Grape expectations

In 2013, the region was included in The New York Times' "46 Places to Go" list, as "the local government has reclaimed desert-like expanses, irrigated them profusely, planted them with cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and started a campaign to transform this rugged backwater into China's answer to Bordeaux".

By the end of 2019, there were over 38,000 hectares of vineyards in Ningxia, accounting for a quarter of China's total. The region's 92 wineries can produce 130 million bottles and attract over 600,000 visitors annually. Another 119 wineries are under construction.

Yinchuan will host the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles international wine-tasting event in May 2021. It will be the second time the event has been held in China since it was staged in Beijing in 2018.

Zhejiang University professor Zhou Lingqiang, who is also the director of the wine-tourism think tank of the Helan Mountains' eastern foothills, shared his team's research on online comments about China's wine-tourism market during the forum.

The research took four months of data collection and analysis, and examines Ningxia's wine tourism and the overall development and characteristics of wine tourism in China.