Aussie labels shine at 2017 China Food & Wine Fair

China's first MW of Wine, Fongyee Walker, will lead a masterclass on Australian Shiraz prior to China's biggest wine fair next month.

The China Food & Drinks Fair will run from March 23 to March 25 in Chengdu, with “Great Wines of Southern Hemisphere 2017” being showcased from March 19-22 at the Shangri-la Hotel.

Supported by Wine Australia and organised by Vinolution Creative Marketing and Vinehoo.com, the event will feature 45 winemakers from Chile, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand and is designed to give buyers and traders an opportunity to learn more about wine and market trends.

Walker became Chinese mainland's first Master of Wine resident last year. 

She is the co-founder of Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting, which provides the only taught WSET Level 4 in Mainland China, has been a guest international judge for the Royal Melbourne Wine Show and is a passionate fan of Australian wine. 

"Australia's biggest problem is that they spend all their time bloomin' running after the French; I buy Australian wine because it's not French." she told ABC News.

As an educator, she gives many of her students their first-ever taste of wine and says it's these naive palates that Australia should be targeting.

"I think that people should be realistic about China and remember it is a market where people are discovering wine, slowly," she said. "It's a wine market with great potential because it's a food culture. So I think we need to get a lot of drinkable, nice wines over there and for different styles."

She believes there's more potential to grow Australian exports by focussing on mid-priced wines. Previously, the market was dependent on the tradition of gifting expensive bottles of red wine.

"When the market fell out of that, it really showed people how much of the Chinese market was built on this fairytale of gifting," she said. "I think half of those gifted wines are still in China, unopened, undrunk, unloved. What's the point of that? Because that's never going to grow the market."

China Food & Wine Fair will host 21 exhibitors in the Wine Australia Pavilion - including labels from the drinks association members Australian Vintage and Taylors - from more than 20 wine regions across five states. This is the largest scale participation since Wine Australia became involved in the show three years ago.

Wine Australia says the fair "will provide a good opportunity for trade visitors from 2nd, 3rd, 4th or even 5th tier cities to understand the diverse style and dynamic culture of Australian wine."