Photo provided to China Daily

"I call it my sitting room, a place to sit and talk. I wanted to share not only my wines but my collections, paintings and porcelains."

Her father's work at Helan Qingxue impressed her, she says, "but even then I didn't see myself as a winemaker."

When she got serious about her own project four years ago, she says, she was fearless: "I just didn't know how hard it would be."

Today, she says, the pressure is even greater. "Being rated by Decanter Wine 100 means you constantly have to meet expectations."

Looking ahead

Wang's ability to meet expectations is probably helped by the way she quickly developed wine appreciation. That reflects the experience of the Chinese marketplace, where there is not a tradition of drinking grape wines with meals like there is in Europe. It's also the experience of the new target market for the industry: women and young drinkers.

"I tend to encourage female wine drinkers myself," says Helene Ponty, who moved to Beijing nearly four years ago to handle importing, marketing and sales of wines produced by her family winery in Bordeaux. "I think they are a huge help in moving the Chinese market from drinking baijiu (white liquor) and beer to drinking wine.

"We have one of our reds that we present as being smoother and with softer tannins, well-suited for women who are starting to drink wine. We also recommend our white wine to them as they usually like the taste and side benefits of low alcohol and no stain on the lips and teeth."

Contact the writer at michaelpeters@chinadaily.com.cn