Chateau Huadong Parry Winery-Qingdao

We took a taxi out to the Chateau Huadong Parry Winery and were splendidly surprised to find a beautiful, European style winery just outside of Qingdao, near Lao Mountain (Lao Shan.)

The only way to get to the winery is by taxi or by setting up a tour via a travel agent. We were very happy to go on our own. For 160 yuan, our taxi driver took us from the city center, to the winery, stayed for 2 hours, and drove us home. It was a little pricey but worth it.

We had a private tour of the winery by our tour guide, Alice, who spoke excellent English.

The winery was beautiful, set in the mountains, with great views, and rows upon rows of green, lush grape vines.

We really enjoyed hearing the history of the winery, claimed to be one of the first European wineries in China. British wine entrepreneur, Michael Perry in 1985, founded the winery and three years later won the best tasting Asian White Wine and has won various awards since.

We loved walking through the gardens and seeing the local farmers, who spoke local Qingdao dialect, at work.

They let us pick some grapes and have a taste. So fresh and delicious! They were so kind, though we couldn’t understand them, we were so drawn to them by their curious stares and smiles.

We topped off the day by getting a bottle of our own, and sitting outside, with perfect weather, and complimentary cheese and dried fish.

We highly recommend this wine company! It’s a small winery, with only a few international shipping locations, but if you are ever in China, we recommend picking up a bottle.

Of the wines we have tried in China, we highly favor Huadong, and Heinbeck, for those living in China looking for a good red or Huadong’s white.

Both are not too dry, which is how the Chinese prefer their wine, very dry, and have a great bold taste. 

A few more pictures from our time at the winery. 

Wine tasting.

This tree smelled amazing!  I want one! :)