For Australian winemakers, the China International Import Expo in Shanghai is vital to ensuring their success in China, one of its top export markets. Greg Navarro reports.

In a McLaren Vale warehouse, Bec Hardy shifts pallets of wine that bear her name.  It's a fitting image for a company that's determined to move more bottles both at home and abroad, including into China.

BEC HARDY, Joint Managing Director, Bec Hardy Wines "That is the market that we are spending the most time in. We see that it is a really fantastic, dynamic market."

An important component of that goal has become the China International Import Expo, which Bec Hardy Wines will once again attend this year.

BEC HARDY, Joint Managing Director, Bec Hardy Wines "Because it is such a big event and so many people come to this event, you can organise meetings with people, you can show them our wines and it is an opportunity where so many people from all across China and all across the world can all come and meet in one place."

GREG NAVARRO McLaren Vale "While the wines made from vines like these are heading back to China in increasing numbers, experts say Australia's winemakers are dealing with a different Chinese market. One that is smaller, more selective, and more competitive."

Treasury Wine Estates recently acquired a winery in China's Ningxia region to produce a locally sourced wine. It also takes part in the Australia-China Winemaker Immersion program, designed to foster collaboration and share knowledge. The company is preparing to take part in its 4th CIIE.

TOM KING, Managing Director, Penfolds, Treasury Wine Estates "It provides us an opportunity to have really good quality, focused conversations around future opportunities for collaboration, for partnership and ultimately for growth. It brings all of our key stakeholders together in one location with the right mindset and the right focus and the right environment for those conversations to happen."

About 70% of the Australian companies that take part in the CIIE are from the food and beverage sectors which includes wine makers. For producers including Bec Hardy, showing up year after year is key to staying visible in an increasingly competitive market.

BEC HARDY, Joint Managing Director, Bec Hardy Wines "Going to CIIE and meeting up with other customers, people who are already buying our product as well as meeting new ones, being there every year it is just so important that people keep seeing you all of the time."

To help ensure that the movement of wine to China continues to grow. Greg Navarro, CGTN, McLaren Vale.