DODOMA, June 27 (Xinhua) -- In a 1.5-hectare vineyard 39 kilometers north of the Tanzanian capital of Dodoma, William Swai is checking the grapes under the dazzling sun.
By mid-July, the grapes will be fully ripe and will be picked to make delicious wine, the 67-year-old grape farmer told Xinhua in a recent interview.
"The opening of international markets, including the Chinese market, to locally made wines will boost the production of the country's wineries," he said.
Tanzania, despite not having an international reputation as a wine producer, is home to the second-largest wine-producing region in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa.
The most common grape varietals in the Dodoma wine region, where the Tanzanian wine industry is entirely based, are Chenin Blanc, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and a variety named for a Dodoma sub-region, Makutupora.
Initially, grape growing and wine production were limited to missionaries, but in 1969 the Tanzanian government entered the market with the formation of the Dodoma Wine Company.
Archard Kato, managing director of Alko Vintages Company Limited, a Tanzanian company that makes several brands of wine, told Xinhua that his company does not grow grapes of its own, but it gets grapes from 15 organized grape farming groups that supply the company good quality grapes.
"We supervise their production. We pay for experts from South Africa and Italy to help the farmers to produce good quality grapes and good management of the vineyards," he said.
Kato said grapes used by his company to produce wine are of high quality because of the unique climate, adding that the weather is favorable for the production of grapes.
Franklin Rutayungulwa, production manager of Alko Vintages Company Limited, said he believed that the grape industry in Tanzania will be massive in the next four to five years because the government has identified grapes as one of its strategic crops.
"This will attract more investors to come and engage in grape farming and others in wine production," said Rutayungulwa, adding that in South Africa, there are hundreds of wineries but in Tanzania, there are only a few wineries.
Four years ago, the Tanzanian company began working with Weihai Huatan Supply Chain Management Company Limited to export wine to China. The Chinese company mainly undertakes international trade, agricultural development, overseas construction, industrial investment, etc.
Wang Xiangyu, director general of Weihai Huatan Supply Chain Management Company Limited, said the company started to import Tanzanian wine in 2018 and became the exclusive import agent of Tanzanian wine, with a cumulative import quantity of over 30,000 cases.
Wang said by introducing Tanzanian wine to the Chinese market, Chinese consumers will have a wider and richer choice of wine varieties, allowing goods from Africa to appear on the tables of more and more Chinese consumers.
Some wine brands produced by Alko will be displayed at the third edition of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo slated for June 29 to July 2 in Changsha, the capital of central China's Hunan Province.
"The fair will be an opportunity for us to have our wines showcased on an international level, and our company is looking forward to more sales to China," said Kato.
