Foreign guests tasting wine from Changyu Pioneer Wine Co. Photos by Ju Chuanjiang / China Daily

The sixth Yantai International Wine Exposition kicked off on June 27 in Yantai, a coastal city in Shandong province.

More than 10,000 people from 20 countries and regions attended the event, including representatives of the world's leading wineries and officials from the China Alcoholic Drinks Association.

"Yantai enjoys rich resources and an enormous advantage in developing its wine industry. We sincerely hope this expo will help more people conduct business in Yantai and make exchanges within the wine sector," Zhang Jiangting, secretary of the Yantai Municipal CPC Committee said at the opening ceremony.

The three-day event has 706 booths that offer more than 2,000 types of wine, brandy, whiskey and rum amid varied chateaus. It also offers tourism products as well as winemaking equipment.

"China is one of our most important target markets. We hope more Chinese consumers will get to know and take to our wines through this expo. We have actually already found new clients," said Zakkie Bester, chief executive officer of the Riebeek Cellars, a famed wine producer in South Africa.

"Although the wine market in China is fast growing, it still needs time for the Chinese to understand the wine culture. I hope they can learn to enjoy diverse wines with different foods and will have a little bit of wine everyday," he said.

"The best thing for us to do is to meet the customers here and to speak to them so that we can understand their needs and tastes," said Mstthieu Culot, a wine importer headquartered in Qingdao for three years.

Also underway is Sitevinitech China, an international expo on technologies and equipment for growing grapes, winemaking, bottling and packaging.

It also offers wine producers conferences and workshops dedicated to innovation in wine making.