Xiaopu was established in 2017 by Hongjing “Ian” Dai, and is the pioneer of China’s “nomadic wineries”. After years of education and work in the wine space, Ian Dai decided to start his own winemaking practice to explore his experimental ideas of how Chinese terroir could be captured in a bottle. First in Ningxia but quickly stretching into the many winemaking regions of China, Ian works with local grape growers to procure the best fruit from interesting territories like high-elevation terraces or neglected heritage vineyards and naturally ferment it into wines that are wild and wonderful reflections of the fruit’s origins. He is now widely regarded as one of our most noteworthy winemakers, the 大哥 or ‘big brother’ of natural / more experimental wine in China (the first to make orange and pet-nat), although he often refers to his own practice as ‘slow’ winemaking, acknowledging his minimal intervention methods but focusing on the sustainability of the land and his partners’ livelihoods. In his own words, he wishes to “set no limits, continue to innovate, and explore more possibilities, placing the highest priority on making delicious and easy-to-drink wine”.