Guests taste the delicious wines at the seventh International Wine Exposition held in Yantai, East China's Shandong province, on July 5. [Photo/Ju Chuanjiang]

Claudia Quini, president of the OIV, said at the opening ceremony, "120 years ago, Yantai was the first introduction of a grape wine sector in China with the improvements and success we are aware of. Today, a series of contacts have been undertaken by the OIV with other provinces and regions in China to help in the development of the vine and wine sector".

According to her, Asia now represents 28 percent of the world's grape production and 5.5 percent of the world's wine production, with figures still increasing.

Lying on geographic latitude similar to France's premier wine-producing area of Bordeaux and Italy's Tuscany region, Yantai is regarded as one of the best places in China for quality grapes.

The city's favorable natural and investment environment has attracted increasing numbers of domestic and foreign winemakers that have developed vineyards and chateaus, making it the nation's major production center for wines.

By Wang Qian and Ju Chuanjiang