I got to know China’s fast-developing natural wine scene in 2023, via two separate visits to Shanghai. Most exciting was the discovery that there is a growing group of natural winemakers getting to grips with the potential of the country’s extreme climates. If one winemaker stood out, it was Hongjing Dai, better known to westerners as Ian Dai. His elegant and often delicate wines made from different Chinese regions surprised and delighted me. Unlike the first wave of Chinese winemaking in the early 2000s, which seemed only about imitating French classic wines, what Ian is doing feels quite distinct from anything European.
We caught up in Shanghai again this November, and enjoyed a two hour conversation about Ian’s career and the Chinese wine scene in general. He’s not only a skilled winemaker, but also an erudite and philosophical thinker.
I hope readers will find the discovery of a nascent wine industry with its own unique challenges as fascinating as I do. Paying subscribers can also enjoy a 30 minute audio excerpt from our interview here.
When I ask how he got into wine, Ian Dai breaks out into his infectious giggle. “it was such a random thing” he says. After attending high school in Australia – hence the stellar command of English – he had an argument with his parents and dropped out of education altogether. After two lost years in Shanghai – “I don’t remember what I did but I basically did nothing” – he decided on a complete change. “I
This Article was originally published on The Morning Claret
