Bring out the bubbly(1)
People taste wine in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Photo: CFP
Li Fei expected studying abroad at University of Southampton in the UK would change his career path, but he had no idea it would be his neighbor that would have a bigger impact than his classes.
"My grandfather and father are both good at drinking baijiu, but I only began to drink after graduating from high school," the 25-year-old said.
"At our graduation party, everyone got really smashed and was hung over for days," Li said, "But after downing 24 bottles of beer and four bottles of wines, I wasn't nearly as bad off as everyone else. That's when I realized my family must have a talent for drinking."
But it was not until college that Li discovered his true passion. Li's interest in wine was inspired by his neighbor. "One day my neighbor brought some ice wine from Canada, invited me over to drink with him," he said.
After that Li attended a course at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. "We learned about wine theory, tasting techniques, and of course drank lots of wines," he said. "It was way more interesting than what I was studying accounting at school."
Li remembered a fortuneteller also predicted his choice of jobs. "The fortuneteller said I would find more success doing something related to liquid. I had no idea what that meant at the time, but wine would fit that description," he said laughing.
After getting an advanced certificate in wines and spirits, Li decided to become a wine taster rather than an accountant. "When I worked a part-time job selling wines at an airport in the UK, I found many Chinese buy foreign wines to take home," he said. "I felt there was a great opportunity in China's wine market and decided to come back in 2006."
Since then Li has worked at Ease Scent, a wine training center based in Beijing. He gives lectures to those interested in wine, tastes new wines to help clients make purchases, and writes columns for newspapers and magazines.
"Wine has become more popular partially because it is a healthy drink, and Chinese consumers are becoming willing to learn about wines," he said. "They used to judge wines by brands and prices, but now some can select wines by regions, years and tastes."
With China's increasing number of people who pursue a Western lifestyle, foreign winemakers and importers are ambitious to enter the market, where local individual wine consumption is still far behind the world level.
Growing wine market
Sales of wine in China rose 12 percent year-on-year to 44 billion yuan ($6.50 billion) in 2009, according to figured from A.T. Kearney. Alberto Fernández, managing partner of Torres China, estimated imported wines account for 15 percent of total sales.
"The future for imported wine is big in China since acreage available for planting new vineyards is limited," he said. "Also Free Trade Agreements with some producing nations like New Zealand or Chile will make wines from those countries more affordable."
