More than 9,000 bottles of wine from the Grampians region are being shipped to China for the first time today.

Last year, a delegation from the Ararat Rural City Council went to China to find out if there was a market for the region's wine.

Since then, 30 winemakers have joined forces to make a special drop for the Chinese market called Ararat Gold.

The shire's chief executive, Steve Chapple, says another new delegation will head to China today to oversee the delivery.

"We're also going to be visiting a couple of other new friendship cities, including a place called Ji'an with about 4.5 million people, so we'll be taking some of the product there as well to test that with their restaurateurs and government officials," he said.

"We're also then going go the largest world fair in a place called Yiwu."