Known worldwide for its beer, the breezy coastal city of Qingdao in China's eastern Shandong Province traded hops for grapes over the weekend as it welcomed some 5,000 wine lovers to its fifth annual German Wine Festival.

Chinese people are not traditionally wine drinkers and German wines don't feature on people's radars here as much as French, Italian or Australian ones.

But this did not stop Fritz Emrich, an importer of German and Austrian wines, from launching the festival four years ago.

A self-described wine lover who likes to joke that as a kid he was already given a "spritz" of wine in his water, Emrich hails from Germany's southwestern Rheinland-Pfalz region where wine festivals are a local tradition, so he decided to import this custom to his new home in China.

The irony is that Qingdao is best known as a beer city: it is home to Tsingtao beer, possibly the most famous Chinese beer worldwide, with a Beer Festival that rivals Munich's Oktoberfest with some six million visitors every year.

Yet, Qingdao was a natural fit for the event.

"Shandong Province is China's main wine region: (the Chinese wineries) Great Wall, Changyu, etc… are all here. So there is a wine culture," David Kempf, director and co-founder of the festival, told CGTN. "In a way, this place was predestined to have a wine festival."

Young and trendy

Although not quite at a level seen in Europe, Australia or the U.S., wine has enjoyed a growing following in China in recent years.

"Chinese people travel a lot and they drink more and more (wine), it's become a trendy drink," according to Emrich.

Several of those attending a wine tasting session at the festival were clearly knowledgeable drinkers.

But there is a generational gap, with wine especially popular among young people, whereas older Chinese still reach for their baijiu, a traditional grain liquor with an alcohol content of up to 55 percent.

Allen Gao, a wine educator who hosted the tasting session in Qingdao, recalled with a laugh once offering his father a glass of prized Chateau Lafite. "He said 'ah, good wine' and then went back to drinking his baijiu. So it's not about quality, it's also preference."

A healthier alternative?

Perhaps surprisingly for European or American drinkers who are regularly warned to limit their alcohol intake, Chinese visitors at the festival told CGTN they liked wine because it was healthy.

"It's good for your health, it's easy to drink and you don't get as drunk," noted Odessa Xun, a long-time wine lover and regular attendee at the Wine Festival.

"Many believe it's good for your skin or your brain," noted Gao. "Chinese thinking is very interested in food so health is important."

Riesling + spicy food

Germany can score points in offering white wine, whereas France, Italy or Chile are better known for reds. Riesling is now a recognizable name. Among the wine tasters, the sweeter Gewuerztraminer was also a big hit.

"German wines are better than their image, they're really underrated," said Xun.

White wine also pairs well with Chinese food, especially spicy dishes, noted German winemaker Philip Lucas, one of the guests at this year's festival. His family owns the Lucashof winery south of Frankfurt and also exports to China.

"I'm a huge fan of Riesling with spicy food... Riesling is a bit acidic, a bit sweet and that combined with spiciness: they really go well together," he said.

The label "Made in Germany" – seen in China as a sign of good quality – doesn't hurt either.

"It's an advantage," noted Zou Bing, China representative for Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany's top wine-making region, with some 10,000 wineries producing up to 650 million liters of wine per year. Whether it is cars or wine, there is always strong interest here for products that come from Germany, she said.

A growing market

There is still a preconception that expensive wine is better. In a Chinese wine shop, it is not uncommon to see a customer reach for the priciest bottle when buying a gift. And Chinese drinkers still favor "big, bold, heavy wines" – mostly reds from Chile, Spain and Australia – according to Gao.

But events like the Wine Festival are "a good way for people to discover wine," noted Kempf.

"You also have to educate people that wines like these exist," added Zou. "We see it any time we offer German wines to Chinese clients, they like them. Previously, they didn't know about them."

Already German wine imports to China are increasing and more and more importers are showing interest, she said.

"Previously, I had to push distributors (to buy German wine), now they buy them of their own accord in large quantities," noted Emrich, whose business brings in about 50,000 bottles per year.

Whereas a few years ago, wine tasting sessions in China still used plastic cups, they have now become more professional, said Lucas, who sees it also as his job to spread wine culture abroad.

"People are increasingly aware and knowledgeable. It's still a niche (market) but in China a niche is already a lot," he noted.

"It's a good market for the future."