Yinchuan, destined to be China's wine capital

(ChinaDaily) - Yinchuan city is making the most of an ideal climate to attract major money.

Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region, might soon be known as the sparkling wine capital of China.

With the Chinese wine market booming, Yinchuan has attracted considerable investment in its winemaking center at the foot of Helan Mountain. French company Moet Hennessy even says it will have a locally produced premium sparkling wine on Chinese shelves some time next year.

With its strong sunshine, low rainfall and huge day-night temperature differences, this area in the northwest of the country is already among China's major wine production bases, which include Yantai and Changli.

The Yinchuan vineyards have alluvial soil, which has been washed down from the mountains to the foothills and plains. It consists of sand, schist and small pebbles.

The Yellow River runs through the area and there are also many lakes, so there are no problems with water supply and irrigation.

Ningxia Daylong Winery Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Thailand's Daysun Group based in Bangkok, has increased its investment in Ningxia as part of a strategy to expand its presence in China. Daylong Winery currently has a grape-planting base of 6,670 hectares with all the grafted seedlings coming from France and Italy.

To ensure quality, the planting is limited to 3,300 plants a hectare, the maximum output is set at about 7,500 kilograms a hectare. Since founding its first winery in Yinchuan in 2008, the Thai company has invested 600 million yuan ($98 million) to develop its wine business in the region. "We will invest 1 billion yuan in our winery over the next six years," says Chen Deqi, president of Daysun Group and a Thailand-born Chinese. "The money will be spent on adding more breeding parks for improving seed, logistics facilities, machinery, a shelter forest belt, new chateaus and a new vineyard covering 6,600 hectares."