"Growing wine grapes in a desert isn't normally a formula for oenological excellence, but in the arid mountainous region of Ningxia, some 885 kilometers west of Beijing, the local government has reclaimed desert-like expanses, irrigated them profusely, planted them with cabernet sauvignon and merlot and started a campaign to transform this rugged backwater into China's answer to Bordeaux," it said.

By 2035, this area is expected to have 100,000 hectares of vineyards with an annual production capacity of more than 600 million bottles of wine, a scale similar to that of Bordeaux in France, according to officials of the Administrative Committee of the Grape Industry Zone of the Helan Mountain Eastern Foothills, one of China's first government bodies to manage and propel development of the industry.

The wines are also making their way to the international stage. The export value in 2022 surged by more than 170 percent year-on-year to a record 5.8 million yuan.