Chinese wines make a splash

“China is really the country to look out for; in 10 years time, it’s going to be amazing to see,’’ Hong Kong-based Lee said. “It is definitely going to happen, but the first waves of exports are not going to be very high end.’’

China, per usual, has its sheer size going for it. China is the world’s number eight wine consumer with sales expected to reach 1.1 billion bottles next year. (With a population of 1.3 billion, that’s still less than a bottle per person.) In terms of production with 600 wineries in 2009, China ranks 10th worldwide.

Three state-run giants – Great Wall, Dynasty and Changyu – dominate about 80 per cent of the local market. Dynasty recently carried out an initial public offering in Hong Kong, hoping to raise funds to finance its move into exports.