Kristina Keneally, Premier of New South Wales, has made a visit to Shanghai's Bright Foods Store to see for herself how NSW's Hunter Valley wine is doing in the Chinese market, currently the fourth biggest export line for Australia's wine.

Brokenwood Wines and Tyrrell's Wines, both based at Hunter Valley in NSW, are sold through the Bright Foods Store, which is China's largest food firm with more than 3,000 stores nationwide and e-commerce lines worth about $16 billion.

Bright Foods is reported to be interested in the wine products of Australia's Foster's Group, which includes the Hunter Valley wine brands.

In the previous year, Australia's wine exports to Hong Kong and China grew by 57 per cent with exports amounting to $181.5 million.

In her visit to China, Premier Keneally met with Chairman Wang Zong Nan of the Bright Foods Group, and talked over ways to improve the distribution and sale of the Hunter Valley wine in China's booming market.

This is in line with the Memorandum of Understanding that the NSW government signed with the China Development Bank and Bright Foods earlier in the year to support the distribution of NSW's products in retail stores in China.

Ms. Keneally commented that the accomplishments of the Australian wine industry in China clearly showed how NSW wine is top notch quality.

"We have a first-class wine industry in NSW and it's great to see producers such as Tyrrell's and Brokenwood showcasing Hunter Valley wine on an international scale," the NSW Premier said.

"The wine industry in NSW has trebled in the last decade and the growing market of China offers considerable opportunities for wine producers in our State."