Savoring the flavor

Always ready to take on new challenges, Li accepted the invitation gladly and never looked back. "So my job found me," she says.

At her classes, Li is asked to identify different grape varieties and the year of production from blind tasting, which she still finds hard.

"The more I learn, the more I realize there is to learn. But I'm happy because it gives me a goal. I think life would be boring if I knew everything about wine," Li says.

Besides wine, Li loves good food and has learned to cook authentic Italian and French dishes during her years abroad, as well as keeping up her skills preparing Chinese cuisine. She likes to host dinners for her friends, carefully selecting the dishes and wine.

She has a long list of favorite wines, including the Italian sparkling white wine prosecco, which she pairs well with Chinese dim sum; the aromatic white wine Gewuerztraminer, which complements seafood; and the rich Italian dry red wine Amarone, which she pairs with steak.

Li says her dream is to share good wine and wine culture with consumers in China, by starting her own company one day.

"For me, the essence of wine culture is enjoying the little things in life. For example, eating, drinking and sleeping are essential things we do in life, but I think we should do them with care and enjoyment," Li says.

During Li's frequent visits to China, she has noticed a boom in wine consumption in the country. China became the world's largest consumer of red wine in 2013, buying more than 155 million 9-liter cases, according to a recent Vinexpo/International Wine and Spirit research report. But she believes many Chinese still do not know how to appreciate their vino.

"Many Chinese will drink a glass all at once, the same way as drinking Chinese liquor, or baijiu. It makes them drink too much, and they do not have time to taste the wine."

Instead, she says wine should be sipped slowly over a conversation.

"Drinking is not the goal. It is just a tool allowing friends to share time together. In many Mediterranean countries where wine culture is strongest, people would grab a glass of wine in the evening and chat to friends, and laugh, and enjoy," she says.

Li has also tasted some Chinese wines, including Yantai's Changyu wine and Hebei's Great Wall, but she believes these wines lack complexity.

She says the Chinese wine producers also need to work on details like grape variety selection and labeling, and testing out the best regions to grow the grapes, as the flavor of grapes can differ even when grown in different parts of the same vineyard.

"When I looked at Changyu and Great Wall's bottles, I couldn't even find the grape variety printed on them," she says.

But Li remains hopeful that strong market demand will drive forward the quality of Chinese wine, and that more Chinese people will understand wine culture in the foreseeable future.