As the female winemaker who put Chinese vintages on the map for the first time, Zhang Jing of Helan Qingxue winery is a trailblazer, but no anomaly.
From the dusty vineyards of China's outback to its chic metropolitan bars, women are at the forefront of the country's increasingly vibrant wine scene, spurring innovation at every stage of the production -- and consumption -- process, AFP reprted.
Helan Qingxue sent shockwaves through the industry in 2011 when it produced the first Chinese wine to win top honours at the industry's most prestigious competition, even provoking unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
Over a decade later, Zhang is one of many Chinese women internationally recognised for their boutique, world-class bottles, as the fledgling sector continues to evolve.
"It's a very strong female-dominated industry here," Chinese wine expert Fongyee Walker told AFP.
"I don't think there's been any statistics done. But when I think about a lot of China's most famous wineries, they're run by women."
That's true in Zhang's home region, northern Ningxia, where tens of thousands of hectares of vines have been nestled into the terracotta earth beneath the Helan mountain range over the last few decades.
Aside from Helan Qingxue, many of its best-known producers -- Silver Heights, Kanaan Winery, Jade Vineyard -- are women-led.
"There are more and more excellent female winemakers (worldwide) now," Zhang said as she showed AFP around the winery's cool, dim cellar.
"But it's very interesting in Ningxia... Female owners and winemakers, female marketing staff and female receptionists probably make up more than 60 percent (of the workforce), so this proportion is quite large."