(NPR) - A guide unlocks a heavy wooden door and leads visitors down into a Bordeaux chateau wine cellar. Along the vast network of underground rooms and corridors, thousands of bottles age for decades in the cool darkness.

Today, many of the tourists visiting this French wine making region are Chinese.

Retired couple Wang Jiawei and Cao Juanjuan are visiting Europe for the first time. They are traveling to London and Paris, but say Bordeaux is also a must see.

"We enjoy drinking wine," they say. "And for us Chinese, Bordeaux is wine. Everyone who likes wine wants to come to Bordeaux to experience the long wine history and to see how it's made."

Chinese consumption of wine has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. This is having a profound effect on the world's wine making regions like Bordeaux. But some Chinese are interested in more than just tourism in the region.