China’s Wine Tastes - Less Sophisticated
"China is a very big market (what’s new?), of course, but they’re less sophisticated," a Spanish winemaker was quoted as saying.
The other night my wife, made in China, and I went to a party. She asked me to bring her a Sprite to mix with her glass of red wine.
Huh!?
It seems that’s a common practice in China - to mix soda with wine. And I didn’t know that. I just thought my wife was nuts.
China has become Asia’s largest (what’s new again?) wine bibber. In 2004 they downed 500 million bottles, of which, only 5% was foreign = lots of opportunity for growth = the snobby Europeans are going to try to change China’s tastes to suit theirs.
Has anyone thought to make an imported wine that the Chinese already like? duh!
Still, Japan spends more than twice as much on wine as the Chinese do…$2.6B to $1.1B.
But with growth in China expected to be 50% or better for foreign wines in the next three years, the wine makers are hearing kaching kaching…
And then when they get the Chinese drunk…they’ll bring in the other salesmen….
What do you think?
Tags: 4134, 4237POSTED IN: All about China, Business in China, Chinese Products, Doing Business in China, china
8 opinions for China’s Wine Tastes - Less Sophisticated
Hubert Shea
Jun 4, 2006 at 7:32 am
Dear Bill,
It is really a nightmare experience to foreigners about how Chinese consumers drink table wines.
In China, drinking wines is a traditional national culture and you cannot hold a social event without good wines. However, most of the Chinese consumers are less knowledgeable about imported table wines from either the old or the new worlds.
Drinking table wine is a unique form of western culture and if wine traders intend to secure successful market presence in China, they should hold more wine tasting events so that Chinese consumers will become more knowledgeable about imported table wines.
Bill Baren
Jun 4, 2006 at 9:52 am
“Has anyone thought to make an imported wine that the Chinese already like?”
This is so right on. We often forget that our customers already know what they want. It’s our job to ask them what that is and simply give it to them.
Simple?
http://www.billbaren.com/blog/
panasianbiz
Jun 4, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Thanks Hubert,
What is true is that the Chineses do not do things the same way they are done in the West…and this is a glaring example, no?
panasianbiz
Jun 4, 2006 at 2:33 pm
From one Bill to another…isn’t the customer always right?
I guess not when it comes to wine, eh?
Thanks for your comments.
june
Jun 4, 2006 at 8:55 pm
yes, when chinese drinking wines, they have many special ways, for example,they mix soda or vinegar with wines,they put some waxberrys or herbal medicine into the wines, even they put a live snake or scorpions into the wines. in chinese mind, wine is not only a drink, but also a medication.
and more chinese like distilled spirit than wine. distilled spirit is more fragranter.
on the other hand,there are too many culture about drinking table wines. like as Hubert Shea said,”you cannot hold a social event without good wines “. if you want to get a big business in china, you, please make some exercises for drinking more :P
panasianbiz
Jun 5, 2006 at 8:00 am
That’s really interesting, June.
I didn’t realize that the Chinese had so many ways to drink wine.
Thanks for teaching me.
wheresbeer
Jun 6, 2006 at 6:39 pm
That’s because China has been producing all kinds of fine liquor for thousands of years. Drinking wine is sorta like drinking beer. No need to be that serious. Anyway, it is nothing but one fermented alcohol beverage. If wine is produced in the volume of beer, then wine is not the WINE anymore, although wine is still the wine.
People taste the wine, yes they taste the WINE, but they taste something BEHIND the wine, such as the fashion, the sophistication. In my developing countries like China, eat in KFC McDalnond is kinda a very IN thing for young people. But in US, it is nothing but for rednecks to buy so-called cheap trash meal, or for travelers to get a quick bite.
Similar thing like Soccar game. While most part of the world treat it as seriously as you can imagine, yankees just see it as a low game for kids or girls.
Finally, if you the wine tasters learn how to taste all kinds of teas in China, I am sure Chinese will learn how to drink wine tomorrow, if not earlier. Take my words home: visit to major art or history museums in US big cities where there is Chinese civilization section. You will find the beautifl brone container for wine drinking. Many dated back over 3000 years old, although the wine may not neccessarily be made from grape.
Just a few samples:
http://www.artsmia.org/viewer/index.php?v=2&op=1226
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shzh/hd_shzh.htm
Thank you for reading!
panasianbiz
Jun 6, 2006 at 7:16 pm
wheresbeer,
Thank you for this insight into the Chinese mind and thinking. I think you are clearly right abou the ‘fashion’ and ’sophistication’ thing.
There is also a huge difference between the east and west and what is and isn’t important.
Thanks for your insights.
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