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Life in China Beijing's Wine Revolution
Life in China Beijing's Wine Revolution | Beijing's Wine Revolution |
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| China | |
| Monday, 11 September 2006 | |
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If you had asked for wine in Beijing two years ago the chances are you would have been handed a cheap bottle of the throat burning rice wine baijiu. Now, you are just as likely to be offered a 2001 Californian Cabernet Sauvignon. With a wine market that has grown 50 percent in the last year alone, the opening of specialist wine bars from Haidian District to Chaoyang District, the setting up of wine clubs and societies and profit hungry importers shipping in up to 500 different labels from across the globe, Beijing is undergoing something of a wine revolution. “At our first organized event last December six people turned up,” said Gabriel Suk, founder of Beijing Wine Club. “At the last event there were more than 50 people, Chinese and foreign. It just blew up, we are amazed at how popular it has become.” Charles Treutenaere, a sales supervisor for Summergate, a wine importer and distributor, has seen his company increase sales by 70 percent this year alone. “The wine market in Beijing is moving incredibly quickly,” he said. “We’ve been amazed at the response.” Turn back the clock just a couple of years and Beijing’s wine scene painted a very different picture. Wine lists were limited to top end eateries with selections limited to a handful of unremarkable French imports. The number of wine importers could be counted on one hand and there were no wine clubs. “Things have really started to take off in the last three years,” said wine expert John Gai, who owns Palette Wines in Shunyi. “There are different reasons for this. There is the increase in wealth, people have larger personal incomes, and there’s the increasing western lifestyle and increased travel to Europe, the US and Australia. There is also an increasing number of expats living in Beijing and they influence this trend.” Charles believes another important factor is stimulating Beijing’s wine revolution – the 2008 Olympic Games. “The market is moving very fast because of the rapidly growing economy and of course the up coming Olympic Games,” he said. “More and more restaurants and hotels are opening up in preparation for the Olympics so there’s a need for wine and nice wine lists. When we started out in Beijing seven years ago we had a portfolio of about 10 wines. We now have a portfolio of over 500 which is expected to increase by a further 100 by the end of the year.” But its not just foreign visitors and expats who are driving this demand, Chinese drinkers are becoming increasingly wine savy. And according to John, they fall into two separate groups - middle-aged slurpers and white-collar connoisseurs.  “The first group tend to drink wine at banquets and business meetings but will follow it with any other kind of alcohol,” he said. “They tend to go for Chinese brands like Great Wall (see right) or Dynasty. Then there are the young professionals, white-collar workers with cash to splash. They tend to go for better quality foreign brands and care more about value for money.”Import companies like Summergate will undoubtedly hope that first group start to follow the second. They have set up training programs in restaurants and hotels to teach staff about wine in the hope that a greater understanding among the Chinese will further boost the market. “This is not a mature market yet,” said Charles, “so we have a long-term view. We are very positive about the future but we have to work a lot on the wine culture and educating people about wine.” John predicts that Beijing’s wine revolution is set to continue – something he is only too happy about. “The quality of wines in Beijing is increasing and the diversity is improving,” he said. “That will continue and that only has to be a good thing.” |
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