By Hao Ying

For most Chinese, wine is a status symbol rather than a simple pleasure to enjoy for its own sake.

Galford Zhang, the head store manager of the CBD's 25° Brix wine shop, said government officials, military personnel and businessmen always want to buy Grand Cru Lafite. He has a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild on sale for 24,000 yuan($3542).

One reason for its popularity, he said, is that the name is very easy to remember.

Zhang also has a persuasive-looking counterfeit bottle on hand, exactly the same as the original, but for its loose top.

The taste of the counterfeit wine, which often comes from Chile, is pretty good, and many people wouldn't know the difference, Zhang said.

Although most Chinese people prefer Bordeaux wines, most don't understand what wine is, and drink it like Chinese liquor, in one gulp, Zhang said.

"Because it's expensive, it's good," Zhang said, describing their attitude. "It's very typically Chinese."

Professor Ma Huiqin of China Agricultural University, who has taught a wine class for more than 10 years, shares Zhang's assessment of the Chi-nese obsession with Bordeaux.

"In China when we have wine, generally it's with friends or business partners. Face becomes such an important factor."

The criteria for a good wine are that it is an expensive Bordeaux, and perhaps a famous brand.

Because many people lack confidence in wine, "For them even a bad-tasting Bordeaux makes them feel safe." Few people at the table are likely to know the difference anyway, she added.

Ma said restaurants often buy a Bordeaux for 30 yuan and sell it for 500 yuan in a restaurant.

Until a few years ago, fewer than 10 percent of the students in her wine-tasting class had any wine-drinking experience at all. They would be shocked at its taste, finding it astringent and acidic, or simply boozy. But that's slowly changing. In the last two or three years, more than a third of her students have tried red wine, she noted.

She believes that the Chinese palate for wine is similar to people everywhere, after they get a chance to sample wines from around the world.

"When they have experience they have more of a tendency to buy New World wines," she said.

She predicts that over the next five years, wine will change from being an "icon drink" to a part of life, much like going to McDonalds or Pizza Hut changed from a special occasion 20 years ago to a run-of-the-mill eating option today.

To help spur this change, Ma teamed up with wine consultant and Beijing-based blogger Jim Boyce to arrange a blind tasting of wines under 100 yuan.

"Wine is associated with wealth and sophistication, especially wine from Bordeaux, and rich Chinese buyers are driving up prices of the top brands. In the general wine market, we find a lot of poor imitations of this style, with the result that much of the wine on store shelves is thin, dry, red and bad," Boyce told Lifestyle.

He believes that many Chinese might be surprised how well South African and Argentine wines rated in the blind tasting by more than 50 Chinese consumers.

The tasting had two main purposes: to find out which wines (under 100 yuan) consumers like, and give people confidence to rely on their own taste, rather than expert opinions or safe choices such as brand names.

"We hope that those who read about the challenge can conclude that if those consumers can judge wine for themselves, so can everyone else," Boyce remarked.

A surprise is that the most-liked wines are generally cheaper in retail shops than bought directly from distributors. For example, one highly rated red cost 118 yuan on an importer's website, yet retailed for only 75 yuan at Jenny Lou's.