It is unfortunate that Chinese wine drinkers seem to be deserting the produce of their own vineyards for imported alternatives. In my experience, the quality of the best Chinese wine has recently turned a corner — in the right direction.

For years, it looked as though Chinese producers put more effort into the packaging than the liquid. After all, until fairly recently the great majority of Chinese consumers had no experience of what wine should taste like. So the many fraudsters, the sort who labelled questionable concoctions as “chateau Lafeet” or “Bordeaux Port”, could get away with murder.

The rampant fakery of old, as well as food safety scandals, presumably played a part in encouraging the country’s wine consumers to see imported wine as a more reliable product. It also tends to be priced much more sensibly. China’s wine producers are apparently still influenced by old gifting habits, with too many overpriced bottles aimed at providing a patriotic official with a domestically produced status symbol rather than a good-value drink.