New | Cheers! China’s fine wine industry draws new drinkers as it recovers from the hangover of Xi Jinping’s anti-graft, austerity campaigns
Industry insiders see prosperous days ahead as both young and old become new driving force for growth in wine sales
For many mainland Chinese, knowledge about wine began with a line in 1989’s hit Hong Kong comedy God of Gamblers – “Uncork me a bottle of 1982 Chateau Lafite!”
Fine vintage has since then been considered a symbol of wealth and status, drawing rich business people and powerful officials to taste and collect.
After a few years of decline because of Beijing’s corruption crackdown and austerity drive, China’s wine market is now slowly recovering, with the young generation and the elderly becoming a new driving force for growth, industry insiders say.
“A decade ago, we saw all kinds of counterfeit Lafite and other overly expensive wines. But … consumers have become rational and prices are cooling off,” said You Chao, chief sommelier of Guangzhou’s high-end wine importer Ouke Chateau.
Lower tariffs and more competitors have led to more reasonable prices for imported wines, but retailers can still profit up to 200 per cent for a bottle, said You.
While wines priced at several thousand or even tens of thousands of yuan were common in China 10 years ago, most sold today in the world’s largest wine-consuming country are just a few hundred yuan, he said.
Lai Jinyu, founder and CEO of online beverage retailer Zhongjiu.cn, said that in the past, a bottle of Europe-made wine priced at ¤10 (HK$88) at home could be sold at ¤100 after being shipped to China, but this has now dropped to ¤20 to ¤30.
“This is mainly because of the crackdown on government purchase as well as greater transparency in the market, with customs duty dropping and more people joining the wine import business,” Lai said.
Wines priced between 80 (HK$98) and 200 yuan were the most popular at present, with annual sales growing at a pace of more than 40 per cent, he said.
Although more than 80 per cent of the wines consumed were domestically produced, most of the prime ones were still imported from Western countries, where production was much more mature, according to Lai.
According to customs data, China imported nearly 200 million litres of wine in the first half of the year, up more than 13 per cent from the same period last year.
Although government departments, state-owned enterprises and joint ventures – which fine-vintage consumption used to rely on – are still strict with wine consumption, the post-1990s and 1980s generation as well as elderly people who rarely drank the beverage are now becoming major consumers, You said.
“Also, fine vintage remains a popular gift for the Chinese as it is still regarded as something that carries a certain cachet,” he said.
Ma Xiao, 35, a software engineer in Shanghai, said he used to drink baijiu, traditional Chinese liquor, a lot, like his father and grandfather. But now, he would try some wine and his father was also willing to have a replacement occasionally, he said.
“We don’t have the wine culture, but people have become better-educated about wine ... so we are happy to try something new, and more importantly, something healthy,” Ma said.
Ren Jian, executive vice-president of Wangjiu.com, online streaming company LeTV’s beverage arm, said that apart from professional elites aged 35 to 40, more young people aged around 25 were also learning to appreciate the western drink.
“Now with more e-commerce platforms joining the business, wine prices are becoming more affordable,” Ren said.
Ren expected a prosperous wine market ahead for China. According to official data, wine consumption per head was only 1.24 litres last year, much lower than in Hong Kong, Japan or Singapore and so the market had much more room to grow, he said.
