I recently met with Natalie Wang, Founder of Vino Joy News, a Hong Kong based media agency dedicated to everything and anything related to the wine market in China. They are a specialised and professional organisation that supplies high quality insight into the sometimes-opaque Chinese wine scene.
China has had a huge impact on the world of fine wine this century. Demand was insatiable during the noughties, not even the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 dampened the nation’s enthusiasm; that was left to the new leader, President Xi and his anti-graft measures of 2011. Bordeaux prices stumbled and fell but the wine bug had already taken hold, and the landscape changed. Nationwide clamouring for the most famous Bordeaux labels turned into a more interested, inquisitive band of individuals wanting to know more.
The Chinese economy started to slow in the middle of the last decade and 2021, mid Covid-19 pandemic, witnessed the beginning of a huge property crisis across the country. Sky News reported up to 80 million flats were unsold or empty, an incredible number.
According to Natalie, sentiment to wine in China is currently very low. The middle classes are suffering as they are in most countries, with the cost of living having risen sharply in recent times. Also, a lot of people have been caught out in the property market. In China 70% of people’s assets are tied up in property and a lot of the population speculated in property towards the top of the market.
Natalie continued by saying there’s plenty of money in China for wine, but sentiment is driving everything, so no one is playing at the moment. She thinks this can turn very quickly. There is a lot of interest in wine, it is a sophisticated product and that in itself is very desirable. People are attending courses on wine; knowledge is increasing and wine bars opening all the time in the big cities. HK is quiet still.
She suggests there may still be an overhang of Bordeaux in warehouses there, and rare Burgundy is the most popular type of wine currently, the rarer the better. France and Australia are the most popular wine producing countries. Super Tuscans sell well there but Piedmont is a tougher sell, despite big efforts from trade body VinItaly. Sauternes is not popular at all, but German Riesling is, thanks to great efforts made by German trade bodies.
Natalie finished by saying the government is now very focussed on going all out for economic growth and are doing their best to provide stimuli. Recently they welcomed Jack Ma back in from out of the cold (this is a big turnaround politically) and are engaging with all their big tech companies actively, to see how they can help to promote growth. The recent successful emergence of the Chinese AI company Deep Seek has helped encourage this.
As reported last month, we recently saw the most encouraging land auction results in China for some time, so maybe some domestic confidence is returning to the property market. On the wine front, Vinum has noticed the bottoming out of prices of Carruades de Lafite and Chateau Beychevelle, well known favourites of the Chinese market.
China is an important player on the global stage and the wine world keenly awaits its reawakening!
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