St Pierre Jr: greater confidence for Chinese wine consumers

Chinese wine consumers are starting to look beyond famous Bordeaux brands and developing greater confidence in their own tastes, according to the head of China’s largest premium wine importer.

 

Speaking to the drinks business this week, Don St Pierre Jr, CEO of ASC Fine Wines, said: “While typically consumers are interested in Cabernet Sauvignon or certain regions, with Bordeaux being the most important, what we are starting to see is that the consumer who has been drinking wine for three-to-four years has developed a sense of confidence in their own tastes and preferences and that should lead to a much greater variety of wines being consumed in China.”

 

Continuing, he explained: “Now they are tasting, liking and buying but before they were tasting and liking, but not buying, because they had not heard of the wine and it wasn’t a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Bordeaux château.”

 

Concluding, he said: “There are new waves of consumers coming into the market for wine every year – and each year the wave is bigger.”

 

St Pierre is currently relaunching Domaines Barons de Rothschild (DBR) (Lafite) throughout China having taken on the exclusivity for the company’s wines on 1 January this year.