China becoming a mainstream wine drinking nation - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

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.

More in The Telegraph.

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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