China's Tonhwa Grape Wine Co., Ltd inked a contract with the King's Court Estate Winery from Canada to purchase a 70 percent stake of the Canadian company with 50 million yuan (US$6.6 million), announced the company on Tuesday.

With about 133 hectares of grape plantation and advanced icewine producing technique from its Canadian counterpart, Tonhwa vows to expand its ice wine market.

"We would provide the Chinese people the first bottle of classic icewine with VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) standard produced by an enterprise acquired overseas," said Wang Xiaoming, general manager of Tonhwa.

Tonhwa Grape Wine Co., Ltd, established in 1937 and based in northeast China's Jilin Province, is the first icewine producer in China. Tonhwa is China's winery at highest latitude. It took the golden prize in the International Wine Challenge (IWC) last year.

Canada is the largest producer of icewine, and the King's Court Estate Winery in Ontario is a supplier of wholesale VQA Canadian wines to other wineries in bulk or bottles worldwide.

(Xinhua News Agency August 29 2007)