Strong wines that test your palate

Gaia Gaja, fifth generation manager of Italian winery Gaja, found it difficult to explain her wines to Chinese tasters. "When I say 'violet', they say 'we don't have it here'," she says. "When I say 'truffle', they ask 'what's that?'"

But soon one Chinese woman remarked that the wines from Babaresco, Piemonte, of northwest Italy, reminded her of jasmine tea. Gaia says she would like to see the Chinese describe wines more in terms of something they are familiar with.

The beautiful, warm Italian woman came to Beijing earlier this month to promote some very characteristic Gaja wines, to mark the 150th anniversary of the winery.