(WesternFarmPress) - Despite counterfeits and market mayhem, a scramble is on for access to an exploding Chinese wine market and U.S. exporters are counting on China to continue reaching for the wine bottle — California style.

A billion Chinese each drank 1.4 liters of wine in 2011, or at least that’s how the average plays out. On the surface 1.4 liters doesn’t seem of much consequence — outpaced by America’s 11.2 liters of wine per capita or swallowed by France’s 53.2 liters per capita.

But China’s wine market is on fire as consistent consumption increases have paralleled surging import numbers over the last five years. By 2015, if China’s wine consumption climbs toward a projected 2 liters per capita, as predicted by International Wine & Spirit Research, demand for foreign imports will grow in tandem. With a population of 1.3 billion, even small increases in per capita wine consumption can bring exponential changes in demand. “China, China, China” has become the mantra of wine marketing hopefuls across the West, and China’s import market, although past the “first-in-the-door” stage, still has a Wild West flavor, with foreign imports jockeying for position.