Ningxia Winemakers Challenge II: Featuring up to 60 foreign winemakers, USD135,000 in prizes

Note: As in 2012, I am working with the organizers of NWC to help spread word about this project to foreign winemakers and media outlets.

A new two-year Ningxia Winemakers Challenge slated for this September will involve up to sixty participants and a prize pool of RMB840,000 (EUR120,000 / USD135,000), a steep increase on the seven foreign winemakers and RMB190,000 that were part of the inaugural project from 2012 to 2014.

The application period for NWC opened one week ago and people hailing from more than a dozen countries have already signed up. The deadline is July 17, with the successful applicants to be announced around a week after that. Click here for full details on the project as well as a link to the application form.

NWC is being organized by the International Federation of Vine and Wine of Helan Mountain’s East Foothill, with support from the Ningxia Grape Industry Development Bureau.

Up to sixty successful applicants will gather in Ningxia on September 20 for the project launch. They will stay for at least 15 days to pick their grapes and get their wine started, with return visits also in the cards. All transportation costs as well as accommodation and meals in Yinchuan, the regional capital, will be covered.

The wines will be judged in 2017, with the top 10 percent each getting a gold medal and RMB100,000 in cash, and the next 20 percent each getting a silver medal and RMB20,000. The organizers are also planning to give each winemaker about 2,000 bottles of the wine he or she makes. Again, full details here.

The inaugural Ningxia Winemakers Challenge involved participants from seven countries, including (clockwise, from back left, in the photo below) Carl van der Merwe of South Africa, Eleni Papadakis of The United States, David Tyney of Australia, Jose Hernandez Gonzales of Spain, Patricia Miranda of Chile / New Zealand, Benoit Beigner of France and Penny Jones of Australia

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