Sommelier on a mission

Julia Zhu, one of China's first female sommeliers, samples a bottle of  wine at a weekly wine club at Hilton Beijing's restaurant One East.  [China Daily/ Guan Xin]

"I wanted to learn something about the culture of the Western world," said Zhu, 28. "This was kind of a bridge or channel."

Now Zhu, one of the country's first female sommeliers, is back in China, working to bridge the wine culture of the West with the culinary culture of the East.

"I wanted to come back to work on promoting China's wine culture," she said. "China needs people to promote it and to educate people that it is quite enjoyable if you have the right wine to go with food."

Zhu leads a weekly wine club at Hilton Beijing's restaurant One East where she works as a sommelier. On Saturdays she has a special segment on China National Radio on wine appreciation. She also holds special classes to educate Chinese on viticulture.

While two decades ago, wine consumption in China was near zero, the value of the country's vino market has more than doubled over the past five years to become one of the 10 largest wine consumption markets in the world, according to food distribution firm Golden Dragon Holdings.

Imported brands have witnessed double-digit growth rates as wealthy younger generations living in major cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, acculturate their tastes to Western styles of eating and drinking, Golden Dragon reports.

Especially popular among young Chinese are new worlds from South America and California, said Zhu. Many in the country's growing class of super wealthy prefer to drink expensive vintages from France, she said.

China's domestic wine industry is also prospering. There are now 600 wine enterprises in the country, according to Xinhua.

Many of the country's wineries have operations around Beijing where grape growing flourishes due to the region's warm, arid climate.

Zhu divides her time educating Chinese on imported new and old world wines and foreigners on Chinese wines, which she says have matured since she left to study in Canada.

"They are getting better," said Zhu. "There is still room to improve, especially with the balance and the finish."

Some of her local favorites include labels from Grace Vineyard, a winery located in Shanxi province that specializes in French wine-making traditions.

Zhu said she also likes bottles from Dragon Seal and Great Wall Wine. Both have operations just north of Beijing in Hebei province. "The price is usually an indicator," she said.