Vinexpo runs from May 29 to 31 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and has attracted 1050 exhibitors from 28 countries.
Of the 15,000 visitors expected to attend the event, organisers claim around 9,500 will be China-based wine and spirits importers, wholesalers, retailers, duty free buyers and hotel and restaurant professionals.
And they will be representing a market that is rapidly changing in terms of intake and of taste.
At the moment what you see in Chinas wine consumption is that there are two levels, explains Simon Tam, the man responsible for developing the international auction house Christies wine sales in Asia. There are the wines that are consumed domestically and then the wines that are consumed in hotels and in restaurants. And the two are very different.
Domestically, the majority of wine consumed in China remains locally-made reds which Tam describes as not very strong, and not very alcoholic and retail for around 25 to 85 yuan (RM11.95 to RM41.80). An example is the Qingdao Winerys Cabernet Gernischt dry red.
Then there are the wines consumed by Chinas rising middle and wealthy classes, which are predominantly French red wines from the Burgundy and Bordeaux regions and can fetch prices as high as the HK$4.2 million paid at auction in Hong Kong last year for a 300-bottle collection of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild a record for 2011.
But as more people in China drink wine and the consumption per capita is expected to double by the end of 2014 Tam says that more tastes will become varied.
Its an inevitable evolution rather than a change, he says. The Chinese wine mark! et hasnt actually grown up yet but there is a kaleidoscope of wine coming in now from all over the world so it is inevitable that tastes will change as wine drinkers are exposed to more varieties. AFP-Relaxnews
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