Italian wine pours into China

Only 4,000 bottles of White label have been produced. It's 50 percent chardonnay and 50 percent viognie with a fruity aroma and notes of peach, pineapple and orange. The chardonnay gives it elegance and the viognie gives it the aroma.

"We are a new winery - it's a combination of long history and the new, a bit like China, with a long history but at the same time you are new in many aspects, and you have a lot of new ideas," says Maggioni.

"Because we are small, we can make the wine manually. I want my wine to be high quality, elegant and affordable."

His winery is located in central Italy between Rome and Florence. He says his wines have been sold in Europe and the United States, and he aims to tap the Chinese market.

"We want to position our wine for people who can not only spend money, but also understand the uniqueness of our products," says Maggioni.

In Maggioni's mind, France has done a fantastic marketing job in wine, but he feels the potential for Italian wine in China is huge.

Also, Suckling says Chinese wine lovers are interested in trying new things and exploring.

"What's good is people rely on my scores and my recommendations. So they have a reference point - my scores - and then they understand what good quality is."

All the wines at the event scored 90 points or more.

"They all have to be high quality, and they also have to take you on a voyage to where those wines are from," says Suckling.

"Great wine has to have personality, and that tells you where it's from."

Next year, Suckling plans to bring to China not only Italian wines but also excellent wines from Chile, Argentina and other countries.

"I'm not only for promoting Italian wine. I'm for building the wine market in China - making people excited about drinking wine," says Suckling.

About 80 percent of all 17,000 wines Suckling tasted this year were rated more than 90 points. But it was 30 percent when he started two decades ago.

"With the change in knowledge and wine-making techniques, outstanding wines are everywhere, and that's great for the consumer," says Suckling. "There's never been a better time to drink wine."

liyingxue@chinadaily.com.cn