Tianjin is a municipality on the east coast of China, just south-east of the nation's capital, Beijing. Although the city of Tianjin (one of the 10 most populous cities in the world) dominates the land here, some viticulture takes place along the Jiyan River in the east of the region. A small amount of wine is made here from Cabernet Sauvignon, Muscat Hamburg and Chardonnay.
At just 4,500 square miles (11,800 sq km), Tianjin is one of China's smallest provinces. It is almost surrounded by the more viticulturally productive province of Hebei, except where it meets the Bohai Sea in the south-east and the borders of Beijing municipality in the north-west. While much of the land in Tianjin is low-lying coastal terrain, a more hilly landscape can be found in the north in the southern foothills of the Yan Mountains, which extend into Hebei.
Tianjin marks the place where the Hai River meets the ocean, and the land surrounding the city is mostly made up of alluvial deposits from the river. These waterlogged soils are not particularly suited to viticulture, as vines tend to do better in drier, more porous soils.
The maritime climate in Tianjin, as in many of China's east-coast regions, is heavily affected by the East Asian Monsoon. This weather system brings cool, moist air from the Pacific and Indian Oceans toward the coast, where it reacts with warmer air from over the continent, causing rain and humidity during the summer. Fungal vine diseases are a danger in Tianjin's vineyards, particularly in the late summer and early fall. Winters in the region are cold and dry, cooled significantly by winds from Siberia.
Although the terroir in Tianjin is not ideal for grape-growing, the region's main viticultural advantage is its proximity to Beijing, a center of both tourism and investment. Dynasty Wines, one of China's largest wine companies and a joint venture with the French company Remy Cointreau, is based in Tianjin and makes wines from grapes grown within the municipality as well as from those grown in more-famous regions such as Ningxia.
