open up opportunities in Asia.

One of the busiest wineries is the Russian River-based DuMol

-- home to a label served at a Washington state dinner US President Barack Obama

hosted for visiting Chinese president Hu Jintao.

That state dinner was a really big deal.

Every aspect of it

was covered in the media,

not only in the States but also here. And the media picked up on this wine

and our phone started ringing immediately

We think there¡¦s just a lot of potential here

and an enthusiastic group of

not only consumers

but also the sommeliers and everything else

That kind of enthusiasm was reflected at at the Wines of California pavilion

at the 2012 HKTDC Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair

Doubling in size for its third year ¡V the group exhibit still couldn¡¦t

accommodate all companies casting their eyes across the Pacific ¡V

¡V and especially toward an eager Chinese mainland market. 20 00:01:13,820 --> 00:01:16,650 They¡¦re more sophisticated ¡V they¡¦re seeking out specific

appalachians - for example Napa, or a specific kind of wine like Zinfandel

¡V so they¡¦re becoming more educated about California wines and they¡¦re also becoming I think

a little bit more daring, wanting to try different types of wine ¡V and California¡¦s

perfect for that because we grow more different wines than any other place in the world.

The Chinese consumer is very thirsty for knowledge - pardon the pun ¡V

and they want to find out not only what¡¦s in the wine,

and how it¡¦s made, but how to serve it.

And I think what they¡¦re moving forward from is a culture of toasting and

ganbei and grain alcohol, and they¡¦re finding that doesn¡¦t go all that well with food.

Wines

go well with food.

At the same time ¡V US producers are realizing that wine goes well

in Hong Kong.

The city is California¡¦s third-largest export market ¡V

up 39 per cent in value and helping push up overall US wine exports.

American entrepreneur Toby Marion has been based in Hong Kong for nearly nine years ¡V

and now has a steady business with some 65 brands

and 350 wines ¡V

including some famous names from the States.

Hong Kong is a sophisticated place

has been for a long time. It has all the infrastructure whether

it¡¦s physical

or economic or social

-by that I mean banking and logistics and rule of law and so forth

and in addition it has a large wine-drinking population that¡¦s growing ¡V it¡¦s still

a minority but large population that¡¦s growing.

Banking is quick,

legal procedures are quick,

people are hardworking, people are loyal, and great place to do business.

We have a natural advantage

and disadvantage when it comes to American wine.

The advantage is that it¡¦s recognized as being high quality,

and we¡¦re the fourth largest, so France Italy, Spain and the US are really the big four.

But what we¡¦ve traditionally consumed most of our wine,

so we¡¦ve not been a big exporters.

That's changing-

along with tastes in Asia¡¦s fast-growing markets.

You find the Chinese now going for things like Zinfandel which

a few years ago

they would¡¦ve been like, ¡¥What¡¦s that?¡¦

Now they see you¡¦re a California wine company and the first questions they might ask you

¡¥What do you have? Do you have Zinfandel?¡¦ What do you have that¡¦s different?¡¦

Hong Kong is the gateway to Asian wine markets, I believe.

Hong Kong itself is an important wine hub 65 00:03:44,499 --> 00:03:48,439 but also in terms of being

finding wine variety and things like that.

I mean, there are more mainland Chinese here than any other segment of

a buyer, so it¡¦s really the place to be I think.

If you¡¦re looking at wine as an industry sector,

for us it¡¦s a US$600 million a year throughput through our port.

But what it also does is create jobs, because those grapes aren¡¦t going anywhere.

They¡¦re being

and fermented and bottled in California.

And so we will keep jobs there and we will grow jobs

as we export more wine.

I think if you¡¦re going to do it, you have to commit to

being over here

on a regular basis and develop relationships, because very much like in the United States, it¡¦s a people business.

we need to stay in

contact with your distributor, partner ¡V

do events for consumers. We got a little bit of catch-up to do ¡V the French

have got a couple hundred years on us in the market,

but I¡¦m willing to take that ¡V I¡¦ll spot them a couple hundred years

and it¡¦s a marathon not a sprint.