Chinese Wine Culture(s): Part II(2)
Although loyalty to China is still a factor, Prof. Ma Huiqin of China Agricultural University (left) has conducted some revealing consumer surveys, including blind-tasting tests, comparing Chinese wines with some of those international wines now available in China. Generally speaking, these experiments reveal that Chinese tasters tend to reject Chinese wines when tasted blind, very often the same wines whose packaging they have previously found attractive. True enough, such wines probably will continue to sell by packaging and the allure of the ‘patriotic buy’ alone; but more discerning palates will look elsewhere for vinous satisfaction and the chance to try ‘new’, exotic wines from international countries. That said, it is likely to be a long time before the import market carves a significant chunk out of the domestic market overall; and in some ways these two sectors might exist weirdly in tandem, even at a remove: with Chinese wine becoming one kind of ‘grape beverage’ and international wines commanding different attention and, of course, different drinkers. But it’s still too early, especially in the current global economic situation, to say.
