China becomes 8th biggest wine market

China has become the eighth largest wine consumer market in the world, Popular Daily reports.

China Food Association released the 2009-2010 Chinese wine industry market report on Oct. 10, saying that in 2009, Chinese production of liquor totaled nearly 7.1 million tons, beer output reached almost 42.4 million tons and wine production, 960,000 tons. Chinese wine production has maintained a compound growth rate of nearly 19 percent for seven years with huge future growth potential.

From 2006 to 2009, the surface area of Chinese vineyards increased by 6.1 percent, and grape production increased by close to 11 percent, according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV).

In 2009, China's wine production amounted to 960,000 tons, an increase of nearly 28 percent from the previous year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Berry Bros & Rudd's Future of Wine Report, published by Britain's oldest wine dealer, estimated that China's current 400 or so wineries would increase more than tenfold in the next 50 years, with a quarter of them producing fine-quality wine.

The report also predicted that China would leap from being the world's sixth largest wine producer by volume to the leading producer by 2058.

In order to appeal to increasingly affluent and sophisticated Chinese wine drinkers, more and more Chinese wineries are now adopting the "chateau wine" concept. They are employing elaborate grape-growing and careful winemaking techniques to produce ever better wines rather than resorting to mass production.

Wineries tend to make their operations visitor-friendly by providing tours of the vineyards and wine cellars and even offer conference facilities and overnight accommodation.

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chengdu are the leading wine consumption cities on the Chinese mainland.