Winemakers have 'grape expectations'

Wang Fengyu, Wang Fang's father, a legendary figure in the local wine industry, helped his daughter set up her own winery. [Photo/China Daily]

The climate is also dry, with an average of 3,000 hours per year of sunshine, while the nearby Yellow River in the east helps to provide irrigation.

Yet there are still challenges. Because of the freezing temperatures in the winter, the vines in Ningxia have to be laboriously buried every year to protect them frost.

"Foreigners thought it was impossible for China to produce high quality wines in these conditions," Wang's father, who is now 70 and is a legendary figure in the region's wine industry, said. "But we were always determined to prove them wrong."

Back in 2005, he built the Helan Qingxue winery with the help of two partners and the support of the local government after retiring as an agricultural official. Six years later, his 2009 Jiabeilan vintage won a prestigious award from Decanter magazine, the wine and spirits monthly which is published in about 90 countries.

His achievement firmly put Ningxia on the map with Chinese wine connoisseurs. While he continues to run Helan Qingxue Winery, Wang senior also assists his daughter to manage the Kanaan Winery and surrounding vineyard, which can produce 90,000 bottles of red wine a year.

"My father was a great help," Wang said. "At first, I found it difficult to get the taste just right. I had to find the right blend until the wine reached its ideal state. Now, it is like taming nature. You have to retain the unique qualities of the vintage."

Her passion for wine is shared by other vintners in the region that have transformed Ningxia into a sea of green vineyards. There are about 72 wineries in the area and another 58 are taking shape. Wine production in the region also generated 6.5 billion yuan last year, according to figures from the local government.

As Ningxia's fame grows in China, the authorities have rolled out an ambitious plan to double the vineyards in the area to 67,000 hectare by 2020, which would be half the size of France's legendary Bordeaux region.

With government investment of more than 3 billion yuan, the goal is to build more than 100 "boutique" wineries, with a total production value of more than 100 billion yuan in the next five years. But even though China is now the world's fifth largest wine consuming and producing country, it will take time before Ningxia is recognised international.