Ningxia

What Ningxia teaches: the frontier

China makes serious wine now, and Ningxia is where. On the dry, high slopes between the Helan Mountains and the Yellow River, winters are so brutal that every vine is buried by hand each autumn and dug out each spring. Ningxia teaches the frontier: what a wine region looks like while it's still being invented.

The wines

Cabernet Sauvignon blends with polish that has surprised blind-tasting panels since 2011, when Jiabeilan's 2009 took a Decanter international trophy. Marselan, a Cabernet-Grenache cross, is emerging as China's signature grape.

Where to go

Silver Heights, run by Bordeaux-trained Emma Gao, put Ningxia's boutique scene on the map. Helan Qingxue is the Decanter-winning pioneer. Chandon's Ningxia outpost shows the international money has arrived. Arrange visits ahead through hotels or guides in Yinchuan. Cellar-door culture is young here, which is rather the point.

Eat

Yinchuan is lamb country: hand-pulled noodles, cumin-crusted skewers, and Hui Muslim cuisine that pairs with Cabernet better than anyone expects.

Getting there

Fly into Yinchuan from Beijing or Shanghai (about two hours). Go between May and October. Outside those months the vines are underground.