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Chinese get increasingly thirsty for Spanish wines
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Wines from Spain and the New World are gaining ground in China at the expense of their French counterparts, as increasingly adventurous Chinese wine enthusiasts push back the frontiers of a surging market, say experts.
Exports of Spanish wines surged 40 percent annually in China in the first half of this year, according to Chinese customs reports. Spain is the third-biggest exporter of bottled wine to China’s wine market behind France and Australia.
“The Chinese are now searching for wines other than from France because they are more educated about wines from other countries,” wine expert Mabel Lai said.
Price reason
But price is also a reason. Wines from Spain and other countries such as Italy, Portugal and Australia sell for less compared with French wines said Lai, who is a lecturer at the Hong Kong Wine Academy.
A top bottle of Spanish wine may range from US$260 to US$390, but a bottle of a highly rated French vintage could be double that amount, she said.
French wine makers at the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair said rising competition in the Chinese market is good for the industry. France holds a roughly 50 percent share of the Chinese market.
“A little bit of competition will force us to improve our production and our wine making,” Jean-Laurent Soule, a sales manager for French wine maker Ravoire et Famille, said, welcoming competition from other countries.
“We are still confident about the quality of our products,” Soule said.
November’s International Wine and Spirits Fair, one of Asia’s largest, partnered with Spain this year and has attracted more than 1,000 producers from around the world, as Hong Kong cements its position as a global wine hub.
Hong Kong, which abolished duties on wine imports in 2008, has become a gateway to the booming wine market on China’s mainland. In recent years, the city overtook New York to become the world’s biggest wine auction hub.
Spain is seizing the opportunity to introduce its products to one of the world’s fastest growing wine markets.
Market potential huge
“Now wines from Spain (and other countries) are getting bigger and we are traveling around the world, and letting people know about their wines,” said Carlos Moreno, export manager for Spanish wine maker Bodegas d. Mateos.
“The potential of this market is huge,” Moreno said of China, adding that European and Western markets are “quite crowded.”
Jack Chen, a 35-year-old wine shop owner in Shenzhen and a buyer at the Hong Kong fair, said good wines would always be accepted in the Chinese market.
“The Chinese consumers will have an open attitude toward the wine no matter if it comes from France, Spain or from other countries. As long as it is good stuff, the Chinese will accept it,” Chen said.
October figures from the Bordeaux wine producers’ body, Le Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), showed the value for the Chinese market fell almost 10 percent for the year ending in July.
“We no longer have the exponential increases in volume and value that we had a few years ago,” CIVB Vice President Allan Sichel said then.
Chinese wine consumption soared 142.1 percent from 2007 to 2011, reaching a total of 159.25 million cases or 1.91 billion bottles, the leading wine and spirits trade fair organizer Vinexpo said in March.
Although the growth rate, the world’s fastest in wine consumption, may slow to 39.6 percent between 2012 and 2016, a total of 252 million cases of wine are set to be drunk annually in the Chinese market in 2016.
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