Several years of rising demand has made China one of the world's largest wine markets. This fascination is particularly strong in the country's southern Guangdong province where some locals even attend classes to experience the rich wine culture.
Swirling, smelling, and sampling: Three steps in wine-tasting make up one lesson at a wine course. What was once frowned upon as a bourgeois lifestyle has become a status symbol for China's middle class.
Dario Silva, a wine educator, started his company four years ago, selling Portuguese wine and teaching wine classes to help make Chinese consumers more knowledgeable.
Three years ago, most customers coming to the course were professionals but now the course has attracted a wider type of people, he said, noting the course explains the taste, alcohol content and how long wine can be kept after being opened.
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Local wine importer named AFC has long been tracking consumer trends. It imports wines from two specific countries for its customers.
"We found Chinese consumers prefer Australian wine over French wine. Many say it has a stronger flavor and a price advantage. We import New Zealand's wine because it is clean, organic and sustainable. These two wines are great combinations with Cantonese cuisines," said Louis Wong, China's district deputy general manager for AFC.
China has been the world's largest wine market and it is importing more wine from countries like Australia, Chile and Georgia.
"Half of China's population is between age 20 and 40. If each of them consumes twenty bottles of wine a year, that'd be 100 billion bottles, 10 times how many China imports now," Wong added.
In other words, the market has much more potential. Wong's company bought a chateau in Northland, New Zealand two years ago. Their goal is to develop their own supply chain overseas, bringing the freshest wine directly to Chinese dining tables.
China is already the world's largest market for grape wines and Wong said compared with twenty years ago when the import business first started, the nation has seen exponential growth in the sector. In 2017, China imported wine worth nearly three billion US dollars, an 18 percent increase from the previous year.
(CGTN's Hu Binyi also contributes to this story.)