with splashes of exotic and candied fruit on top of honey and acacia. This will evolve and improves for several years.

Recommended by Li Demei
This is a purely Chinese-made branded wine presented by Changyu, China’s biggest wine producing company. Bright colour, rich fruits and a nicely balanced palate—this is a wine that expresses the unique climate advantages of Xinjiang.
With only 68 RMB, this is a quaffing wine suitable for family gatherings. What’s even better, it’s available in almost every wine shop in China, even those in small county towns, so no need to carry them all the way from big cities.

Recommended by Julien Boulard
Maybe because I’m getting older, I increasingly like things with a simple style—be it decoration, fashion, art, food or wine.
Simple wines can be as leisurely and pure as a Japanese rock garden. It’s a shame that nowadays the quality of wines are overly ‘standardised’, with beautifully simple and easy-drinking wines often being overlooked.
Last month, a student of mine specialising in importing South African wines gave me a bottle of red wine, which is exactly such a simple beauty.
Though coming from a warm region (Swartland) and made using varieties known for producing high-alcohol wines (Carignan, Mourvèdre, Grenache), the 2013 vintage of this wine only has 12% alcohol.
Clearly the winery harvested early, but the wine doesn’t have any green flavours.
Discreet aromas of waxberry, hawthorn and boiled plum; refreshing acidity sets off by a small amount of bubbles; tannins are almost non-existent. This is clearly not a complex, strong and concentrated wine, but a straight-forward red that you don’t need to think too much about before drinking the next glass. Plus, it costs only around 200 RMB per bottle—what a bargain!

Recommended by Terry Xu
At Chinese New Year we drink alcohol not only for the kick but also for the joy of the festive gathering. And this wine, presented by Silver Heights, is designed for that.
Classic Bordeaux blend with 12 month oak aging creates an easy-going yet complex wine.
Delivering the terroir of Helan Mountain East, this wine is bursting with rich blackberry, plum and sour cherry aromas, and dotted with forest, vanilla, smoke and cream chocolate perfume.
The texture features Gao Yuan, the winemaker’s signature fine tannins and elegant acidity. Joyous and soft though filled with positive energy.
This is a modern-style Helan Mountain wine which displays layers of flavours and complexity. The long finish reminds me of the bright laughter of the winemaker.

Recommended by Terry Xu
Each year the Skyline Gobi winery in Xinjiang produces Beaujolais Nouveau-style wines featuring the year’s Chinese zodiac symbol on its label. The new wines usually use quality fruit from the previous harvest, making them a festive yet good-quality choice on your dinner table.
For the Year of Rooster the winery produced a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay.
The Cabernet is fresh and juicy, soft and delicate with bursting black fruit flavours. Both the red and the white are easy-drinking, making them good company to various dishes.

Recommended by Terry Xu
This Chardonnay from Skyline Gobi is part of the winery’s Year of the Rooster special release.
Clean and crisp, this international-style wine carries refreshing aromas of apricot and orange.

Recommended by Guo Ying
This is a good-value buy considering the fine balance and overall quality.
The Vino Nobile di Montepulciano is one of the easily-forgotten wine regions in Italy. It is in fact the first red wine DOCG in Italy, where you can find delicious and affordable wines.
The vineyards are organic and transforming to biodynamic.
Beautifully ruby in colour, elegant red fruit aromas with hints of spice. Fine tannins and the typical acidity of Sangiovese makes a balanced and elegant wine.

Recommended by Julien Boulard
Similar to Lammershoek of the South Africa, the William Downie winery also adopts minimum interference during winemaking, which they believe will better reflect the terroir. Such winemaking philosophy means that their wines are not filtered thus usually slightly hazy in the bottle.
I remember the Chinese importer of this wine complaining to me about the haziness of the wine - because many distributors were convinced that the wine was ruined thus asked for a refund.
Indeed many may misjudge this wine if using the usual ‘quality standard’ of wines. But I love its rich aromas of smoke, violet, peonies, wild strawberry, waxberry, red cherries and small hawthorn berries; the body is bolder and tannins firmer than the Lammershoek red, with a long finish. A high-quality Australian Pinot Noir, though may be less approachable due to its style and its price.

Recommended by Li Demei
If you decide to treat your wine-loving friends and family and don’t want to break the bank, this Pinot Noir from New Zealand may be a good choice.
This is a Pinot Noir made in a ‘less common’ region for Chinese consumers, therefore can be a perfect choice for blind tasting—if you’re up for a competitive game.

Recommended by Terry Xu
This is a New Zealand Pinot Noir made by Song Jing, a Chinese girl born in Chongqing.
This wine is the award-winning winemaker’s latest work, in memories of Chinese immigrants’ contribution during the Central Otago Gold Rush.
The red-and-gold colour and the phrase ‘gold mine’ on the label certainly signs good luck in the new year.
As a Pinot Noir coming from Bendigo of Central Otago, it flows with aromas of cherries and plums and rather unique savoury texture, supported by fine and well-structured tannins.

Recommended by Li Demei
A Pinot Noir from Burgundy is an unmissable choice for those who love old world wines.
Pinot Noirs are difficult to plant—especially in Burgundy. The unpredictable weather means that in certain years and regions there can be no fruit to harvest at all. Last year, in particular, the widely reported severe climate made many loyal Burgundy fans worry. However, marginal climate is also capable of creating magnificent wines.
Volnay is one of the bigger sub-regions of Burgundy with considerable production scale, which makes it possible for wine lovers to afford and share.
This 1er Cru from Clos de la Pousse d'Or has harmonious structure and a light body, worth savouring over casual chats with your close wine mates.

Recommended by Lu Yang
I was born in the Year of the Rooster, so I’m thrilled to be 24 again (!) this year—wonder if the omen is good if I eat chicken in the Year of the Rooster?
Either way, the older I grow, the more I miss the food from home, especially the big-plate Xinjiang stir-fried chicken.
To pair with this dish—which I have to cook for each Spring Festival—I’d choose an old-vintage Côte-Rôtie from Domaine Jamet.
This is a classic Syrah from a cool region, with complexity added by aging. It presents a completely different style from the rich and juicy New World Shiraz. A perfect match to my favourite chicken dish. Gosh I’m salivating just thinking about it...