AO YUN 2018

James Suckling

It all started with a dream. The dream of creating a Bordeaux-style, world-class fine wine in China. Ao Yun is a dream come true, an incredible adventure that began in 2008 with a search that lasted four years, through lands that had never yet been explored for winegrowing. A search for the perfect place to craft a great red wine. LVMH set their sights on an atypical terroir near the town of Shangri-La, in the foothills of the Himalayas, to the north of Is the Ao Yun Shangri-La ???????? 2018 China’s best wine ever? After tasting and rating it in Hong Kong last week, I gave it 98 points – the highest score I’ve given to any Chinese bottle, red or white, making it the greatest offering to come out of the country.

I loved the depth and complexity of the nose that brings you deeply down into the wine, showing blackberry, ink, tar, earth, incense, cloves and black licorice. Thyme, too. And the purity of fruit with cassis is the real thing. This is full-bodied but it remains so fresh and vertical on the palate. A blend of 60 percent cabernet sauvignon, 19 percent cabernet franc, 10 percent merlot, 7 percent syrah and 4 percent petit verdot, it still needs three or four years to come together in the bottle before opening.

The Ao Yun 2018 comes from the famous winery of Moet Hennessy, which is located in Deqin County of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northern Yunnan. The mountainous region is spectacular, with unique vineyards from the valley floor to mountain high. Ao Yun means “flying above the clouds,” and there is certainly something weightless and ethereal about the wine.

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