Tonghua wine is genuinely distinctive — not a Chinese version of European wine but something specific to this mountainous corner of Jilin, made from wild mountain grapes that grow in the forests around Changbaishan. The wine is sweet, deeply coloured, and has the honest character of something produced because the raw material was locally abundant rather than because someone decided to imitate Bordeaux.
The Tonghua Winery has been producing wine since the early twentieth century and the industry takes local pride in its peculiar regional product. Visitors can find the wine in shops and restaurants throughout the city, and it pairs well enough with the local food — rich northeastern Chinese cooking that has no trouble handling sweetness. The biennial wine festival has been held since 1987. If you come with low expectations and genuine curiosity about what a wine made from frost-hardy mountain grapes actually tastes like, Tonghua wine will satisfy both.