Moet to make 'Champagne' in China

[Geee]

UK Telegraph:

For centuries, the impoverished farmers of Ningxia have grown watermelons and berries on the fertile flood plains of the Yellow river.
But now they are switching to grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes after Moet Hennessy, the makers of Dom Perignon and Krug, signed a deal to create China’s first-ever “Champagne”.

The world’s best-known Champagne brand will plant 163 acres of vines in Ningxia, which lies just south of the Mongolian steppe and the Gobi desert and whose population is one-third Muslim. The tiny region is China’s third-poorest and its farmers earn less than £2,000 a year.

[AceRimmer]

Only wines from the eponymous region of France can be labelled Champagne, but Moet’s experts said the soil and climate of Ningxia closely match the terroir of Rheims, even if the placid waters of the Marne have been swapped for the muddy and often turbulent Yellow river.

 

I think I'll buy some flooded land next to the Mississippi River and open my own vineyard. September 12 was a very good year....