(NVR) - The organizers of the RIMA international food and wine festival taking place in Beijing on June 17-19 have reached out to the Cal-China Wine Cultural Exchange (CCWCE) to create opportunities for U.S. winemakers to bring their wines to China for the inaugural event.

The Chinese government gave the go-ahead in January to Wine in China, an official government publication, to host RIMA, a show for consumers, media and trade, which is expected to draw about 50,000 visitors. The three-day event will be held in the Botanic Garden Expo, a 267-hectare park with exhibition areas and gardens on the northwestern edge of the city. This was the site for the ninth International Garden Expo held in Beijing in 2013.

The nonprofit CCWCE has agreed to help producers ship wines to China, secure tasting spaces at RIMA, and organize and provide staff for wineries that do not choose to send representatives to the event.

Dr. Joe Chuang, an American scientist, businessman and philanthropist, who founded the CCWCE, was in Beijing on business when he was contacted by the editor and publisher of Wine in China, which, according to the publishers, has an estimated readership of more than 80 million. “Everyone in China who is interested in wine reads it,” he said.

Chuang, who owns Firefly Vineyards in Napa Valley and Flower Valley Winery in the Hualai Valley of China, created the CCWCE to open doors for California winemakers in China and to promote a better understanding of the business practices as well as an exchange of technical information.

Chuang said that the Wine in China organizers told him that after they received government approval, they contacted embassies and consulates of wine-producing countries to invite them to participate; while they have received an enthusiastic response from countries such as France, Italy, Chile and Australia, they want to be sure that U.S. wineries are also represented.

“People in China like California wines,” Chuang said, “but many consumers still have not had a chance to taste many of them.

“Wine in China anticipates that RIMA will become an annual event, the biggest in China,” Chuang added. “They have secured an agreement to hold it for the first three years at the Botanic Garden Expo, a beautiful site in Beijing.”

Chuang said tasting booths are available to rent for $2,00

0 each for the three-day event. Because each booth has space to accommodate up to 10 separate wine labels, he has offered a plan where wineries will be able to share one space, reducing the cost to $200 per label.