The wine market in China is still dominated by crazy prices for crazy bottles, but Hurun founder Rupert Hoogewerf expects the madness will phase out, and China will become a mainstream wine drinking nation, he tells The Telegraph.
The Telegraph:
China is now the world’s biggest importer of fine wine, much of it sold through Hong Kong, the new wine auction capital of the world. For today’s image-conscious Chinese, a pot of tea, or even a flask of fiery baiju spirit on the restaurant table no longer cuts the chilli sauce. A £1,500 bottle of Château Lafite rather does – even given the distressing local tendency to mix it with Coca-Cola or Fanta. Rupert Hoogewerf, the British compiler of China’s “Rich List”, nevertheless reports that: “Consumers are gradually becoming more appreciative of wine, and less driven by snobbery,” and forecasts that when the current market madness (the latest must-have vintage being Romanée-Conti 1990 at around £23,000 a bottle!) calms down, China will become a huge but mainstream wine-drinking nation.
Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers’ request form.
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