While China is drinking more and more wine each year it appears also that consumers are drinking more and more of the same type of wine.

According to a recent survey produced to help promote May’s Vinexpo Asia-Pacific event — the largest wine industry gathering in the region — 99.5 percent of wine drunk in China is still wine, and 91 percent of the still wine drunk is red wine.

And that’s a trend Vinexpo CEO Robert Beynat says “won’t change for a long time.”

China’s fixation with red wine is reflected by the demand and prices being paid for the likes of Lafite-Rothschild 1982, a case of which was bought by a Chinese buyer for a record HK$1.03 million ($132, 770) at an auction last year.

French wine imports into China were multiplied by 7 times from 2006 to 2010, while consumption of wines from Australia increased by 4 times over the same period.

The most popular wines are the stronger varieties with Wine Australia last year reporting that Shiraz was its best seller in China (half of all sales) followed by Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Red wine surpassed traditional Chinese liquor as the most popular alcoholic drink in China last year, according to the Ipsos research group, when it accounted for 39 percent of the market, with the growth attributed to more Chinese drinking wine regularly, with meals or at bars, rather than just at special occasions.