Agriculture & Food

China’s hit drama "Mountain and Sea" not long ago "out of the circle" and "out of the sea", let the global Chinese audience know the mysterious and magical Ningxia, and learn about the story of benefiting the people through the special industries such as wine. Today, the large vineyards on the eastern foot of Helan Mountain still bear witness to the love of the mountains and the sea, and the wealth creation stories there are more exciting than TV dramas...

On June 8, the government of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly held a press conference in Beijing to announce the establishment of a "National Comprehensive Pilot Zone for the Development of Grape and Wine Industry" and to interpret the construction of the "Overall Plan". Zhao Yongqing, executive vice chairman of the Ningxia Autonomous Region Government, stated that this is China's first comprehensive experimental zone for the development of characteristic industries, and will be committed to creating a platform and carrier that will lead the opening and integrated development of the grape and wine industry in Ningxia and China.

Some people in the industry believe that Ningxia, as an important town on the ancient Silk Road, is now welcoming new development opportunities and is expected to create new business brilliance.

In the next 5 years, the comprehensive output value will exceed 100 billion yuan, and Ningxia will deploy a world-class wine industry chain

Sui Pengfei, Director of the International Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China, introduced at the press conference that after surveying and calculating the water and soil resources and industrial potential of the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, Ningxia’s wine grape planting area will reach 1 million mu in the next five years, and the comprehensive output value will break. 100 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), the area will be 1.5 million mu within 15 years, and the comprehensive output value will exceed the target of 200 billion yuan. "If this goal can be achieved smoothly, the eastern foot of Helan Mountain will become one of the world's largest high-quality wine producing areas."

What makes this ambition a reality is openness.

According to reports, in the future, the Ningxia Comprehensive Test Zone will apply the relevant policies and measures and standards of the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) to solve the urgent problems that restrict the development of the industry in Ningxia.

Statistics show that more than 95% of the world's grape-producing countries have participated in OIV, including France, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay and so on. The Ningxia comprehensive trial zone applies OIV's relevant measures and standards, which opens up new space for Chinese wines to further dock and cooperate with the global market.

In addition, the Ningxia Pilot Zone will also jointly run schools with international partners, introduce cultivation and winemaking experts, and carry out professional training for winemakers, sommeliers and sommeliers, so as to gather global wisdom for the Chinese wine industry.

At the same time, Ningxia has also established close ties and technical cooperation with 23 major wine-producing countries, and will actively conduct in-depth exchanges and cooperation with important wine-producing countries and regions.

"Every element in the wine industry, capital, variety, technology, talents, equipment, including the final product, and related upstream and downstream industries, we are all open. Whether it is domestic or overseas enterprises and capital, we are all open Welcome, everyone will share the development dividend and work together to make the industry bigger and stronger." Sui Pengfei said.

He also said that the establishment of the pilot zone is to encourage government agencies and market players to boldly try, and all measures and models that contribute to industrial development can be tested here first. "In short, to highlight opening up is to take advantage of Ningxia's location, create a new highland for opening up agriculture in the western region, and promote more pragmatic and in-depth development of agricultural cooperation in the'Belt and Road' initiative."

Ningxia, the "Eden Garden" of Chinese Wine

In fact, the value of Ningxia wine has been recognized by the world.

The 46 most worthwhile places in the world selected by the "New York Times" of the United States, among which Ningxia was selected for the reason that "this is a desert and Gobi that can produce the best wine in China."

In 2013, Ningxia was included in the "World Wine Map" by Oxford University, and in 2015 it was included in the wine textbook of American universities.

The famous German art historian and writer Baumeister said that when it comes to wine, Germans cannot do without Trier, and China cannot do without the Helan Mountain in Ningxia...

In the long history of China, Ningxia wines have been fragrant for a long time.

There, Tang Dynasty poet Guan Xiu wrote "red grape leaves, fragrant licorice flowers", Yuan Dynasty poet Ma Zu often wrote "grapes pity wine, alfalfa taking advantage of the fields", describing the prosperity of the ancient Ningxia grape and wine industry.

Today, the unique terroir and natural endowments of the eastern foot of Helan Mountain are extremely suitable for the growth of wine grapes. According to reports, currently 27 varieties of wine grapes are planted in the production area, no less than Bordeaux in France, Napa Valley in the United States, etc., and it is China's largest gathering area of wine grape varieties in the world. At the same time, technical teams from more than 20 countries and more than 60 international winemakers have followed the fragrance of Ningxia to contribute their ingenuity.

Let the world know more about China's "purple business card"

In recent years, Ningxia has been committed to building wine as a link for language and cultural exchanges in the world.

Statistics show that Ningxia wine has been exported to more than 30 countries and regions including Europe, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and Macau, and the large single product "Helan Red" has been selected as the designated wine for the United Nations representative restaurant.

Even in the unfavorable foreign trade environment brought about by the epidemic in 2020, Ningxia's wine exports bucked the trend and increased by 46.4%, and its international influence and competitiveness continued to increase.

With the increasing popularity and influence of Ningxia wine, more and more tourists come here. In 2020, the number of tourists to Ningxia wineries reached 1 million, and more than 60% of foreign guests to Ningxia came for wine.

At the same time, in recent years, Ningxia has also been committed to protecting and inheriting unique wine cultural resources such as the Helan Mountain, the Yellow River, and the "Shangjiangnan", integrating the regional connotations of prehistoric culture, farming culture, Yellow River culture, and immigration culture on the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, and consolidating the construction of the "culture "Travel +" wine industry chain, explore and excavate cultural symbols with the characteristics of China's wine industry, and promote the high-quality integrated development of the cultural tourism industry and the wine industry.

"After vigorous development in recent years, Ningxia wine has embarked on the international stage, has been widely recognized, and has formed a certain influence. We will use this as an opportunity to establish our own classification and rating standards and create our own global exchanges. Show the platform and make a name for your own production area brand.” Said Wang Heshan, vice chairman of Ningxia Autonomous Region.