Silver Heights
A pioneering force in Ningxia, Silver Heights is the estate Jancis Robinson credits with first alerting her to the region’s potential, crafting refined, characterful wines that helped put Chinese fine wine on the international map.
COUNTRY: CHINA
REGION: EAST HELAN MOUNTAINS
SUB-REGION: NINGXIA
Silver Heights is one of the pioneering names of Ningxia, China’s most closely watched emerging fine-wine region, located in the foothills of the Helan Mountains. Founded in 2007 by Gao Lin and his daughter Emma Gao, the estate has played an important role in demonstrating the potential of Ningxia’s high-altitude vineyards. The vineyards sit at around 1,200 metres above sea level, where intense sunlight, low rainfall, cool nights and large diurnal temperature shifts create favourable conditions for producing grapes with concentration, freshness and aromatic precision. Emma Gao, who trained in Bordeaux, has brought an artisanal and low-intervention philosophy to the estate, with organic and biodynamic practices increasingly central to its approach. Working across varieties including Chardonnay, Marselan, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, Silver Heights has become recognised for wines that combine the structure and sophistication of Bordeaux with a distinctive expression of Ningxia’s dry continental terroir.
The wines demonstrate the breadth of what the region can achieve. The Silver Heights Marselan offers an expressive interpretation of a variety that has found a particularly successful home in Ningxia, combining dark fruit, floral character and savoury herbal complexity. The Chardonnay Reserve shows the estate’s ability to bring richness and texture to a white wine while retaining freshness, with barrel fermentation and careful ageing contributing creamy, spicy and subtly nutty layers. At the pinnacle of the range, Emma’s Reserve is a Bordeaux-inspired blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that combines concentrated dark fruit, fine structure and integrated oak with the freshness of its high-altitude origin. Together, these wines showcase Silver Heights’ position at the forefront of China’s fine-wine movement and its ability to give Ningxia a distinctive voice on the international stage.
Wines available
| TYPE | CODE | NAME | KEY |
|---|---|---|---|
| SPARKLING | 11653 | Silver Heights ‘Bloom’ Sparkling | B O V VG |
| WHITE | 11671 | Silver Heights The Last Warrior | B O V |
| WHITE | 11675 | Silver Heights Reserve Chardonnay | B O V |
| RED | 11672 | Silver Heights The Last Warrior | B O V |
| RED | 11673 | Silver Heights Jia Yuan Marselan | B O V |
| RED | 11674 | Silver Heights Family Reserve | B O V |
| RED | 11676 | Silver Heights Emma’s Reserve | B O V |