China looks north to sate its ice wine demand

Heilongjiang, the northernmost province along China’s rust belt, has been tipped to become China’s high altitude ice wine production base, the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has announced.

The country is already the biggest export market for Canada’s ice wine, with over US$6.5 million worth of ice wine (157,879 litres) exported in 2016, according to Canadian Vintners Association. And now it’s rallying domestic resources to increase its own ice wine production in northern China to meet consumer’s growing demand for the sweet wine.

Bordering Russia, the rust-belt province’s main ice wine production region is located in Dongning city, with about 5,000 mu (333 ha) of vineyards. The city….