Sacré blanc! The Guardian, VinExpo and claims China is the top red wine consumer

By Jim Boyce

The Guardian just posted this story about China supposedly now being the world’s biggest red wine consumer. It is a ripe blend of hype, ignorance and insight, something none too rare in stories about the China wine market. The first three paragraphs (my highlights).

The Chinese appear to have beaten the French at one of their own favourite pastimes – quaffing red wine. China’s drinkers knocked back 1,865bn bottles of vin rouge last year, an increase of 136% over five years, making the country the leading market for red wine.

However some experts say the boom, which has led to increasing interest from Chinese buyers in French vineyards, is more a matter of cultural sensibilities than taste.

The colour red is considered lucky in China and is also affiliated with the Communist government, while white is associated with death and is predominantly seen at funerals.

A few observations…

Hype: The main story, by Paris-based Kim Willsher, cites a study commissioned by exhibition company VinExpo that says China topped France in red wine consumption. In a way, the issue is somewhat irrelevant since, given current trends in both nations, a changing of the guard is inevitable. But is it happening now?

Everyone I know in the China trade downplays the numbers. For one thing, imports do not equal sales — there are warehouses loaded with stock and, here in Beijing, a surplus of wine retail shops with a deficit of customers. For another, local production figures are tricky — if one producer sells excess bulk wine to another, it gets counted twice, thus artificially raising the total. Anyway, I haven’t seen the study in question but remain skeptical of its claims.

Ignorance: In explaining the popularity of red wine in China, Guillaume Deglise, chief executive of Vinexpo, is quoted as saying, “White is the colour of death. So you don’t want to drink that, and why would you?”

Is that a misquote? If not, does Deglise realize the national alcohol of China is called – death-defying shocker – “white spirit” (baijiu)? And that beer is much more popular than wine – and much “whiter”? Is he really simplifying a billion consumers to statements like “red is lucky“? Finally, was he wearing a beret, sitting on a wheel of Brie and munching a baguette while saying it? These questions need answers!

Insight: The article then shifts to a section called the “The view from Beijing” by China-based reporter Tania Branigan. It includes Ma Huiqin, a professor from China Agricultural University, noting the excess stock in China and that growth will come from the middle and low ends of the market, including younger consumers.

“Young people are a very strong driving force … Chinese people want to try something interesting and new. Pizza has been very successful; KFC has been very successful. Twenty years ago very few Chinese drank coffee, but now so many do”, says Ma.

Some good examples but, seriously, pizza? Don’t those Chinese consumers realize mozzarella is white and that white is the color of death!?

Anyway, this story is most interesting in showing the difference between someone reporting from afar and someone reporting from the ground. It also reminds me that I did a survey last year on whether or not people bought red wine because the color is lucky — I’ll dig up the results and post those soon.

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