Viticulture Archives - Dr. Liz Thach, MW

Visiting Silver Heights Winery in Ningxia China with Winemaker Emma Gao

August 31, 2012 - After lunch we boarded the van to drive about ten minutes down narrow dirt roads past poverty stricken shacks to arrive at Silver Heights Winery. Once through the modest gates, we saw a large garden and were greeted by owner, Emma Gao, who had a huge welcoming smile on her face and was followed by her 5-year old daughter’s puppy – a very young and adorable winery dog (see photo). Silver Heights is a true urban winery in the sense that it is located in the city of Yinchuan, even though it’s vineyards are on the [...]

Opening Ceremony of the Ningxia China Wine Festival – Dancing Girls, Conference and Violin Concert

August 30, 2012 - The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the hotel buffet, we took a bus to the opening ceremony of the 1st Helanshan Mountains' East Piedmont Wine Festival. Again our delegation of around eight people was treated like VIPs. We descended from the van to walk on a red carpet and have a flower pinned to our clothes. Multiple photographs snapped many pictures of us as we continued to walk on the red carpet into the large convention center where two lines of more than 100 young women dressed in purple and pink sparkling dresses with [...]