Green Harvest: The Evolution of China’s Wine Market

Alessio has worked for 8+ years on various EU-funded projects in China, mainly conducting policy and regulatory analysis for European companies looking to enter or already in the Chinese market. Key focus areas: market access regulations and barriers, investment attraction policies, standards & compliance – with particular focus on R&D, tech & innovation.

Alessio joined the EU SME Centre in October 2020. He coordinates reports, guidelines and technical assistance to European SMEs; he also delivers training about different market entry approaches and engagements with China, opportunities and risks, as well as do’s and don’ts.

Michele Taccetti has been involved in doing business with China since 1995, following in the footsteps of his father who had been among the pioneers of international trade exchanges between China and Italy in the 1980s.

At the beginning of his career, Michele worked for five years in the Florence-based office of China Resources, one of the most important state-owned trading enterprises in China. After that, he founded China 2000 Srl, a consulting and import-export company promoting Made in Italy products and services in the Chinese market, also with education and training activities. Although the firm’s main focus was originally the textile industry, in recent years, the agri-food sector has become more prominent.

Michele has been accredited by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and SACE as a Temporary Export Manager.

Simone Semprini is a professional sommelier trained in Italy and London and based in Shanghai since 2013. He is the Shanghai Area Manager of VM Fine Wines. VM Fine Wines was founded in 2010; it stands for Vinicio, an Italian entrepreneur who has been doing business in China since 1994, and Martin, a Chinese businessman with a passion for Italian wine and food.

The company directly imports and sells Italian wine in the Chinese market; it is also active in other product categories such as coffee. VM Fine Wines is the exclusive importer and distributor in China of around 250 different labels from 30 wineries from all over Italy. It has a number of warehouses and offices across China in order to guarantee a quick delivery of products and optimise its services to Chinese consumers.

Francesco D’Aprile is an experienced entrepreneur and business consultant with more than two decades of experience in doing business with China. Francesco is a partner at P&D Consulting, a boutique consulting firm that offers customised business and management consulting solutions, primarily to Italian entrepreneurs and SMEs looking to internationalise in the Chinese market. Most of the clients represented come from the agri-food sector, especially wine, but also olive oil and traditional foods from the Italian southern region of Puglia.