Two weeks ago, a former investment banker named Alexey Poznyakov was selecting wine to go with Hunan cuisine at a client's dinner party. He included a range of styles, from sparkling to Gewürztraminer. But in a move that would have been unthinkable in Shanghai several years ago, he excluded reds. Until recently, red wine was considered by Chinese drinkers to be the only "real" wine.

Chinese buyers have long been more partial to—and more sophisticated about—spirits than wine. According to a study released by Vinexpo/IWSR in February, China drinks a quarter of all the liquor consumed worldwide, but just over 2 percent of the wine. In coming years, that is expected to change dramatically. And in Shanghai, it already has.

The wine scene here is abuzz with excitement and possibility. The number of premium-wine importers has jumped from three in 1999 to more than a hundred today. Two years ago, there was nary a shop offering tastings; now a dozen retailers hold such events. New wine bars abound. As of 2006, there was a Shanghai chapter of the highbrow Commanderie de Bordeaux, and the mostly trade-and-expat Shanghai Wine Society was founded in 2005.

Chinese restaurant chains are even starting to hire qualified professionals to upgrade their wine lists. Traditionally, the lists at mid-range Chinese restaurants have been filled with domestic wines of average quality. However, Yvonne Chiong, formerly chief sommelier of Jean Georges Shanghai, is spearheading a wine-buying program for Wang Hui Ming, a restaurant group with more than 20 establishments in Shanghai. In her new role, Chiong is pairing local cuisine with premium, imported wines—roasted pigeon, say, with a 2003 Clarendelle.

"There is an undeniable trend for enjoying wine and food, especially with local clientele," says Wang Yi, a partner at a management-consulting firm and a serious wine collector, who moved to Shanghai in 2000. "If you go back five or 10 years, at business lunches and dinners, most locals were drinking white spirits. Today at business functions, people toast with red wine."

The growth of wine consumption has partly been encouraged by relaxed restrictions on wine licenses and a gradual drop in the consumption tax. Several factors put Shanghai in the lead among Chinese cities when it comes to wine: its high concentration of foreign expatriates, its average per-capita income ($8,130 in Shanghai versus $1,970 nationally in 2006), and the fact that it is a major port: Shanghai is the landing point for close to half of all wines imported to China.