Photo by Ye Jun / China Daily

The wine-growing area is 30 kilometers west of Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia. Among the wineries, there are big State-run companies, such as COFCO, Great Wall and Changyu. Some companies such as Xixia King and Helan Mountain have been here for 30 years. International big names such as Pernod Ricard and Hennessy have also built wineries here.

The main wine-production area covers 30,667 hectares. Ningxia plans to more than double that by 2020, according to Yang. The area has very hot summers and big temperature differences between day and night, while the sandy soil is rich in minerals.

"The soil has good air permeability, allowing grape roots to grow deep and gather energy, which increases the complexity of the wine," says Kanaan Winery's Wang Fang. "The color of the wine is bright, and the aroma naturally concentrated. The body of the wine is very powerful."

"It is probably the first wine-producing county in China to have its own style," says Li Xinxin, general manager of Chateaux Haut-vallee, a wine trade company based in Beijing.

The most common grape varieties in the area are cabernet sauvignon, cabernet gernischet, chardonnay and merlot.

Although her red wines have been praised, Wang Fang says she plans to focus more on whites. Good white wines, she says, are less dependent on the amount of available sunlight, and the area's terrior suits them. She says Ningxia doesn't produce as much white wine because it sells for a lower price than reds, and it's more complicated to produce.

Helan Mountain's chardonnay and Xixia King's Italian riesling already have won international awards, she says.

"I hope in the future when people drink white wine, they will automatically think of Ningxia and Kanaan, just like the area's great reputation for wolfberry."