Spring Moon was the title of a...

Spring Moon was the title of a best-selling novel about China by Bette Bao Lord, wife of Winston Lord, U.S. ambassador to China.

Now it’s the name of a white wine exported by China, and its San Francisco distributor hopes it, too, will be a best seller.

China is attempting to crack the upscale U.S. wine market with its first shipment of Spring Moon Imperial Curvee imported by China Swan Associates, a new San Francisco firm specializing in “top quality consumer products from the People’s Republic of China.”

The medium dry, white wine is produced by Heavenly Palace Winery in Tianjin, established in 1985 with vines brought to China from Europe in the early 1960s. It won a gold medal at the Vin Expo wine show in Bordeaux, France, this past summer.

Lord, who gave permission to use her book’s title, is not an investor in the venture, but $1 from each case of wine sold is being donated to a newly formed foundation to promote cultural exchanges between the United States and China.