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  • Category: Culture

The 47th World Congress of Vine and Wine, alongside the 24th General Assembly of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), opened on October 12, 2026, in Yinchuan, the capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. This marks the first time in the congress's history—dating back to its launch in 1924—that the event has been hosted in Asia.

A Historic First for Asia

The five-day congress, running from October 12 to 16, has drawn more than 800 participants, including delegates from 51 OIV member states, diplomatic envoys from 32 countries, representatives from 47 countries and international organizations, and leading experts and scholars in the wine sector. China officially joined the OIV in 2025 as its 51st member state, becoming the first country to join the organization in its second century.

Theme and Agenda

Under the theme "Building a New Landscape for the Global Vine and Wine Industry," the congress focuses on industrial transformation, innovation, and sustainable development. The program features five main components: the opening ceremony, a seminar on the high-quality development of the Chinese vine and wine industry, a sci-tech sub-session, industry visits, and the OIV General Assembly and closing ceremony.

More than 400 academic papers from 35 countries are being showcased at the sci-tech sub-session, introducing cutting-edge global wine technologies and helping drive the transformation and upgrading of China's vine and wine industry. Experts from around the world are presenting the latest scientific findings on viticulture, winemaking, economics and law, and safety and health.

The congress is held alongside the 6th China (Ningxia) International Wine Culture and Tourism Expo, which has attracted 84 world-renowned wineries and enterprises from distinctive production areas in 16 countries, as well as 146 leading domestic wineries from Ningxia and other core production areas in China.

Ningxia: China's Premier Wine Region

The choice of Ningxia as the host reflects the region's rapid rise in the global wine industry. The eastern foot of Helan Mountain in Ningxia has become China's largest contiguous wine grape production area, with 607,000 mu (approximately 40,467 hectares) dedicated to wine grape cultivation and development, accounting for nearly 42 percent of China's total planting area.

Ningxia is home to 261 wine enterprises, including 130 wineries, producing 140 million bottles of wine annually. The region's wine industry has also become a driver of tourism, with wineries receiving more than 3.7 million tourist visits each year and generating combined benefits of over 50 billion yuan (approximately 7.4 billion U.S. dollars).

Yvette van der Merwe, president of the OIV, hailed China's important role and its growing contribution to the international vine and wine industry, highlighting Ningxia's significant development as a wine-producing region. She noted that Ningxia's experience—such as viticulture in specific environments, investment in technology and knowledge, and a vision to create a well-known wine culture and tourism brand—offers important opportunities for international exchange and mutual learning.

The Helan Mountain Initiative

At the opening ceremony, the Helan Mountain Eastern Foothills Wine Region released the "Helan Mountain Initiative" to the world's wine-producing regions. The initiative calls for deepening multilateral coordination, advancing eco-friendly cultivation, boosting innovation, refining standard governance, upholding safety thresholds, and unleashing market momentum. It urges global wine regions to work together to address common challenges and promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the global vine and wine industry.

John Barker, director-general of the OIV, described the congress as marking a new chapter in cooperation between China and the global vine and wine industry. He noted that across OIV member states, the industry is deeply affected by climate change, economic pressures, changing consumption patterns, geopolitical and trade uncertainties, and the rapid development of digital technologies, and that a multilateral collaboration-based development path is needed more than ever.