CRI听力:China Becomes New Prime Market for Italian Wine

Italian wines are becoming more popular in China's big cities where young urbanites are pursuing high-end lifestyles.

Fabio Carlesi is general manager of an Italian wine store in the Xintiandi area of Shanghai. He says his operational philosophy is to blend Italian wine culture with Chinese dining habits.

"Chinese diners should not only drink Italian wine when they have Italian food. We want Italian wine to accompany authentic Chinese dishes. When mentioning Chinese food, people think of Peking roast duck, stewed pork with brown sauce and various fish dishes. Italian wines are perfect matches for all these Chinese foods."

Thanks to such operational ideas and successful promotions, Carlesi has seen his sales this year climb to 93 million U.S. dollars from 25 million dollars in 2009. He says he plans to have 100 franchised wine stores in China by 2013.

Further evidence of the increasing popularity of Italian wine in China is the emergence of a new profession—sommelier or wine steward.

In February, the Italian Sommelier Association and University of Siena signed a cooperation agreement to establish two Italian wine training schools in Beijing and Shanghai. Graduates of the two schools will receive a sommelier diploma.

Carlesi speaks highly of the project.

"At this moment, there are already 750 Chinese students studying Italian wine culture at the University of Siena. They, along with graduates from the two schools, will be future ambassadors spreading Italian culture in China. "

The potentially huge Chinese market has prompted more Italian wine producers to explore new sales models. At the beginning of this year, 18 wine enterprises from Tuscany, the largest wine-producing region in Italy, set up a Chinese language website www.tasteit.cn to sell Italian wine online.

Though confident about the outlook of the future market, Stefano Giovannelli, Chairman of the Toscana Trade Promotion Association, remains cool-headed about the imminent sales prospects.

For CRI, I'm Yao Yongmei.