In 2008, Dr Karl Hauptmann wanted to take his love of clarets one step further: to grow and vinify wines with his own hands and watch them mature with his own eyes. There borne Nine Peaks, creatively named after the Nine Peaks Mountain in Qingdao.

“Arthur, Zhentian, you see, Tsingtao (Qingdao) is just a magical place for me.” said Karl, “the people, the climate, and of course, the vineyards that I first used 15 tonnes of dynamite to break up the hard granite.”

…at 4 am in the morning when we eventually got outdrank by him. A changing programme of his finest clarets and his ambitious vinification to counter them with Qingdao terroir.

Amongst them, one wine caught our imagination: a humble Rosé. Named the Pinkker, it shined like a saving grace in the line of serious, robust reds. Floral, refreshing, a blend so unique that we thought we had to bring it in. The only problem was that the label at the time was a little ugly, so we worked with Karl to redesign it.

Ladies and Gentlemen, “Pinkker” by Nine Peaks.