France is widely recognised as the leading wine producer in the world, where the process of winemaking is an integral element of the county's culture and national identity.
It is home to the world-renowned regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, producing revered wines such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Dom Perignon.
Through centuries of wine production in their famous vineyards, the French are considered the foremost experts on wine - but this position may be under threat.
Because according to one of France's oldest oenology schools, La Tour Blanche, enrolments from French nationals are falling, with the school's director Alex Barrau describing the drop-off in numbers as "significant".
"We've seen a diminishing number of students in France who sign up in viticulture schools," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
But just why is the wine industry not attracting the same level of interest that it used to from French youngsters? The answer, Mr Barrau claims, lies in the financial crisis that began in 2008.
The global economic slowdown that followed hit many of the smaller vineyards hard, causing costs to rise and sales to drop off.
"If you look beyond the classified growth estates, a lot of wine growers are suffering. The recovery from the crisis has not been quick. Students don't see a future in the profession," he said.
But that is not to say interest in oenology has dimmed - students from outside France are keener than ever to sign up to courses in the subject.
According to The Wine and Spirits Education Trust, there has been a 12 per cent increase in course enrolment in the last year, and the group's chief executive officer Ian Harris told the Drinks Business that Hong Kong and China is where interest is really taking off, with enrolments increasing by 200 per cent in the last 12 months.
He explained: "We've been running courses there for 12 to 13 years but we've got steadily busier over the last three years or so and have been opening more and more courses.
"In Hong Kong we have 22 centres and we are planning to open an office somewhere in Asia over the next two years."
Claire Dawson, spokesperson for the INSEEC Business School, says her organisation has also received huge demand from Chinese students interested in oenology.
"Eight years ago, one per cent of our students were Chinese, today it's ten per cent and it's growing. If we wanted it to be, it could be 50 per cent," she told AFP.
"Day after day, month after month, more people are interested in wine in China, and more people are working in the wine trade," added Herve Remaud, wine chair at Bordeaux Management School (BEM).
La Tour Blanche has also decided that it needs to look to the Far East to make up for its enrolment deficit, and has made an agreement with a wine school based in Beijing.
Under the agreed terms, 25 extra students will be welcomed to the wine school in Sauternes, near Bordeaux, to learn about the whole wine process, from cultivation and winemaking to serving and food pairing.
La Tour Blanche also sees it as a way to generate further interest in the unique sweet white wines of Sauternes, grown from vines affected by noble rot, which are overshadowed by their more famous neighbours.
So as more and more schools look East for the next generation of wine experts, Richard Bampfield, a Master of Wine and lecturer at BEM in Hong Kong, suggests that the circumstances are perfect for sustaining this trend for many years to come.
"One common theme, as it has been in nearly all the Chinese I have met, is their enthusiasm - their thirst for knowledge and desire to improve themselves is fantastic," he said.