The wine, which seldom appeared at the tables of ordinary Chinese families several years ago, has become the favorite of the Chinese who pursue health and taste nowadays.

During the spring festival holiday, wine sales reach to a upsurge in many cities.
A wine salesman in Beijing Walmart said the wine customers were far more than the spirit and beer customers during the spring festival.

In Beijing supermarkets, wine is almost as many as spirit. The wine brands include not only Great Wall, Changyu, Dynasty, but also Martel, hennessy, Remy Martin etc. There are dozens of wine products whose prices range from several dozens yuan to more than thousands yuan (RMB), thus the consumers have wide choices.

The data from China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association indicated that the wine sales in Chinese market grew 79 per cent at an average annual rate of 15% with annual sales of USD 2,2 billion between 1994 and 2004.

The booming Chinese wine market, especially the high-end market with the high profit margin of 30% - 50%, lures foreign wineries. At present, the market share of imported wine mainly from France, Spain, Italy, German etc is 10 per cent of the whole wine market in China.

Liu jicheng, the vice general manager of Dynasty Fine Wine Group Ltd, said currently the wine consumption only accounts for 1 per cent of total alcohol consumption in China, and the per capita consumption is only the 6 per cent of the world per capita consumption. However, the wine market in China enjoys ambitious growth rates and Chinese government greatly support wine industry as well as wine consumption tax is lower than other alcohols, the development foreground of the wine market in China would be bright and brilliant.

According to the official statistics, the China’s wine output is 367,3 million litres, the sales revenue of the wine products is RMB 7,434 billion, up by 14,6 per cent and 17,06 per cent respectively compared with the same period of the previous year. From January to November, 2005, the wine output amounted to 356,5 million liters, up by 19,4 per cent compared with the same period.

Some experts predict that the wine market in China will grow at an average annual rate of 15% in a long tern. The wine output in 2010 are expected to reach 0,8 million tons, accounting for 3 per cent of total alcohol output in China.