Helan Qingxue Jia Bei Lan Reserve Chardonnay 2020 is a refined and creamy white wine from Ningxia, China, showcasing ripe lemon and roasted pineapple flavors with a touch of toast and minerality. Crafted with careful oak aging, it offers a balanced, medium-bodied profile perfect for immediate enjoyment or short-term cellaring.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 91
Published: Jan 3, 2022

Ripe lemon, roasted pineapple, rich lees and ginger. A flavorful chardonnay with creamy acidity and hints of brioche and toast. Finishes with ripe yellow fruit and a mineral undertone. A slightly richer version from Helan Qingxue. Drink now.

The Wine Advocate | RP 87
Published: Jan 13, 2022
Drink: 2021-2023

Helan Qingxue’s 2020 Jiabeilan Reserve Chardonnay has a deep lemon appearance. On the nose, there is some ripe stone fruit—peach, nectarine—with green melon combining with some new oak notes of clove, vanilla and toast (the 2020 seeing 30% new small-format French oak for 11 months). On the palate, the 2020 Jiabeilan Reserve Chardonnay is medium-bodied with fairly well-integrated 12.5% alcohol, some supporting acidity and a touch of lees texture adding some complexity to the core of ripe fruit. With its moderate length, the wine could benefit from greater concentration, but it’s nicely assembled and drinking well now, with some potential for improvement in bottle in the short term (i.e., over the next two years). 

Decantershanghai.com

Helan Qingxue Vineyard, the first demonstration vineyard in Ningxia, is located at the foot of Helan mountain at an altitude of 1,138 metres. With a 2.6-hectare vineyard of Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Marselan, Malbec among other varieties, the winery produces 60,000 bottles of wines per year.

In 2005, two legendary figures in the local wine industry, Rong Jian and Wang Fengyu, accompanied by a young winemaker, Zhang Jing, founded the winery, inviting Professor Li Demei to be their wine consultant.

The well-known Jia Bei Lan series of wines have won many awards in China and abroad, and in 2011, Jia Bei Lan Grand Reserve 2009 won an International Trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA), the highest honour in the competition.

Helan Qingxue Vineyard shows full respect to nature and the soil and is regarded as one of China’s great wineries. Helan Qingxue and its people are committed to producing wines of great distinction, with a sense of place.