The grape names – merlot, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay – are distinctly French, but the label on the Rift Valley wines is surprising: made in Ethiopia. The French beverage giant Castel, one of the world's biggest producers of wines and beers, is raising a glass to its first production of 1.2m bottles of Ethiopian Rift Valley wine. The African state's former president Meles Zenawi, who died in 2012, encouraged Castel to develop vineyards in Ethiopia, one of Africa's poorest countries, as a way of improving its image. Half of the bottles are destined for domestic consumption and half for export to countries where the Ethiopian diaspora have settled, though 26,000 have already been snapped up by a Chinese buyer. Although Castel does not expect its Ethiopian wine business to make a profit until 2016, it hopes to more than double production to 3m bottles a year. Though Ethiopia is better known for its production of another drink, coffee, Castel says the African country has the potential to rival the continent's main wine producer, South Africa.

"It's not that difficult because the climate is good and it's not too hot," Castel's Ethiopia site manager, Olivier Spillebout, told Agence France-Presse. "Exports are small now, but year after year they will grow." The company has produced a better quality wine called Rift Valley, selling in Ethiopia for the equivalent of €7 (£5.50) and a grape-mix wine called Acacia, retailing at the equivalent of €5. It is not the first wine to be commercially produced in Ethiopia. Vineyards established near Addis Ababa and in the south-east by Italian troops who occupied part of the country from 1936 to 1941 were later nationalised, then privatised, and are now run by Awash Winery, which boasts the Live Aid founder Bob Geldof as a director. Wine experts say parts of Ethiopia's diverse landscape, which includes high plateaux and verdant valleys as well as six climatic zones, are perfect for grape growing. Pierre Castel, the billionaire founder of the family-run group, could see the potential in the sandy Ethiopian soil, the short rainy season, cheap land and equally cheap and abundant labour for wine production.

The Castel company had been producing beer in Ethiopia since 1998 after buying the state-owned brewery called St-Georges. After striking a deal with the Ethiopian government in 2007, Castel immediately dispatched the company's best French experts who spent seven months looking for areas for the vineyards. They finally chose a site 100 miles (160km) to the south of the capital, near the town of Ziway, where 750,000 vines, brought from Bordeaux, were planted over 125 hectares by 750 local workers. Merlot, syrah and cabernet sauvignon grapes were chosen for the reds that make up 90% of Castel's Rift Valley production, and chardonnay grapes for the white wines. A member of the Castel team, who did not want to be named, told the Guardian the aim of the company's "considerable investment" in the Ethiopian vineyards was to produce a wine of international quality. While there had been several grape harvests since 2007, this was the first time the company had bottled the wine produced.

"We have used the same savoir faire we used on our French vineyards and as we do on those in Morocco and Tunisia, to produce this Ethiopian wine," he said. best cheap wine in pa"Our objective is to produce a wine worthy of international standards so we preferred to have multiple trials before engaging in the process of commercialising the wine."best wine bottle cooler He said the wine produced was "aromatic and fruity", with a pleasant, middle-of-the-road taste.best wine of singapore A delighted Ahmed Abtew, the Ethiopian industry minister, said in a recent interview: "People who live outside Ethiopia remember the drought a decade ago, but when they see a wine labelled 'Made in Ethiopia' … oh, their whole attitude immediately changes."best wine and beer offers

While French winemakers lament their vines being devastated by disease and a series of catastrophic hailstorms, growing grapes in the Horn of Africa is not without its hazards.where to buy wine kits Castel's Ethiopian vineyards are surrounded by a two-metre-wide trench to deter pythons, hippopotamuses and hyenas.best wine bars near green parkThe four largest wine-producing countries are France, Italy, Spain and the United States. As of August 2015, China is ranked fifth worldwide; however, very little of China's wine production is exported. Other major wine-producing countries include Chile, Argentina and Australia. Winemaking dates back nearly to the beginning of human history, and wine production in Europe dates back prior to the rise of the Roman Empire. Commercial production and distribution of wine in Europe began to boom in the 15th century.

France and Italy have swapped the number one producer spot back and forth for hundreds of years. The U.S. has only become a major producer of wine within the last century, but it has been the fastest growing producer worldwide within that time frame. While vineyards can thrive under a variety of conditions, they do best in temperate climates such as those common to the top four wine-producing countries. Wine is a valuable collectible and often recommended as an investment. France produces between 7 and 8 billion bottles of wine annually, accounting for approximately 20% of total wine production worldwide. While it may not win the number one spot every year, France is the single country most noted for wine production, and virtually all of the world's most-coveted wines are produced there. France is home to many vineyards owned by the Rothschild family, a name considered synonymous with good wine. The single most-expensive bottle of wine ever sold at auction was from the Bordeaux region of France.

France is the source of many of the basic grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, that are recognized worldwide. Many of the vineyards in the U.S., Chile and Argentina were begun with transplanted and grafted grapevines from France. Wine is grown throughout France, with the Loire Valley and Rhone being major production areas. Italy, which produces 6 to 7 billion bottles of wine annually, is home to some of the most well-known and highly favored wine-growing regions in Europe. As with France, wine is produced throughout the country in over a million separate vineyards. Winemaking during the height of the Roman Empire pioneered a number of mass production, transportation and storage techniques for the wine industry, including barrel making. Designations of popular Italian wines include Classico, which indicates production in the oldest established vineyards in a territory, and Riserva, which certifies a wine has been aged an ideal amount of time appropriate to the wine variety.

Two of most prestigious areas of wine production in Italy are the Tuscany and Lombardy regions. Spain produces about 5 billion bottles of wine annually and is actually home to the largest number of vineyards of any European country. However, its vineyards are more spread out and produce smaller yields than vineyards in France or Italy due to the drier soil common in many wine-growing regions of Spain. Although more than 400 varieties of grapes are grown in Spain, just 20 of those account for nearly 90% of all Spanish wine production. Major areas of wine production in Spain include the regions of Valdepena, Rioja, Ribera del Duero and Jerez, the main region for production of the fortified variety of wine designated as Sherry. Spain is the sole official producer of Sherry in the world. The U.S. ranks first in wine consumption, with annual wine revenues topping $35 billion, even though its production level is barely half that of France, approximately 3 billion bottles annually. Wine production had almost completely ceased in the U.S. during Prohibition, and it was not until the 1970s that the U.S. began to become a major wine producer.