On Sept 3, the 2016 World Desert Wine Festival alongside the 22nd National Wine Academic Seminar was held at Wuhai’s Contemporary Chinese Calligraphy Art Gallery, Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Officials from Vinalies Internationales taste grapes produced in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia, on Sept 3. [Photo/Xinhua]

The wine festival was sponsored by the Grape Society of China Agricultural Association, Inner Mongolia’s Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the Wuhai government, and Xinhua News Agency.

Thousands of officials, wine tasters, experts, entrepreneurs, and citizens from China and abroad attended the opening ceremony and began to enjoy the grapes and wine.

Inner Mongolia’s land located between 37 and 40 degrees north latitude is favorable for cultivating grapes, with mild climate and fertile soil. The acreage of grapes grown in the region has been rapidly increasing in recent years. During the festival, the area’s grape cultivation and wine industry was looking to promote itself through worldwide academic discussion and trade cooperation, according to Wang Yuming, vice-president of the region.

Apart from the wine forum, the festival events included the World Desert Wine Contest, the establishment ceremony of the World Desert Wine Union and the Wine Development Forum in Desert Areas.

The festival ends on Sept 5, on which day domestic and foreign guests are going to visit the vineyards in Wuhai.

A foreign guest samples a glass of wine in the exhibition area on Sept 3. [Photo/Xinhua]

As China’s “grape city”, Wuhai has nearly 32,000 mu (2,133 hectares) of grapes, an annual yield hitting 10,000 tons, which ranks as the largest grape-producing city in Inner Mongolia.

Moreover, Wuhai is home to four wine-processing companies, with a yearly yield of around 11,000 tons, bringing in annual income of 200 million yuan ($30 million).

Along with the domestic market, barrels of wine have been exported to foreign countries, including the United States, Germany, Denmark, and many others.

Thanks to the festival, Wuhai, China’s desert wine city, intends to build its international brand for the grapes and wine industries.