Voor Meininger heeft de journalist Jim Boyce de Chinese wijnindustrie ‘verkend’. Want China mag dan veel uit Europa importeren, de eigen wijnboeren laten zich niet onbetuigd. Er zijn nu zo’n 600 wijndomeinen, waarvan er zo’n 40 tot 60 toe doen. Lees wat Boyce aan gegevens verzamelde:

A look at the wine industry of China

An Australian scientist visiting a vineyard in Ningxia recently is said to have grabbed a vine and counted 43 grape bunches. After his initial shock, he said the vines back home would have far less fruit. But then, Chinese vignerons do focus on quality rather than quantity. Ningxia is an autonomous region in northwest China, virtually unknown to the outside world. Even in China, few people associate it with wine. But it is an up-and-coming region and what happens there reflects the Chinese industry at large.
Ningxia
Both Changyu and Dynasty, two of the ‘Big Four’ producers responsible for about 40% of all wine in China, have operations at Ningxia. Changyu is set to produce 5,000 tons of wine in Ningxia in 2009, its first run, with plans to increase to 25,000 tons, says management. At a recent conference in Ningxia, Xi Dezhi, a vice general manager for Great Wall, another of the Big Four, said his company also now has a base in the area. One reason: compared to the promising wine grape region of Xinjiang in the far northwest, Changyu is much closer to China's main markets. This makes it easier to move large quantities of bulk wine.

Some of Ningxia's 18 wineries show interest in producing a quality homegrown product. One such is Silver Heights, a small operation led by Bordeaux-trained Emma Gao, which has impressed tasters and has a distribution deal with Torres China. Grace Vineyard, the other member of the Big Four, based in neighbouring Shanxi province, plans to plant 200 to 300 acres to “spread the risk”, says CEO Judy Leissner. Grace is widely considered to make China's best wine and also has a distribution deal with Torres.

Even so, while officials and wine industry leaders at the conference discussed improving quality, attracting tourists, and potentially exporting wine, the theme regularly returned to rapid expansion. Rong Jian of the Ningxia Grape Industry Association said capacity is currently 80,000 tons, but cited the potential for 250,000 tons. The message: size matters.

Overview
According to the OIV, China ranked seventh in wine production and fifth in wine consumption in 2008, with the average Chinese drinking just under one litre per year. The country is frequently reported to have 600 wineries, though industry observers say this indicates registered operations rather than going concerns. Li Demei, a professor at Beijing Agricultural University, says only the top 40 to 60 producers are significant. Operations range from Yunnan in the south, which borders Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar, to Shandong on the east coast, which faces North Korea and South Korea, to the northern swathe from Jilin, bordering Russia and North Korea, to Xinjiang, which borders Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan, among others.

China produced 698m litres of wine in 2008, up from 665.1m in 2007, with over two-thirds from Shandong, Jilin, and Hebei provinces, according to Wang Zuming, head of CADIA’s wine department. This is about a 4000% increase over the past 30 years. There is notable movement northwest, where vineyards planted four or five years ago are now producing, with more are on the way. Attractions include ample sunshine, relatively dry summers, lower land and labor costs, and relative absence of disease.

Common challenges face China's far-flung wine producers. One is a lack of research. “There are no long-term studies on which varieties work best in which regions,” says Li Demei.