Every wine lover has a story of the first sip that drew them in . More often than not , it was not a glass a highly complex and expensive Bordeaux . It was likely an unsophisticated yet tantalizing bottle that rocked their world . My gateway drug to wine way back in the day -- Boone 's Farm Strawberry Hill , a saccharine-sweet pink tipple best enjoyed ice cold . And for Beijing-based wine consultant and educator Fongyee Walker , it was that first bottle of grapey Black Tower . `` You look at the American market , and the English market -- they were originally beer and spirits markets just like China . What shifted America ? White Zin . What shifted England ? Black Tower , '' she tells me . `` Very grapey and simple , people can understand them and like them . In China , we have n't done that . '' In the West , many wine enthusiasts look back fondly to that first fruit-bomb in a glass as our introduction to the world of wine . But in China -- the world 's biggest market for red wine -- consumers have gone from zero to premium Lafite in less than two decades . Tasked with making the nation 's first fine wines , China 's pioneering winemakers have gone for the grandeur and not the `` gateway . '' `` The state-owned companies created the wine industry in China . They wanted a Lafite . Not a pink wine , '' says Simon Zhou , a Shanghai-based wine distributor and founder of Ruby Red Fine Wine . `` Many wine companies , especially those state-owned companies , are run by people not in the wine business or have little knowledge of winemaking and grape growing , '' adds Zhou . `` What they are after is to create something they can be proud and to leave some kind of a legacy . '' WATCH : Inside China 's wine country . Gifting . Zhou says China 's `` legacy '' wines were usually dark red with heavy oak and equally heavy packaging . At a cost of $ 80 to $ 245 a bottle , they were sold through state-owned channels for internal use by local governments . Gifting the bottles is a tradition that extends to today , even in the era of austerity amidst Beijing 's crackdown on corruption . `` There 's the market that buys the wine and wo n't be consuming the wine , and the other market which is people who buy the wine and are actual consumers . Both markets are in China , '' says Judy Chan , CEO of China 's Grace Vineyard . Grace Vineyard produces some 2 million bottles a year , with retail prices going up to around $ 90 each . Its Chairman 's Reserve and Deep Blue scored impressive ratings from wine guru Robert Parker . `` We planted in 1998 , and now after 17 years of experiments , I think we can make a very decent wine , '' Chan tells me . 'Party wine ' Private winemakers like Grace Vineyard are experimenting not to replicate a Lafite , but to craft its own signature style . At her vineyard in Shanxi province , I tasted one of Chan 's experiments -- a flight of pre-filtered sparkling wines all crafted in China . One particular year nabbed the attention of visiting wine industry folk who hailed it the `` party wine '' of the tasting . The effervescent and friendly bubbly may very well find its way into the flutes of China 's increasingly curious and open-minded wine consumers . `` I 'm very lucky because I educate and work with people who are getting engaged in wine , '' says the Beijing-based Walker . `` Many moons ago ... they talked about Bordeaux and some talked about Burgundy . Now I have students arrive in class and say , 'Well I 've heard about Prosecco and I love drinking it ! ' '' Entry-level wines . After fast-forwarding from zero to Lafite in less than two decades , China 's wine market is finally doing what it should have done at the beginning . It 's easing back into user-friendly , entry-level wines . Wine distributor Simon Zhou is starting to see even `` big wine '' buyers going for more reasonable wines as more Chinese consumers take to wine , and actually drink what they buy . And Walker hopes they will go for the cheap stuff . `` There 's a reason why McDonalds is the most popular restaurant in the world , '' she says emphatically . `` I just want to see more people drinking more wine . I do n't care what wine they drink . Just as long as they 're happy . '' Here 's to boxed wine making it big in China . Bottoms up .
This month 's `` On China '' show examines the country 's love affair with wine . CNN 's Kristie Lu Stout hosts a panel of experts at Grace Vineyard , Shanxi . China has gone from consuming next to no wine to world 's biggest market for red . Focus is on premium red wine like Lafite , market for cheaper wine under-developed .