Across several Chinese regions, wineries are teaming up in a collective bid to expand the market.

Shutterstock | Known for its fantastic ancient mausoleums, Ningxia is also a hub for all things Yinchuan wine.

Making good wine is one thing, selling it is quite another. China is facing this harsh reality as winery numbers and wine quality saw sharp increases this past decade but sales did not follow.

Not surprisingly, we also saw an increase in wine promotion, ranging from top-heavy official projects to wineries going it alone.

Two of these efforts – one traditional and one free-wheeling – especially symbolize efforts to boost the market.

Yinchuan represent

Yinchuan Wine Association (YWA) counts 62 wineries based in and aroundNingxia's capital of Yinchuan, close to the Helan Mountains, as members. That includes some ofChina's best-known producers, such asDomaine Chandon,Legacy Peak,Helan QingxueandSilver Heights.

YWA has an impressive comprehensive slate that covers education tours, trade fairs, consumer roadshows, buyer conferences and even a wine guide with James Suckling.

The education tours alone, launched during the pandemic in 2020, totaled 200 courses with 6000 attendees in 31 cities by the end of 2023. The itinerary ranged far and wide, from "tier one" stops like Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen to smaller ones like Hefei, Hohhot and Shijiazhuang, with a goal of attracting consumers who can double as ambassadors.

"There are professionals but more attendees are enthusiasts," says Zhang Xuan, YWA's secretary. "We hope they will become the main consumer group for Helan Mountain East wines in the future."

Quality wines

The course wines also regularly change as YWA rotates dozens of members to keep everyone involved. And they are good.

Shuai Zekun, who reviews Chinese, Spanish and South American wine for James Suckling, chaired a tasting of nearly 300 bottles last year to create a Yinchuan guide that featured 188 wines by 55 wineries.

"I briefed the judges on what it means to be a 90-, 92- or 95-point wine," says Shuai. "Most fell between 88 and 92 points. From 88 to 90 is a good wine we could drink a glass of and anything beyond 90 is an excellent wine."

Add those initiatives to consumer shows and trade fairs, and Zhang has seen awareness of Yinchuan wines steadily grow, with strong feedback in coastal cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Hangzhou.

Strength in numbers

Lily Zhang of winery Fei Tswei is among the owners seeing clear advantages in YWA's "strength in numbers."

"If you only present one or two or three wineries, maybe customers will find it boring," says Zhang, who signed up for YWA pavilions at ProWine and Tang Jiu Hui, China's huge annual fair in Chengdu.

"But a lot of wineries together is very powerful for giving a broad view of the Helan Mountain area. Also, the fee is cheaper than if you go alone."

Zhang commends the buyers conferences organized by YWA. Last summer's gathering brought 130 dealers to Ningxia for three days of tours, tastings and talks.

YWA also facilitates retail sales with a shop on massive online platform jd.com, allowing consumers to order from multiple producers rather than seek wineries one by one, although Zhang, who makes wine under the label Witch, admits there is a long way to go.

"There have been qualitative leaps in both cultivation practices and wine making quality, and the winemakers' philosophies are also changing," he says. "However, the Chinese wine market is undergoing a tough period."

In other words, YWA is playing a long game.

Shutterstock | Fresh, ambitious and innovative, young Chinese winemakers are beginning to impact the market.

"Young guns"

While YWA has a defined geographical area and detailed strategies, Young Generation China Wine (YGCW) is a free-spirited group.

YGCW unites an eclectic range of producers nationwide, most relatively small, some with neither winery nor vineyard but instead buying grapes and renting equipment, a few also making fruit tree wines, ciders and tea-infused pet-nats.

What they share is uniqueness, says Ian Dai, a driving force behind YGCW and head ofXiao Pu, which makes wine in six Chinese regions.

"New is the only commonality: new varieties, new production areas, new brewing possibilities," says Dai.

YGCW allows members to pool resources and save money while amplifying this collective message.

"The larger the display area at an exhibition, the cheaper the price [per booth], the more the attention from media, wine critics and consumers," he explains.

On the road

YGCW's growing strength was evident at Wine to Asia in Shenzhen in May, with 19 members compared to nine last year, when the group debuted with the moniker "young guns."

Simone Incontro, China manager for Veronafiere, which runs Wine to Asia, ranks YGCW and Living Wine, a pavilion for minimal-intervention producers, as the most vibrant areas.

"The visitors in Shenzhen love new things, and the young winemakers and YGCW are a beautiful spotlight to be discovered," he says. "Something new, something different."

YGCW members were also involved in the Greater Bay Area Wine Week organized by and overlapping Wine to Asia. Pairing trade show tastings with offsite events helps YGCW members win consumer hearts with diverse and intriguing wines.

Last year, members popped up at bars like L'Avenue and The Weeknd, while this year they gathered across the bay first.

"We went to Hong Kong together," says Liao Yuchen, who makes everything from high-altitudeCabernetsto skin-contact Black Muscat for his brand FARMentation.

"I like to do this kind of event as a group, where we meet, talk and drink, as we are all from small teams and busy at different wineries and wine regions."

This is echoed by Jack Zhang of The Cellar Project in Ningxia, who joined YGCW in June at ProWine Beijing while holding his first consumer tastings in the capital, including at wine bar uh-huh.

"I was one of the first members to join," says Zhang. "I appreciate the work ethic and youthful attitude of people in the group."

Notably, YGCW and YWA were the two largest presences at ProWine Beijing, including those of individual countries. And they have continued to be active, with YGCW members turning out en masse at Ningxia's recent annual wine festival.

Long overdue

For China wine reviewer Shuai, the YGCW was long overdue.

"I was always telling young winemakers they should do something like MOVI, the independent winemaker movement inChile," says Shuai, who ended up spending a day tasting with members at Wine to Asia.

"The quality was hit or miss, but it's more interesting, with so many natural wines, so many orange wines, so much diversity. It's a lot of fun," he says.

"It's not only about wine quality. It's also about how you become an open-minded wine taster, an open-minded consumer."

Those elements of fun and consumers are what Incontro finds appealing.

"They can reach a lot of people, a lot of young people, even people that usually don't drink wine," he says. "We believe in this movement, in this community of small but very passionate and focused winemakers."

But that means working with a loosely defined group. As Dai explains, YGCW has no manifesto.

"The members are so diverse that forcing a declaration would dissolve the union," he says. "At this stage, it is more important to have inclusivity."

Whatever works, as they say. Whether the free-spirited approach of YGCW or more traditional one of YWA, these groups are bringing the energy and ambition needed to connect consumers with quality wine.