Chinese Work to Improve Domestic Wine Industry
August 23, 2012
While Chinese wine connoisseurs spend lavishly at auctions for rare and esteemed foreign wines, inside China there are many working to improve the international reputation of the domestic wine industry. The desert-like region of Ningxia enjoys the best conditions in China for growing wine grapes, according to the local government.
This area around the Helan Mountains is a key part of Ningxia's government’s five-year plan to make this an official wine-growing region.
The area is home to a host of wineries, such as Jiabeilan and Domaine Helan Mountain. One of the smaller wineries is Silver Heights, which was started in 2007.
Winemaker Emma Gao grew up in the area, but is one of the few Chinese to hold a French national certification for winemaking.
"When I was growing up in the 1980s, the wine we drank was sweet, which is how we thought all wine was. We would even add some other beverages to it, so that it would be more palatable. If it was like a proper red wine, very tannic, we would not like it very much," said Gao.
Changing tastes
Gao says times are changing, though, and more Chinese people are developing a taste for Western food and wine.
"There is already a huge potential market of 1.3 billion customers. Even if just one percent of the population drinks a glass of wine a day, the result you get from this is pretty clear," she said.
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