Local wine-lovers are warily starting to come out of the chateaux into the warm Italian sun. Considering that Italy produces more wine than any country in the world - 6.5 billion litres last year - some would say its time has come. But also considering that Italian wine was the fourth favourite wine in Hong Kong last year, the country's 342,000 litres far below France with 1.8 million and Australia and America at 780,000 litres each, something has gone wrong. Mainly, say the Italian experts in Hong Kong, it is the fault of Italy itself. 'Italian wine is made to confuse people,' says the outspoken Mario Caramella, Chef Patrone of the Mistral Restaurant. 'We think we are the world. We have no marketing strategy. Nobody knows any name except Tuscany and chianti. We simply don't know how to sell it abroad.' Annelis Capelvenere, whose Valdivia Limited imports about 30 per cent of the wine here, agrees. 'How do people tell the difference between 150 different grapes? Or the vineyards or provinces? There is always confusion here, so non-experts aren't certain what to order.' A recent trip to Vinitaly, the Italian wine fair in Verona, sponsored by the local Italian Economic Commission confirmed the lack of interest. Among the 900 official producers, a fraction had any interest in Asia. And even the largest private company, Zonin, estimated that only 10 per cent of their wine went to Asia. Nonetheless, Zonin was the first (and still only) company to appoint a sales manager almost exclusively for Asia. Zonin's Ettore Nikoletto loves the restaurants here, and claims that Italian wines are among the top vintages. But he admits that Hong Kong is still a virgin market. What is the solution? Certainly among the 900 officially documented Italian wines (outside of thousands of local wines), more than a few are of French quality, at a third of the price. 'But that isn't fair,' says Diane Bolton of Seibu's Pacific Wine Sellers. 'You don't compare Italian with French in wine or in food. You should look to Italian for what they produce best. They produce wines with spice. They have pasta-style wines, sun-dried wines which are light, which suit the Asian taste.' Ms Bolton also believes that Italian wine-literacy has increased dramatically as more Italian companies take an interest in the territory. 'Still, let's face facts: Italian wine labels are terribly confusing. Most buyers will stick with names they know, like chianti and frascati. That's why, along with promotions, we have education programmes in Cantonese every two months here. All of that makes the Italian producers realise that we have a potentially sophisticated market.' Va Bene Restaurant, which rejects anything except Italian wines, has an eclectic selection, because general manager Pino Piano comes from the peripheral wine-producing area of Naples. 'Hong Kong people,' he says, 'have changed dramatically in their knowledge. They want good wines and good value together. Our typical connoisseur will like the big fruity red wines.' The real problem with Italian wine is that the choices are too staggering. The different grapes, areas, configurations, vineyards - or, worst of all, lack of information on the label - can turn the non-expert into a heavy drinker.