Grapes have been grown in Xinjiang for more than two thousand years, introduced along the Silk Road from Central Asia, and the Turpan basin remains the country's most important raisin-producing area. What is newer is wine. Since the 1990s the region has developed a modern wine industry, with vineyards in the Turpan depression and in the cooler Ili valley to the north-west, and Chinese and joint-venture producers now make table wines, sweet wines, ice wines and a grape brandy that has been produced here for decades.
The styles
The Turpan basin is extremely hot and dry in summer, which produces grapes with high sugar and low acid; the wines made there tend to be full-bodied and, in the cheaper end of the range, sweet. The Ili valley is cooler and higher, and its wines are more balanced and better regarded for dry reds and whites. The local white grape used for raisins, seedless and thin-skinned, also goes into sweet wines and into the very sweet raisin wines sold in the bazaars. Brandy, distilled from grape and often aged in oak, is widely made and sold under many labels, ranging from rough and fiery to surprisingly smooth.
Tasting and buying
Urumqi, Turpan and Yining all have winery visitor centres and tasting rooms, and a few producers run vineyard tours in season, from roughly August to October. Outside the wineries, the bazaars and supermarkets sell the local brands inexpensively, and the bottles to look for are the dry reds and whites from established producers rather than the heavily sweetened desert wines aimed at tourists. Raisin wines and grape brandies are worth trying in small quantities, but check the label rather than the packaging, which is often designed to look more expensive than the contents.
Practical notes
China's wine regions are much less developed for visitors than Europe's: there is no established cellar-door culture, most wineries require an appointment, and English is rarely spoken at the smaller ones, so a guide or an agency is the practical route for a visit. Alcohol is subject to airline baggage rules, and given the weight of glass, shipping is usually easier than carrying. Drink in moderation here for a different reason than usual: the long distances and dry air of the region make dehydration easy, and the Xinjiang wines are stronger than their price suggests. If you are only in the region briefly, the most interesting purchase is a dry red or white from the Ili valley, which is harder to find outside China than the Turpan brands.
