Feifei Wang helps service Mandarin speaking customers at the cellar door. Source: SBS
Now she and two other Mandarin-speaking staff are on hand at this winery in the New South Wales Hunter Valley, ready to help Chinese customers.
"Right now we have a lot of Chinese customers come to our winery. And then we have noticed how important it is to have staff who can speak Chinese."
Ms Wang says it's all part of a changing palate in her homeland.
"In China people traditionally drink baijiu, which is a very strong alcohol. Now people find that wine makes them relax instead of getting drunk. So they like wine, they are starting to tell the difference between each wine and area so yes it is starting to get very popular now."
Tambourlaine Organic Wines is just one of many wineries cashing in on the growing Chinese interest in wine, both in exports and visits to the cellar door.
Managing Director Mark Davidson says the business has had to adapt, introducing things like the popular Chinese payment system Alipay.
"When we are talking about how we have adapted to the surge in Chinese tourism, they have to be able to read stuff in their own language. They need to understand how they are going to be looked after. They need to have Chinese credit systems available to them and they need to know that. We need to have short programs that are available to them in their own language to better understand wine."
In the 12 months from September last year, Australia exported 2.7 billion dollars' worth of wine, up 11 per cent on the previous year.
The Chinese market was the biggest destination, rising 24 per cent.
Kate Harvey, from industry group Wine Australia, says there is growth not just in exports, but also in ownership of Australian wineries.
Chinese interest in Australian wine is booming. Source: SBS News
"I think there is a growing interest in investing in Australian wineries, we are seeing that the prices for people selling vineyards and wineries are increasing."
Chinese investors bought the Hunter's Allandale winery three years ago.
But Bill Sneddon, the chief wine maker for more three decades, says little has changed in the operations.
"They bought a business that was running and running well. I think they took the view that changing that would be folly."
And he says the new owners are helping the local economy.
"We are in a fortunate position that the people who bought the company want to see it grow, and they're allowing us to reinvest profits into building the business, which is really good thing for local contractors, local electricians, local builders, people who live locally - we are giving more and more work to as the business grows."
Winery Source: Pixabay
