Yantai international wine city
Updated : 2015-03-13
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Yantai people will extend their warm welcome to visitors with “Changyu”, the best wine produced in Yantai. The refined wine and its rich aroma has attracted more and more visitors to the city.
In 1892, the first industrialized winery in China, Changyu Pioneer Wine Co, was established in Yantai. After 120 years of development, the wine industry in Yantai has taken the lead in China’s wine industry. In 1987, Yantai was named the “International Vine and Wine City” by the International Office of Vine and Wine (OIV), becoming the only city in China or Asia to win this honor.
“As the birthplace of the modern wine industry in China, Yantai should build its brand as an ‘International Vine and Wine City', making itself a world-renowned wine production and trade center,” said Meng Fanli, mayor of Yantai city.
According to Yi Fenghuang, head of the China Yantai Vine and Wine Office, Yantai has formed a comprehensive industrial chain that includes grape growing, wine making, trade and wine culture tourism. Last year, grape planting area in Yantai amounted to 310,000 mu (20,666.67 hectares), and the number of wineries reached 153. The wine output was 360,200 tons, accounting for one-third of the country’s total.
Six of the top 10 domestic wine enterprises are from Yantai, including Changyu, Greatwall and Great Dragon.
“Yantai’s wine production accounts for only one-third of the country’s total but local profit takes up more than 60 percent of China'stotal, which shows Yantai’s strong influence over the domestic wine market,” said Yi Fenghuang.
Located on the same latitude as Bordeaux and blessed with perfect climate and soil conditions for planting top-quality wine grapes, Yantai is now one of the world's seven major grape coasts, attracting investment from many world-class wineries. Well-known wine brands from France, the UK, the US and Australia have settled down in Yantai.
A roughly 100-km long coast valley, stretching from Muping to Laizhou, has attracted 20 chateaus to settle, including Chateau Changyu Castel, Chateau Junding and Chateau Scotland. The valley has become a highlight of Yantai. Now Yantai is speeding up the construction of chateaus clusters in Laishan and chateaus industrial belts in Penglai. The number of chateaus in Yantai is expected to exceed 40 by the end of 2015.
The city is now committed to improving viticulture and wine making techniques. The Yantai Academy of Agricultural Sciences has set up the Wine Grape and Wine Research Institute and the Shandong Engineering Laboratory for Wine Grape Varieties. The Changyu International Wine R&D Center is also under construction.
According to local wine development plan, by 2015, there will be another 500,000-mu wine grape facility, whose wine output will reach 500,000 kl. Sales revenue will reach 40 billion yuan, and 20 famous wine brands and 20 distinctive wine chateaus will be built, turning Yantai into a famous coastal production area for top-quality wine and local wine into a renowned brand in China and abroad.
Yantai will focus on building wine product clusters and developing high-end dry red and white wines, ice wines and brandies during 2011-2015. Efforts will be made to extend the wine industrial chains and build a national grape and wine technology R&D center, a grape growing and seedling cultivation center, a wine making and processing center, a wine trade and circulation center, and a culture expo and a tourism center.
Yantai has held wine expo for six consecutive years, which has helped lift Yantai’s profile around the world. The expo has become a communication platform for grape planting and wine making, as well as global wine trade.
The Changyu International Wine R&D Center under construction is expected to be an advanced R&D center and production base that integrates wine R&D, manufacturing, eco-tourism and culture expo. Meanwhile, the ongoing trade and exposition center of local international wine city will be the biggest domestic wine distribution center, which will introduce more than 300 brand wines. The center will integrate exposition, trade, communication, tourism and shopping.
Wine tourism in Yantai has become a new craze as more and more tourists are attracted by the wine culture. The century-old underground wine cellar of Changyu, the wine culture museum and Chateau Changyu Castel have attracted over 1 million tourists every year.
Yantai will accelerate the development of a specialized wine industrial system that includes a culture plaza, a shopping zone and a culture expo center to boost local wine tourism and other relevant industries.