CRI听力: China's Sky-rocketing Wine Consumption

With Chinese drinking habits now said to be undergoing fundamental changes, experts are now predicting that this country is going to become the world's 6th largest consumer of wine by 2014.

As our Jingnan reports, this prediction comes as the traditional consumption of beers and spirits in China begins to give way to wine.



Wine just started to hit Chinese consumers' radar these past ten years. The world's leading wine and spirits showcase, Vinexpo, reports that China's wine consumption doubled from 2005 to 2009. The group expects China's wine consumption to grow by nearly 20 percent in the next three years.

The Chief Executive of Vinexpo, Robert Beynat says drinking wine is now the in-thing to do in China.

"Wine is fashionable, and is especially (so) in young generations. It's a sign of status and they say 'woo, we are trying!'

And status is the name of the game when it comes to China's nouveau riche.

The CEO of China Wines Information Website, Quxing, agrees that wine is more popular because people have money to spend.

"With the high-speed development of Chinese economy in the past thirty years, people's life quality and purchasing power has been greatly improved. After they get rich, people want to take care of themselves by drinking something that tastes good. That helps boost the wine market."

Chinese consumers downed about one billion bottles of wine in 2010. That might sound like a lot, but that's less than one bottle per person. Compare that to the global average of five bottles per person.

But Quxing thinks the day is coming when China will catch up to the world.

"There's an enormous space for development in China's wine market. If people consume wine at the average international level, the total amount would be unimaginable."

And sharp-sighted vintners want to cash in on this market.

Both foreign and domestic wine companies are all coming up with strategies to attract more Chinese consumers.

Distributor Gemeng manages imported wines in Beijing. His idea is to adapt Western wines to Chinese food culture.

"For example, Shanghai dishes are quite light and they also taste a little bit sweet, so the good match for them would be moderate white wine. As for northeastern food, which is often cooked in big pots and has a stronger flavor, red wine goes perfectly with it."

Gemeng says he's still experimenting. He wants to find as many delicious pairings as possible between the unlikely coupling of a Western drink with Eastern cuisine.

For CRI, I'm Jingnan.