With a growing demand for quality vintages in China, some say it could become one of the world's largest wine markets. As a result, wine makers are exploring the domestic Chinese market more than ever before.

Let's take a closer look with reporter Liu Min.

An American wine expert is teaching Chinese tourists how to sniff the fragrance of red wine produced in the local winery near Seattle, Washington State. Much to the delight of American winemakers, many of these Chinese tourists take a bottle home.

Not long ago, it was rare to find Chinese drinking a French Cabernet or an Italian Grigot in China. Chinese only began importing wine around 15 years ago, and at first many people didn't like it. They thought it was too bitter and preferred to mix it with coke or sprite. But in the last few years, many more people have developed a taste for foreign wines, and China's wine import market has grown dramatically. Alexander Yu is a wine distributor, he says business has increased by over four hundred percent on last year, thanks in part to the Olympics.

"In the beginning, lots of people went for the most expensive wine. They didn't care about what it tasted like because they just thought the most expensive one was the best. I think now they're developing a better pallet. People start looking for what kind of grapes suit their taste and what kind of grape goes well with what kind of food. People want to learn more and they are learning fast."

Only a couple of years ago producers from Tuscany, the heart of Italy's wine industry, said China was not mature enough to embrace their top quality labels.

Now, with recession hovering over their main markets in Europe and the United States, makers of premium Italian wines are turning to China where wine is becoming increasingly popular and the nouveau riche splash out on high priced bottles often.

The red wine import volume in the domestic market was 45 million litres from January to July this year, an increase of 43% compared to the same period last year. Tommy Lam, director of wine studies at Tianjin Commerce University says, the great potential of the wine import market in China has drawn great attention from wine producers in the global market.

"You think about it. 99% of the customers (here in China) are on the entry level and coming but this is the big money. Honestly, if I were them, I would focus on this market."

According to an industry report, wine consumption in China has been growing by eight percent a year in the past few years and is expected to hit one-billion bottles in 2011. Industry experts say China may become the world's eighth largest wine consumer by 2012.

For China Drive, I'm Liu Min.