This week the Ideal Wine Company
wants to take this opportunity to introduce you to what many are calling China’s
fine wine region of the future; Ningxia.
Global Wine Powerhouse
Because Ideal Wine Company is a
firm dedicated to providing a range of fine wines from across the world at
reasonable prices, we couldn’t have failed to notice the rise of China.
In today’s market, China is a
veritable powerhouse. Not only is it the world’s largest growing economy, but
is becoming one of its biggest wine consumers – especially where red is
concerned. Furthermore, it is making inroads into wine production, which has
prompted the rise of a potential new luxury wine hot spot, Ningxia.
The Ability to Foster a Ripe Grape Crop
An article in Drinks Business
recently explored the region’s capability as a fine wine powerhouse. It
featured the thoughts of Berry Bros & Rudd’s Jasper Morris, who weighed up
whether Ningxia has what it takes.
Jasper started out by pointing
out the region’s positives, of which there are many. Essentially, it has a
“strongly continental climate with hot sunny summers and
severely cold winters.” Meanwhile, with an altitude sitting 1,000 metres above
sea level, Ningxia enjoys 3,000 hours of sunshine annually.
This
last point means that it really is adequately positioned to become a major
player in the world of viticulture. It means that harvests can be picked in
October, before the first frost. Frosts are known to damage the quality of the
grape. Morris elaborated on the point, saying “there seems to be just enough
hang time to ripen the grapes but with current viticultural practices, it is a
close run thing.”
Killing the Vine
Yet
the region isn’t without its issues. Namely, Ningxia same weather patterns. It
can reach extreme temperatures on either end of the spectrum. This would mean
that vines would need to be buried to survive winter. This process is known to
kill a certain percentage of vines every time, meaning new ones must be planted,
which can hinder the development of fine wine.
Morris
explained why even replanting may be hard in the region, saying “this is labour intensive and probably
reduces the life of the vine as a percentage do not survive. It is also very
difficult to do in those locations, such as Château Yunmo, where there is a
much greater percentage of stones in the otherwise sandy soil – certainly there
were many more gaps in the vineyard here.”
The Potential of Ningxia
So Ningxia is hardly going to
take the crown from Bordeaux anytime soon, nevertheless, it does have the
potential to become a major player in the world’s fine wine industry. Whether
it does, and increases the role of China in said industry, remains to be seen.
