Age-old Issue: Gen Z and Wine in China

My post about Gen Z and wine in China just got published on Wine Searcher. It’s hard to cover the topic in just 1200 words, especially as about the only thing most people have figured out is that Gen Z is hard to figure out.

But with 260 million people and a unique history — it grew up with the rise of social media, e-commerce and an economy that knew but strong growth until recently — it is a spending force that will increasingly influence the wine scene.

A few quotes from the article, with the full version at this link:

“We are a generation that witnessed major shifts on all fronts of society in a very short period, so we are more accustomed to and welcoming of new products and concepts. Just within the alcohol industry, we saw the emergence of RTD (ready-to-drink), including zero-sugar low-alcohol drinks, canned wines, tea-infused alcohols, and so on.” — Andrea Leng, Chanson Winery

“They want to try every wine, no matter Chinese or imported, from big wineries or small ones, from orange wines to screw caps. They decide what wines are good compared to years past when students tried to learn what is good.” — Professor Ma Huiqin, China Agricultural University, on students in her introduction to wine class

“[Gen Z] grew up with social media. They don’t follow the traditional wine critics or wine professionals. They like to create their own communities and they like to follow people speaking their language.” — Terry Xu aka ‘Xiao Pi’, leading wine KOL

“We have a substantial percentage of young and female consumers for our brands, perhaps because of the more novel forms of wine products we are providing, like bag in box, ready-to-drink mulled wine and the wine punch series called ‘juice wines’.” — Wang Shenghan aka ‘Lady Penguin’, leading KOL

“We are preparing a big five-year promotional plan for this generation, which includes pairing Chinese cuisine from different cities with local and international varieties we cultivate in Greece. I believe this generation will change all of the wine market in China because their consumption is real.” — Liakos Constantinos, Greek wine importer Hellenic Agora

For more, including the kinds of wines Gen Z tend to pursue, read the full article here.

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