Ningxia’s chateaux showcase the fruits of their efforts at the UN

The Ningxia Hui autonomous region had a special dialogue with the world at the United Nations headquarters in New York in early November. But it was not Chinese or English or any of the other working languages at the UN that prevailed at the gathering. What served as the common language, as it has done for centuries, was wine.

At the event, part of the Chinese Food Festival at the UN, more than 20 owners of wine chateaux from the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains in Ningxia promoted their products to representatives of the 193 UN members.

Raising up a glass of wine, one of the wine chateau owners told guests: “This is Ningxia — its terroir and its people’s spirit are reflected in the glass of wine that you have yet to discover.”

Natela Menabde, executive director of the World Health Organization’s Office at the UN, said that the eastern foothills of the Helan Mountains are a special wine region.

That is because the vineyards in the eastern foothills In 1984 of the Helan Mountains enjoy a unique location and climate.

Located at an altitude of 1,000 meters, the vineyards are exposed to long hours of sunshine and there is a sharp difference in temperature during the day and night, which means the grapes experience both warmth and hardship, which helps them mature, local winemakers said.

The 40,000-hectare vineyard cluster in the region, the largest of its kind in Asia, is on land that had been lain uncultivated for scores of years and had become nothing but rocks and sand, according to a senior official in charge of promoting the development of Ningxia’s wine industry. “Today’s vineyards are the fruits of the unremitting reclamation efforts of more than 100,000 Ningxia people over two generations,” he said.

“Ningxia people’s belief in reaping a harvest from the land and their tradition of entrepreneurship have been condensed into these wines,” he said.

Government data show that there are 86 chateaux in the region, generating 120 million bottles of wine each year worth more than $3 billion. Wines from Ningxia An official in charge In 2012 In 2013 The section is sponsored by the Ningxia Wine Trade Center. UN officers

To date, the wines from the region have won more than 500 international awards.

During the five-day promotion at the UN headquarters, Ningxia wines were given the thumbs up.

“This is wonderful,” said Ravi Batra, adviser to the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN. “It scared me that nothing had ever gone down off my palate that is more impressive than Moutai, but today, it (Ningxia In 2017 In 2018 wine) changes my view.”

Kaha Imnadze, Georgia’s permanent representative to the UN, said: “China is an example that there is kind of a global awakening of thought on wine that more and more people are going into winemaking.”

Inspired by the Ningxia wines, scores of delegates from various countries participating in the event proposed establishing a wine day in the UN to promote the wine culture exchanges and blending.

Based on its wine industry, Ningxia plans to build three State-level zones — an experimental zone focusing on ecological civilization, a demonstration high-tech industrial park and a comprehensive experimental area for agricultural opening-up and development, local officials said.

“We will advance the exchanges and cooperation with countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative to create an economy of core competitiveness and a pinnacle of the wine industry nationwide or even worldwide,” said the Ningxia official in charge of promoting the sector’s development.

Clockwise from top: have a taste of wines from Ningxia. delegates at the event. are popular with delegates to the United Nations. of Ningxia’s wine industry (left) greets UN