For the first time, Chinese wine has been recognized at the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC), which in industry circles is known as the Oscars for wine.

China has more vineyards than France, but its wine is relatively unknown outside the country. So it was a great fillip when a dedicated Chinese wine trophy was included in the world's most prestigious competition for the beverage. 

It was awarded in mid-November to Chateau Changyu Golden Icewine Valley in Liaoning Province in northeast China.

"We have welcomed Chinese winery into the competition," said Richard Stoppard, European chief operating officer of IWSC group. "This year, for example, we have seen over 300 percent growth in entries from Chinese wines, making it a significant player within the completion itself. It is important for us to recognize that the increase in quality of Chinese wine with the trophy and with the correct level of recognition."

Chinese commercial wine production began in 1892 when a Chinese diplomat started a winery in the city of Yantai. Today, grapes are harvested from the remote part of the Gobi desert in Ningxia to the hilly peninsula of Shandong. This vast area boasts hundreds of wineries, making it the second-largest collection of vineyards outside of Spain. However, despite the abundance of vines to tend, China still produces less wine than more popular bottling countries like Italy or France. 

"China is as big as America, as big as Australia," said Austrian winemaker Lenz Moser, a consultant to Chinese wine producer Changyu. "It has all the different time zones. For ice wine, Liaoning is the perfect region and Ningxia makes fantastic white wines as red wine Shandong does. So that’s all secured."

Interest in Chinese wine overseas is also growing. Beijing-based Great Wall owns brands in Chile and France, while Changyu sells wine in several European counties. For instance, bottles of red and white are starting to appear in restaurants, hotels and supermarkets in Britain.

"It is something of a high quality product. Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and other major multiple supermarkets are now selling Chinese wine," said IWSC group general manager Adam Lechmere. "So it is not a surprising thing for people to see Chinese wine and at the same time, the quality is shooting up, getting better and better."

 Song Jing, managing director of Crown Range Cellar, added, "China has made wine for the last decades, but not many people in the western world know China is actually making good wine. This is a great opportunity to showcase Chinese wine and a great opportunity to be judged by the most prestigious wine competition in the world."

It's still early days for Chinese wine on the world market.  But it is surely bound to get better with age.