For Bernard Farges, president of the CIVB, Bordeaux's wine industry association, the China market is an export destination with great potential despite recent hiccups.

After two years of decline in Bordeaux's export volume to China due to the unavailability of wines, its exports have recovered after the region adjusted its supply structure.

Exports rose to 61 million bottles, 24 percent of its combined volume, worth a combined 280 million euros ($318 million), 15 percent of the region's global export turnover.

"China has topped Bordeaux's global export destinations in terms of volume and value since 2011," Farges says. "In the next 10 years, we anticipate more diversified consumption among China's consumers on the back of vineyard tourism, wine-related courses at academies and fresh investments."

China's drinking habits are changing, with focus shifting to individual consumption from drinking at banquets. Stress is on personal experience, which augurs well for Bordeaux labels, experts say.

Dong Li, a wine importer with Shanghai Junjue Foreign Wines Ltd, says he received a booklet from a Bordeaux wine trader full of ideas on how to pair the region's wine with Chinese food.

"It's really interesting to read some of the ideas," he says. "You can tell the French winemakers have made extremely great efforts to understand Chinese cuisine and tastes."

One tip suggests matching well-structured dry red wine from Saint-emilion, Pomerol or Fronsac with fresh pork mooncakes. The wine and food share many things in common, including saltiness, complexity and structure of tastes. The wine's tannin and acid can balance the meat's oily feeling, the booklet states.

Other tips include having the fruity Bordeaux Superier rose with chili bullfrog, and braised pork with Medoc or Graves dry red wine.

CIVB has been researching global consumers' preferences and tolerance to various tastes that Bordeaux wines offer. The research includes a study of Chinese consumers' preference for levels of tannin, acid, sweetness, bitterness, flavor and the age of wine. The results will be out by year's end.

Faced with competition from emerging brands in China, the Bordeaux wine professionals are focusing on their own products to forge ahead, says Thomas Jullien, a representative of CIVB in the Asia-Pacific.

"The wine sector is a key pillar of the Bordeaux economy. So we focus on improving quality to produce wines that offer higher value," he says. "We have been making great efforts to educate and inform consumers about wines, and Chinese consumers now associate Bordeaux with quality.

"We're pleased to note that consumers are choosing wines other than those from Bordeaux. This shows they are learning, experimenting and comparing. We believe oenophiles will always buy and drink Bordeaux wines."

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 05/20/2016 page27)