Wine tasters sample the product at Yuanshi Chateau in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. XINHUA

Much ingenuity has been dedicated to the label designs of the sparkling wine made by DEVO Winery based in China's premier wine region. The splash of light green — resembling a brush stroke — turns dark as the temperature falls, indicating the best time to pop the cork.

The back label has two layers — a Chinese label on top with English beneath it. The Chinese label can easily be peeled off, making the bottle ready for export. The winery, based in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, expanded its list of export destinations in July by adding Japan.

The company's export expansion is part of a larger trend of Ningxia wines gaining international recognition. According to Yinchuan Customs, in the first half of 2024, Ningxia exported 50,500 liters of wine valued at over 5.75 million yuan ($802,893), marking year-on-year increases of 24.79 percent and 70.16 percent, respectively.

As the Fourth China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo kicked off this month in Yinchuan, Ningxia's capital city, wines from the region — with its ideal growing conditions of a dry environment and ample sunshine — have been thrust into the spotlight. Local wineries like DEVO will be exhibiting at the expo aiming to boost exports.

Japanese customers, seeking suppliers of sparkling wine, discovered the winery. "After tasting our products, they were immediately impressed and placed an order," says its founder Zhai Liang. In July, nearly 90,000 yuan of sparkling wine was exported to Japan.

There are two wineries in China specializing in the traditional method of making sparkling wines.

At the chateau, which is situated in the eastern side of the Helan Mountains, workers are busy collecting the ripe Chardonnay grapes this month. XINHUA

The traditional method produces finer bubbles, giving the company a unique market position that helps attract customers from Mexico, Singapore and Japan.

"Traditionally made wines from China are still rare in international markets," Zhai adds. "We're also in talks with customers from Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States."

Decanter, a highly regarded wine magazine, highlighted the winery's potential in its May edition, noting: "From the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain in China's Ningxia, new producer DEVO's first vintage releases hints at the sun-drenched region's potential to make sophisticated sparkling wines."

Another winery benefiting from the Helan Mountain area is Kanaan Winery. While DEVO is just beginning to make its mark internationally, Kanaan has been exporting its still wines for years.

In December 2021, over 10,000 bottles from Kanaan were sold to Liberty Wines, a wine dealer in the UK, making the deal one of Ningxia's largest wine export orders that year.

"Liberty Wines has continued to reorder from us, which speaks volumes about their approval of our wines," says Wang Zhaoyue, assistant to the general manager of the winery.

Since June 2016, its wines have been exported to Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Singapore and Australia. The winery has exported over 9,000 bottles of wine this year with an export value exceeding 690,000 yuan.

"Our wines match the taste preferences of foreign consumers, offering balanced flavors and high cost-effectiveness, making them ideal for everyday drinking," Wang says. "Our wines also exhibit good age-ability."

"Our goal is to achieve 40 percent exports or even a split between domestic and international markets," says Zhai about the winery's long-range targets.