Owner of wine company works to promote China's import industry

The appreciation of fine wines is still somewhat a novelty for many Chinese.

For Fan Lina, 39, who was born and raised in Shenyang, Liaoning province, before moving to France, wine defines her career.

Fan is the owner of wine company Capital Prestige and the only Chinese commandeur titulaire (committee member) of the Commanderie du Bontemps, one of the oldest wine appreciation communities in France.

She is also the only Chinese judge on the panel of Left Bank Bordeaux Cup, a global wine contest for college students.

Her first foray into the wine industry was decades ago when she took on a summer job to pick grapes in the Reims, the main town in France's Champagne region.

Following that stint, Fan gave up her original goal of pursuing a master's degree in enterprise management to learn more about the craft of winemaking at the University of Tours in France in 2004. She then pursued a master's degree in wine marketing and management at the INSEEC business school in Bordeaux.

In 2009, the year she graduated from INSEEC, the market for imported wines in China was growing and the country had become the world's eighth-largest wine consumer. As such, she decided to stay in France to capitalize on the opportunities such as development offered by working to boost wine trade between France and China.

Fan then became an investment adviser to Chinese wine importers and investors as the demand for French wine in China grew.

She established her own company in 2013.

Chinese businesses, state-owned enterprises and listed companies poured investments into nearly 150 of the 9,000 chateaus in Bordeaux, France, between 2014 and 2016, Fan says.

The thriving market encouraged Fan to expand her business to include chateau management, strategic investments and project restructuring after mergers and acquisitions.

In 2016, she was recognized by the Mulan Foundation Network, a UK-based organization that promotes successful Chinese women, for her efforts in enterprise promotion.

Today, after spending years of promoting French wines, her next goal is to promote the wine industry in China.

"I hope to establish a platform for Chinese-French wine cultural exchanges and introduce French wine manufacturing expertise and research achievements into the Chinese market," she says.

Fan cites poor wine-production regulations, quality issues with some vineyards and low export volumes among the main causes for the lack of global recognition of China's wine industry.

Fan says she plans to bolster education and awareness as well as nurture more wine professionals and researchers in China.

An international wine education project Fan has prepared for two years will be launched at the wine school of the University of Bordeaux sometime this year.

The program will aim to work on the development of the Chinese wine industry and train Chinese in fermenting, vineyard management and industry-relevant technology.

In addition, Fan's company will provide participants with internships in French wine enterprises, she says.

According to a 2018 Vinexpo report, the total consumption of imported wine in China is expected to hit $23 billion in 2021, up from $15 billion in 2016.

China is also expected to become the world's second-largest wine consumer after the United States, by 2021.

China's economic development helped its imported wine market to grow.

"In Bordeaux, the world's wine capital, Chinese have been among the most important guests of the local wine vendors. An increasing number of Chinese students are also traveling to Bordeaux to learn more about wines. This is an opportune time to promote wine appreciation in China," Fan adds.