Yesterday it 
was announced that for the first time in the history of the Decanter World Wine Awards a Chinese wine won at the highest level. The wine was the Winery He Lan Qing Xue’s Jia Bei Lan 2009, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Gernischt. I had come across the mysterious Cabernet Gernischt before (see Long Lost Bordeaux Grape Varieties) and with Jia Bei Lan’s win I decided to see if I could track this grape down to see if it had originated in Bordeaux as some have thought.
Firstly the spelling of the grape’s name seems to come in 3 forms: Gernischt, Gemischt and Gernischet. According to some Gernischt is a misspelling of Gemischt which means “mixed” in German. It seems very unlikely to me that a German grape would originate from Bordeaux and that Gernischet could be the original French name. Despite hours of looking through old texts Gernischet drew a blank so I turned to records of the enterprising Zhang (Chang) Bishi who was said to have introduced the grape to China in 1892.
Zhang Bishi founded the Yantai Changyu Pioneer Wine Company in 1892 and records vary as to how many grape varieties he imported from Europe (and apparently the USA). The consensus is that he imported 120 different grape varieties. Zhang Bishi was a native of Meixian County, Guangdong Province but he left for Malaysia at 16 to earn a living. He worked hard and is reputed to have be
come one of the wealthiest men in Malaysia.
The Chinese Qing government appointed him as the Consul to Penang Island and he was later promoted to the post of Consul General to Singapore. It’s said that his experiences with foreign countries cultivated his interest in wine production. When he learned that Yantai was ideal for growing grapes for making good wine, he decided to buy 70 hectares of farmland there in 1892. He named his winery “Zhangyu” (Changyu) which was a play on his name and the Chinese word for prosperity. He employed an Austrian wine maker and imported 600 oak wine barrels from Europe. In 1915 his wines won gold medals at the Panama Pacific Exposition held in San Francisco.
I can find no records of which grape varietals Zhang Bishi imported to China and the elusive Cabernet Gernischt is said to have died out within France having been destroyed by the Phylloxera epide
mic. There is a difference of opinion as to whether the grape is in fact Cabernet Franc or an ancestor of it, whether it is a cross between Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon (which might explain its German name Gemischt ie Mixed . . . perhaps Zhang Bishi’s Austrian wine maker christened the grape – don’t forget that the official language of Austria is German!) and as to whether it could be Carmenere.
Cabernet Gernischt is by no means exclusive to the Changyu Wine Company although they appear to have the most hectares of it and have marketed it as a signature wine. Glen Creasy’s Blog has a good write up on Cabernet Gernischt saying that it is Changyu’s top selling red wine, and that they were making 20,000 tonnes worth of it every vintage. He also points to some scientific evidence that Cabernet Gernischt is not the same as Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc in a research paper by Wenguang Jiang et al.
Other research by M Zhang et al on the 
aromatic compounds in Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Gernischet (interesting use of the other form of the name here) has shown that 43 odorants were detected in Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc wines compared to 50 in Cabernet Gernischet wine. I have not tasted a wine blended with Cabernet Germischt (yet) but looking at various tasting notes it seems that it does have a pepper note and is often described as spicy. The grape is also said to thrive in semi desert because it is particularly resistant to drought. I have read that it is similar to a Rhone wine from Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
This has got me thinking. There is no proof that this grape came from Bordeaux – what if it isn’t a Cabernet at all? It makes sense for Chinese wine merchants to market it as hailing from Bordeaux due to the popularity and prestige of Bordelaise wines but could the name Gernischet be a corruption of Grenache? Grenache ripens late, likes hot, dry conditions and can have notes of pepper and spice. Only scientific enquiry will answer the question but I ‘d be interested to hear what you think!
I have just bought a bottle of Gernischt in Brussels and I wonder what it is going to be like. As a wine blogger (who writes in Hungarian) I immediately started to search for the origin of the name of the grape and I am really grateful for your article, you have done a great job.
What I find most probable is the misspelling of the German word “gemischt” which could have been given to this grape as a mix (here is what the German word means) of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The Austrian wine maker for me is a convincing proof why a German word is the base for the name and the Chinese surrounding, where European characters are not as well-known, can explain how the look of the letter/letters became misspelt. Just look r+n = “rn” – very similar in look to “m” and can be easily mixed up by someone who does not really read these characters.
And if it is an old and disappeared French vine it must have had historical records, but as you write you did not find any – I guess it is because it is not.
And on your final note I beleive Grenache and Gernischt is not that similar to mix them up. I wonder, however, why the bottle says ‘blend’ on the label while on the back-label they write that it is a varietal wine of a grape which is a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc? I hope once a scholar will clarify this with a thorough genetic research in laboratories.
Best
Tibor Udvarhelyi
journalist, Hungarian wine blogger
Brussels
Thanks for comment Tibor, it’s good to hear from you. I’d be very interested to know what your bottle of Gernischt tastes like – please let me know! If I find out any more information on Gernischt I will definitely blog about it.
Cheers!
Thank you Nick to bring out this topic.
As Tibor says the mispelling can explain a lot knowing that the first influencal winemaker in ChangYu was Austrian (von Babo). And if you get in touch with the Austrian Wine Institute or the Swiss one, none of them knows the Cab. G but both agree on the mispelling.
Now the basic question would be why Cabernet? Probably as some call a photocopier a Xerox, a hankerchief a Kleenex, Cabernet could simply be the way to name vine or wine?! It can look simple but wine is not culturaly a chinese beverage.
For sure never heard about it in Bordeaux.
Another aspect I would drill, is not so much about the tasting of an imported bottle. I would rather taste it straight out from the tank … Guess why! Look at the import/export and consumption figures you will have the clue.
My opinion about the whole thing? Let’s say that Venus is nice because there is only one.
Oh, by the way some research works have been conducted. They mention about Carmenère. I am not sure producers love that version!
Cheers
Thanks for your comment – you make some interesting points! I suspect that you are right in that Cabernet is a generic name. We will have to see what the result is if the grape is ever DNA tested
Cheers
Nick
“CABERNET GERNICHT”?…
MY AUSTRIAN ‘READS’ IT THIS WAY:
CABERNET?… “GAR NICHT” (NOT AT ALL?)
THAT WAS PROBABLY WHAT THE AUSTRIAN WINEMAKER SAID…
IN OTHER WORDS, A “GEMISHUNG”…
(I.E.: A “CONFUSION” WITH CABERNET, BUT IN THE SAME “FAMILY”)…
I WOULD BET ON CARMENERE BEING THE REAL IDENTITY OF THAT “GEMISH”.
HI Max, thanks for your comment. That’s an interesting point you make! I wonder if we ever get to see dna testing on this grape?
Cheers
Nick
An interesting article and comments.
I tasted the Changyu Cabernet Gernischt yesterday, Friday 3rd. August 2012 (obtained from one of the mass market retailers) and a colleague and I agreed that it tasted a lot like a Loire Cabernet Franc. This might be seen as lending support to the idea that it is either an ancestor or an offspring of that grape or even the grape itself.
Will Parker
Freelance Wine Tutor & Wine Judge
Many thanks for your comment Will – it does lend weight to the idea the grape is from the Cabernet family. Being interested in forgotten grapes I’d love to see an analysis done
Cheers
Nick
Nick,
The bottle referred to in my previous post was from the 2010 vintage. Since then I have tried the 2011 vintage and this seems a little less Loire Cabernet Franc like to me. On the back label of this 2011 it says that Gernischt is a cross of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. However Jancis Robinson, via her Financial Times column last week (September 14th 2012) has a different story to tell. She says that José Vouillamoz, who is a co-author with her and Julia Harding of a definitive book on grapes, due out next month, has DNA tested Gernischt. His findings are that it is Carmenère and she says the green character of the wine is down to climate. The link for this article is given as http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9d67a9be-cc33-11e1-839a-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz26kogqM5C.
So, it appears, the mystery is over!
Will
Brilliant news Will, thanks very much for the update – I really appreciate you getting back in touch with the solution to the mystery! I can’t wait to get Jancis’ new book:-)
Cheers
Nick
I had a bottle of this the other day – my first Chinese wine. It was a (very) inexpensive bottle by the Great Eagle winery. For the price, it knocked my socks off! I have been in some weird wine regions in Asia and have also had some not very good Chinese hooch, so was not expecting much, and this is seriously good stuff!
And for what its worth, it is a DEAD RINGER for a higher dollar Cabernet Franc. I think anyone who tastes will see – it is either the same or very closely related. I don’t think it had grenache notes at all, and for the $, very good Cab Franc notes. I would love to see some of this planted in California or Texas.
I was impressed – and wine is much more popular here than I expected – ads in a lot of places, on lots of store shelves. I think the wine industry looks very good indeed here.
I am going to get another bottle of the same, plus will try other brands as well. I am thrilled I have a very affordable Bordeaux copy and widely available!
That’s interesting news, thanks Clint! It seems that Cabernet Gernischt is making waves over here in the UK too as the supermarket Waitrose began to sell it off the shelf in August. Good wines are coming out of China and some of the British press are predicting a Chinese wine boom. I’d be very interested to hear what you think of any other brands you try over there!
Cheers
Nick