3 days / 2 nights
Start & End in: Yinchuan (INC)
From $1,150 USD per person
Wine Taste Through China's Wine Region of Ningxia
The Essentials:
Discover China’s premier wine destination as we spend 2 days wine tasting our way through the northwest region of Ningxia. From exploring the area’s sprawling boutique vineyards situated against a rugged mountain backdrop, to enjoying copious amounts of lamb, beef, and noodles famous in the area, get ready for a delicious wine-filled adventure!
Price
Join-in trips start at $1,150 USD per person, which may increase slightly due to seasonality. You can browse the calendar for each trip’s specific price. A $300 USD per person deposit is required to reserve your spot. Click here for more pricing details.
Group Size
Small groups of 4-10, or contact us to ask about a private trip
Accommodations
Two nights at the Wanda Realm located in central Yinchuan (or similar).
Inclusions
- Wine Tasting at 7 Wineries
- 2 Nights Accommodations
- All Meals
- 1 Day Accompanied by Wine Sommelier
- Transportation, Including to/from INC
- English Speaking Lost Plate Trip Leader
- China Travel Guide PDF
- Online Pre-trip Briefing & Q&A Session
Highlights
- 2 Full Days of Wine Tasting
- Try Over 30 of Ningxia's Finest Wines
- Meet the Winemakers at Selected Wineries
- Private Tours of Boutique Wineries
Quick Links:
Day to Day Itinerary:
This itinerary is subject to changes and adjustments based on seasonality and local operations.
Yinchuan
Arrival & Check-In: Airport pick-up is available from INC airport. Flight arrivals should be at or before 3pm. If you arrive early, the nearby Ningxia Museum is a great way to spend the afternoon.
Dinner: Kick things off with a feast: roast lamb with wines featuring one of our favorite winemakers in the region.
Driving: Approx. 45 mins from the airport to the city center.
Wine Tasting
Silver Heights: Perhaps the most well-known Chinese wines internationally, Silver Heights is owned by Bordeaux-graduated Emma Gao who is known as a pioneer of Chinese fine wine. Receiving international acclaim and awards, Emma is the 2nd generation of this family business which started in 1997 when her father started cultivating grapes here.
Lunch: Enjoy a selection of home-style dishes including wild veggies and stew.
Mountain Wave: Ran by a couple who studied winemaking overseas, they took a big bet by planting “less popular” grape varieties when they started in 2015 (Malbec, Marselan, and Pinot Noir). Come find out how their bet has paid off.
Domaine Charme: This architect-owned winery was built at the foot of a mountain peak shaped like a Buddha’s face. Everything here was built with a purpose – from their “pyramid of Charme” which faces the meridian and brings “pyramid energy” to communicate with heaven and earth – to their wine cellar designed with natural ventilation and air flow. But their wine, made with organic cultivation and natural gravity brewing, is really something special too.
Pu Shang: This small boutique winery is the type of place you dream of stumbling upon. The winemaker is so passionate about making wine, he’s too focused on that to open to the public. But his small-batch, high-end wine is truly something special (especially his Marselan, which has consistently received gold and silver awards at the Decanter World Wine Awards every year) and he’ll let us in for a private tasting.
Dinner: Tonight we’ll enjoy another local specialty – lamb hotpot prepared with a special soup made of local herbs and red wine!
Driving: About 45 minutes each way to/from our hotel and the wine region, with short drives between each destination.
Wine Tasting & Departure
Sweet Dew: The spirited owner of this winery is Ningxia’s only millennial winemaker. He also manages the vineyard, designs the wine bottles, and personally packages and ships everything. Come see this passion project first-hand, where skill and humility shine through each bottle.
Xige Estate Wine Tasting & Lunch: As the largest producer of quality wines in the region, Xige Estate is impressive down to every detail. Sitting on 1,300 hectares of land, they boast a wide range of varietals including Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, and Sauvignon Blanc. Not only will we tour their facilities and try their wines, we’ll also enjoy lunch at their in-house organic restaurant.
Stone & Moon: This passionate team is managed by their French winemaker, who has experience making wine in most of the world’s primary wine regions. With their first vintage only in 2021, it’s already become a guest favorite.
Airport Drop-off: Will be provided to INC airport. Flight departures should be at or after 7pm.
Driving: Today’s wine region is a bit further, so you can expect a 1 hour drive to our first winery and 30 minute drives between each one thereafter, then a 1.5 hour drive to the airport.
Must-See Tour Highlights:
As China’s premier wine region, Ningxia has over 200 wineries (and counting). We’ve personally selected 7 of our favorite wineries, where all wine tasting is included, to visit during this trip. Most of these wineries belong in the boutique category, with winemakers passionate about their craft and too busy to open to the public. We’ll meet these winemakers, explore their vineyards, and taste their wines – making this trip an exclusive experience that you simply can’t do on your own.
One of five autonomous regions in China, Ningxia is home to the Hui (Muslim) minority group. This sparsely settled, mostly desert region is bordered by the Helen mountain range, sheilding the area against the harsh winds and temperatures from the Tengger desert to create prime grape-growing conditions. This unique ecosystem is one of the least studied regions in the world and has historically been one of the poorest regions in China. To this day, most of the vineyard operations are carried out by hand, including burying the vines in winter to protect them from the brutal Siberian cold that lasts from November to March.
Wanda Realm Yinchuan
Accommodations may change based on group size and availability. If so, an equivalent will be used.
- Join-in trips require a minimum of 4 people to operate. You should only purchase your transportation to/from Ningxia after you receive a tour confirmation notice. Private tours (for an additional fee) are always an option if your join-in trip does not hit the minimum amount of people.
- A deposit of $300 USD per person is required to secure your spot. This deposit is non-refundable for any reason unless the trip is cancelled by Lost Plate due to the minimum group size not being met.
- Solo travelers not sharing a room will incur a single occupancy fee of $176 USD. See more details in our FAQ below.
- Payment of your remaining balance will be collected 14 days before the trip starts.
- If you need to cancel, the amount you have already paid cannot be refunded. This is because spots on each trip is limited, and because we arrange accommodations when you reserve your spot. You are able to transfer your spot to someone else.
- Payments can be made by credit card, WeChat, or Alipay.
As China’s premier wine region, Ningxia has over 200 wineries (and counting). We’ve personally selected 7 of our favorite wineries, where all wine tasting is included, to visit during this trip. Most of these wineries belong in the boutique category, with winemakers passionate about their craft and too busy to open to the public. We’ll meet these winemakers, explore their vineyards, and taste their wines – making this trip an exclusive experience that you simply can’t do on your own.
One of five autonomous regions in China, Ningxia is home to the Hui (Muslim) minority group. This sparsely settled, mostly desert region is bordered by the Helen mountain range, sheilding the area against the harsh winds and temperatures from the Tengger desert to create prime grape-growing conditions. This unique ecosystem is one of the least studied regions in the world and has historically been one of the poorest regions in China. To this day, most of the vineyard operations are carried out by hand, including burying the vines in winter to protect them from the brutal Siberian cold that lasts from November to March.
Wanda Realm Yinchuan
Accommodations may change based on group size and availability. If so, an equivalent will be used.
- Join-in trips require a minimum of 4 people to operate. You should only purchase your transportation to/from Ningxia after you receive a tour confirmation notice. Private tours (for an additional fee) are always an option if your join-in trip does not hit the minimum amount of people.
- A deposit of $300 USD per person is required to secure your spot. This deposit is non-refundable for any reason unless the trip is cancelled by Lost Plate due to the minimum group size not being met.
- Solo travelers not sharing a room will incur a single occupancy fee of $176 USD. See more details in our FAQ below.
- Payment of your remaining balance will be collected 14 days before the trip starts.
- If you need to cancel, the amount you have already paid cannot be refunded. This is because spots on each trip is limited, and because we arrange accommodations when you reserve your spot. You are able to transfer your spot to someone else.
- Payments can be made by credit card, WeChat, or Alipay.
