Presentation adds to prestige

Wine lovers can usually tell from one glance at a label whether the contents are likely to be worth savouring. But on the mainland, where drinking wine is still something of a novelty, it is necessary to spell out that a wine is special, particularly if presenting it as a gift, through elaborate packaging and ornate lettering.

Demand for fancy wine presentation is on the rise, particularly in secondary cities where the recipients are less likely to know from examining a bottle that they are receiving something that is expensive, hard to find or both. The extreme end of the scale is to put wine bottles in polished, dark-wood cases that are lined with red velvet, a non-too-subtle statement that this is a gift worth having.

In the past, cognac was always the gift of choice among people who wanted to show their credentials as sophisticates - and often the foreign tipple favoured at upmarket banquets - but wine has made major inroads in recent years. A study by the Bordeaux producers' organisation, VINEXPO, in conjunction with International Wine and Spirit Research, forecasts growth of 54 per cent in wine consumption on the mainland and Hong Kong over the next four years - the equivalent of 1 billion more bottles.

The mainland's younger, generation is particularly enthusiastic, preferring wine to cognac and whisky, which they view as rather old hat. Many wine bars have sprung up in the bigger cities, particularly Beijing and Shanghai, and are generally frequented by executives who have travelled overseas and observed the wine culture in countries such as France and Australia.

They are more likely to choose wine as a gift, perhaps only a single bottle for a friend or business contact, but always presented in a special wooden package. Wine is also becoming more commonplace as a corporate gift. Depending on the recipient's level of importance in that all-important guanxi (contacts) pecking order, it might be a single bottle of medium-priced wine or an entire case of rare Bordeaux.

Distribution company EMW Wines offers a wide variety of wine cases, ranging from about HK$25 for a single-bottle box to HK$900 for an elm box that can hold six bottles.