The principle idea of château Changyu Moser XV is the cooperation between CHANGYU as the pioneering premiere Chinese winery and the European/Austrian Moser Family: a of Chinese emergence to the global wine world, aspiring to belong in the company of the world’s finest and of the European spirit for excellence of 15 generations in wine.
Despite of all the difference in culture from two worlds, CHANGYU and Lenz M. Moser became partners 12 years ago and still share the same vision: being the first from China in going global and establish Chateau Changyu Moser XV as the leading winemaking château in China.
Lenz M. Moser has been making the wines at the château himself – together with his alter ego, Chinese winemaker Mr Fan Xi.
They pursue finding the typical and authentic Ningxia style of wine, an up-and-coming wine region North of China.
“Chateau Changyu Moser XV is not run by fashion but by quality, by the confidence we have in what we are doing and by the determination to go the extra mile for our customers and fans. It is imperative for us to have always our integrity in mind and to live up to expectations – well, not enough, we wish to excite our followers with ever improving quality. This is the task we are striving for in every single vintage.”
Aout the Ningxia Wine Region of China
Ningxia lies approximately 1,330 kilometres (825 miles) west of Beijing. It is located in Central Western China on the fringes of the Gobi Desert and feeds off the Yellow River that has its source in the clean and natural Tibetan Plateau.
With the aridness of the land and longer sunlight hours than normal during the growing season (around 3,000 – compared to Bordeaux’s 2,052 hours annual average), the berries can fully ripen and develop opulent fruit character. The grapes have ideal growing conditions in the Helan Mountains Region at 1,100 metres (3600 feet) above sea level.
The desert with its hot daytime temperatures and cold nights, extreme temperature variations, help the wines retain their freshness.
The Helan Mountain sub-region of Ningxia is particularly well regarded. It became China’s first official wine appellation recognized by the Chinese government in 2003.
Watch the Wine Review of Ch. Changyu Moser XV Wines in Video
Watch my comments and tasting notes and scoring of Changyu Moser wines in the video, or browser further down for complete tasting notes and ratings.
Ch. Changyu Moser XV Wine Reviews, Ratings & Tasting Notes
2017 Chateau Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé Blanc de Noir, Helan Mountain Range, China
Score: 88/100 points
Overall Review Notes & Tasting Impressions
A white wine with a slightly pinkish hue, a little blush but looking more like a white wine than a rosé overall, more like a Gris (like some Pinot Gris or Grigio). You can certainly identify by the color that is was made from Cab Sauv red grapes with just a little bit of color extraction.
The nose is surprisingly aromatic, featuring pungent notes of tropical fruits, pineapple and sweet mango, hints of dried apricot, rich pear as well as powerful floral notes of honeysuckle and elderflower.
The palate confirms this is an exceptionally aromatic dry white, bursting with pungent fruity flavors. The acidity is crisp and maintains the overall freshness of the feel, while subtle residual sugars emphasize the fruity expression.
The finish on delicate phenolics make for a touch of welcome savoriness and makes you salivate with delight. This characteristic will also make Changyu Moser Blanc de Noir a food friendly wine very suitable for cocktail parties and with appetizers, as well as on entrée dishes given you don’t mind touches of sweetness in your crisp dry white with those.
A very pleasing drink, with certainly a distinctive and rather unique fruity expression for a dry white. Pungent and hyper-expressive aromatically, clean and well balanced too.
2016 Chateau Changyu Moser XV Cabernet Sauvignon
Score: 87+/100 points
Even though this wine doesn’t seem to be broadly available internationally, it appears to retail around the $10-$12 before taxes as far as I could tell from online research.
Overall Review Notes & Tasting Impressions
With a red color of medium intensity for a Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine however displays the typical Cabernet notes of red capsicum to the nose as well as cassis and fresh red berries. It’s spicy and fruity to smell at with a spicy pepperiness to it.
The aromas in the wine surprises by the richness of its prune and fig notes, testifying of the generous sunshine the grapes from Ningxia used to make did receive.
Tannins are relatively soft although a little granulous and edgy, while a generous oily makes for a harmonious balance overall. Flavors are powerful and dominated by generous ripe, slightly jammy berry fruit, dark cherry and blackberry jam. The wine bursts with lifted spiciness and black pepper.
A well-crafted, generous, pungently fruity and spicy Cabernet Sauvignon, meaty and salivating with a soft texture on a dry backbone with a European definition.
Pleasing in all regards. A very competitive buy as for its quality price ratio. A quality on a slid complexity hard to beat if you can find it at $12.
2015 Chateau Changyu Moser XV ‘ Moser Family’ Cabernet Sauvignon
Score: 90/100 points
Even though this wine doesn’t seem to be broadly available internationally, it appears to retail around the $30 before taxes as far as I could tell from online research.
Overall Review Notes & Tasting Impressions
Slightly darker and more intense in its appearance, Moser Family, the second wine of Changyu Moser XV looks medium-bodied for a Cabernet, yet intense-enough.
Aromas are deep and spicy, ripe blackberry, dark cherry, powerful clove and nutmeg with hints of vanilla and wood smoke notes. Varietal characters of cassis as a clear signature of Cabernet.
The palate surprises by its smooth velvety texture on an opulent oily body, while the balance is maintained by a solid-enough acidity. This balance allows for the powerful prune, caramel, vanilla and blackberry jam flavors to explode on your palate, backed up and followed by loads of black pepper and dark chocolate, slightly chili-like. It somewhat tastes like those chili dark chocolates, augmented by rich red berry fruit jam.
An opulent cabernet all about a smooth texture and many layers of complexity, from oak and generous spices, to rich ripe fruit characters. It remains more European than new world I its expression thanks to its dry feel and a meaty savory feel despite the abundant yet well-integrated oak.
Again, Chateau Changyu delivers a Cabernet pleasing in all regards if that’s indeed a $30 wine. Generous and opulent like and new-world Cab, balanced and harmonious, with the salivating salty feel and ashy savoriness that certainly reminds more of Bordeaux than California.
With Moser Family, the estate’s second wine, scoring a 90/100 points, this wine easily starts to draw the picture and place the winery as a producer of wine able to make world-class products suitable for all wine connoisseur palates.
But let’s find out how high a quality the Chateau can reach with their flagship wine below.
2015 Chateau Changyu Moser XV
Score: 91/100 points
Even though this wine doesn’t seem to be broadly available internationally, it appears to retail around the $10-$12 before taxes as far as I could tell from online research.
Overall Review Notes & Tasting Impressions
With a red color that is starting to get pretty dark, Chateau Changyu Moser XV boats a profound aromatic profile that requires some time and aeration to open up fully. Decant a good half-hour prior to serving or open the bottle a couple of hours before pouring to get the most out of it.
If you do, you will be rewarded by pungent and lively notes of blackcurrant and vibrant dark blackberry, while a wealth of spicy white pepper, clove, nutmeg and oaky notes mix and combine into a powerful and complex aromatic profile.
Tannins and very soft and silky on a relatively dense structure. The overall smoothness surprise and is genuinely outstanding. Concentrated flavors of generous prune and caramel suggest very ripe grapes, raisins almost. But the whole still feels lively and fresh. It is always a good and pleasing sign when wines combine the sunny characteristic with enough acidity to remain fruity and lively.
The whole feels warming and comforting with the alcohol showing a little to the finish, but flavors are so pungent and strong, in a complex mix of oaky, spices and fruit, that it certainly won’t bother those who like a rather big red wine.
The overall expression combines the generosity of warm climate Cabernet from the Southern hemisphere because it is so lively and fruity, like a Chilean, Argentinian Malbec or Australian Cab, with the layered and licorice-dominant complexity more often found in the old-world expression.
A complete, interesting and again, pleasing high-end cabernet by Chateau Changyu Moser showing that the Chinese wine industry is full of potential, yet not quite having achieved the highest levels quite yet. At least judging by this particular wine.
Yet, again. This is ‘only a $60-$70 wine, if that. You will rarely find this level of oomph, together with some refinement, out of Bordeaux very often!
Enjoy 🙂
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