Essence of Napa

A seminar on Napa Valley wines in Nanjing in April. Photo provided to China Daily

For him, a major task now is to find a good, resourceful importer to enter the Chinese market.

Lu, the wine consultant and educator, said that promoting Napa wines in China now, most of which are fine wines and quite expensive, can be challenging.

"Some moneyed Chinese investors are being too confident. Some acquired foreign wineries, only to find that fine wines did not sell as well as they had expected, due to the continuing austerity campaigns from the government.

"But the market is still promising in the long run. Napa wines have a proximity to Chinese people's minds－for example, the large number of the Chinese younger generation that studied in the US. Or business people who have worked in the US, say Silicon Valley. They may be the first consumers who would be very interested in knowing about Napa wines."

The main outlets for Chinese consumers buying wines are supermarkets such as Carrefour, neighborhood shopping centers and large online shopping websites. Wine lovers and individual fine-wine collectors can go to boutique wine shops to try before they buy, such as the popular Pudao Wines in Beijing and Shanghai.

Silenus Winery, the first Napa Winery to be bought by a Chinese-American company, started shipping wines to China in 2011. About 4,000 cases, each containing 12 bottles, were shipped to the country from Silenus last year. The company says its exports to China have been growing by about 10 percent a year.

"When I first came to China in 2011 and did tasting events or seminars, there were almost no younger Chinese in attendance," Meadows said. "However, in just the last four years I have seen the majority become young professional Chinese. Because of their youth, they are more interested in trying wines for quality rather than just price or image. I think this is a trend that will continue."

Another big change in China's wine market, Meadows said, is education. When he first came to China there were few wine schools or ways anyone could learn about wine.

"Now there are a number of very good schools with people who are very serious about becoming wine professionals. This is a very good trend as it will mean more and more people learn about and enjoy wine."