Montrose’s Henderson may excited about the current growth in wine drinking in China, but things didn’t look so good when he first arrived a decade ago. “When we first came here, there were no wineglasses in the stores," he says. "The first wine dinner we did was in a restaurant. The restaurant took our bottles to the back; they had no corkscrew, so they broke the necks off the bottles and then poured the wine into tea cups. There was broken glass in the bottle!"
  
In 1995, the year China began allowing foreign alcohol imports, 41,000 cases of bottled wine were sold. A decade later, industry analysts estimate that 1 million cases will be sold this year. Last year, sales of imported wine reached $52.8 million, a 50 percent increase from 2003. Economic statistics can be unreliable in China, even fudged by local party officials, but no one doubts that wine sales have taken off.
 
For people like Miguel Torres, the growth is a vindication. His eponymous Spanish company first bet on China's potential a decade ago, initially partnering with a Chinese company, then starting its own operation based in Shanghai. Miguel Torres imports and distributes its own wines from Spain, Chile and California, and also brings in wines from France's Baron Philippe de Rothschild; Australia's Redbank, Vasse Felix and Henschke; New Zealand's Te Mata; and Hungary's Oremus Tokaji wines. It also distributes native Grace Vineyard wines.
  
Back in 1995, the company sold a measly 267 cases. Sales rose gradually to 4,708 in 2000, then began to rocket upward, hitting 11,600 in 2003; the sale of 35,000 cases is expected in 2005, and the company turned a profit this year. Its current annual gross is $3 million.

  David Henderson, president of leading Chinese wine import company Montrose, says the Chinese preference for red wine is rooted in exposure to the tannins in tea, which are the same as thos in wine.

"There is still a long way to go, but progress is being made," says Torres, who regularly visits his company's four offices in China. "For seven or eight years we were losing money,  we have probably lost about $1 million, which for us is a lot,  but you have to be there to grow. We are now breaking even."

To keep growing though, the importers need to expand the market for their product and introduce more of the population to wine. Education is a major part of their business strategy. ASC, for example, operates an educational training program headed by a local, Bing Li, who has spent time studying in France. Li has a degree in international wines and spirits marketing from Dijon Business School and worked for Internet wine company ChateauOnline before returning to put his skills to use in China.
 
"There is so much change happening, and it is happening so quickly, that there is a thirst for knowledge, whether it is in wine, cars or the stock market," says ASC's St. Pierre. "And it has become more important for senior executives to have an understanding of wine, because wine is so entrenched in people's views as part of what a good lifestyle is about."
 
Once word got around that ASC had its own tasting room with a staff capable of conducting in-depth briefings, corporate clients started calling about private lessons. In any one week, Li will conduct education programs for Chinese executives from major foreign-owned companies such as Citicorp and HSBC who need to feel comfortable when presented with a tasseled wine list at a fancy restaurant.
 
Top-notch restaurants in the major cities are eager to pair up with the distributors and wineries, or offer their own classes. Jean Georges is introducing "The Cellar Club" this fall, designed to introduce Shanghainese drinkers to different elements of wine. Planned events include sommelier-hosted dinners with special wine pairings, weekend-afternoon walk-around tastings poured by local distributors, and wine dinners conducted by guest producers (representatives from Chateau Latour will host one in November, for example).
 
And as importers and restaurateurs successfully expand the market, new companies are jumping in to take advantage. Australian companies are already the second largest source of foreign-bottled wine in China. The French are in first place, largely because most Chinese wine drinkers see French wines as the most prestigious. But since 2000, the value of wine sales between Australia and China has doubled virtually every year, reaching $6 million last year.