New French consumers

Wine consumption was part of a very large debate in France in the last months. Some anti-alcohol lobbies were able to stigmatize wine and spirits consumers. It went so far as to drive the French wine writers association to organize a convention on the real numbers of wine consumers in France. They showed that in the official statistics the consumption of the 70 million of tourists is included and of course drives the figures very high. It would seem French people drink about 47 l per year instead of the 55l officially advertised.

Whatever the figures, I'm more interested in what and how wine consumers buy their favorite drink. The national spending average is of 516 euros a year. This figure is an average between the 1,070 euros a year spent by the 34% of afficionados who drink mostly red wine and the 64% of occasional drinkers who spend 542 euros. Not surprisingly, French people buy mostly French wines: 68% from Bordeaux, 53% from Burgundy, 46% from Champagne and Rhone Vallye, 38% from Alsace and Provence. They buy mostly red wines (83%), but also indulge in white wines (55%) and keep a little fondness for Champagne, followed by rosé and sparkling wines.

The most important part of the study shows that people buy wine to share a good time and enjoy themselves. There is only a very tiny minority buying wine for speculation. Wine is still the best way to link people together! Cheers!

Chinese wine consumers on the rise

News from various sources confirms the rise of consumption and production of wine in China. I wrote several pages on the new Chinese consumer in Wine Brands but the phenomenon seems to be increasing. Here is the update on the subject, from the newsletter of Meininger's Wine Business International:

"Chinese wine consumption is predicted to increase by 70% by 2011, with China being the eighth biggest consumer of wine in the world by 2012, surpassing Russia. According to the China Wines Information Site, the Chinese wine industry developed at a rapid clip through 2006, with production up 14.1% to 495.1 thousand kilolitres in volume over the previous year. Sales were also up by slightly more than 25%, to total 12.952b yuan ($1.8b/€1.18b). In the first three months of 2007, profits were up 33% over the same period the year before, with the China Wines Information Site (wines-info.com) predicting that output and consumption of Chinese wine will remain high."

Eric Asimov, Sichuanese food and China

Today, for the first time ever, I posted a comment on the blog of the famous journalist Eric Asimov. I'm still a little amazed by my own audacity and wonder if I won't get some problems because of my silly comments.

Whatever... What was it about? It is the Chinese New year and Asimov had some Chinese food to celebrate and suggested some wines to accompany the food. It happens I just had dinner at a wonderful Sichuanese restaurant in Bordeaux, France, "Au Bonheur du Palais", owned by Tommy Shan and his family. If you want to read my post, go to Eric Asimov's blog. I'd like to move ahead on some thing more related to my usual topic and obsession, wine brands.

In China, consumers are not used to drink wine with their food: it is a western habit. Luckily for France, the Chinese still think that French wines are the best. That is why importers of the Classified Growths and all the luxury wines are selling their wines with no problem – sometimes even more expensively than in Europe or in the US! Wine is definitively on its way in China!

An anecdote tells it all. On April 18^th, 2007, in Beijing, some very happy Chinese tasted Chateau Haut-Brion blanc and Chateau Haut-Brion rouge: “it tastes better than rice wine or beer, and it’s better for your health”, said one of the lucky participants. Those words are milk and honey to the ears of many importers and owners of wine estates. Prince Robert of Luxembourg, whose family owns Chateau Haut-Brion, is aware of the growing interest of Chinese executives for luxury wines: “I think people are starting to understand the notion of quality brands. The luxury brand has ignited interest in the Chinese market. There's been a lot of work done by a lot of these luxury groups -- they're very visible here. I think the timing is right for us.”

Of course the market is still very small, but it is expanding dramatically. In 2005, China jumped into the world's top-10 wine-consuming countries. In 2006 Chinese wine imports doubled over the previous year, from 1.15 million cases to 2.2 million, and with annual consumption at a mere 0.7 liters per person, there is plenty of room for growth. No wonder wine-market analysts foresee a 36 percent increase in Chinese wine imports by 2010.

Wine consumers in the world: lifestyle and pleasure

Wine consumption is dropping in France, one of the historical wine producing countries in Europe but going up in Germany while the US will soon be the world's largest wine consumer.

In Germany, the consumption per habitant was 320,6 liters between August 2006 and July 2007. It's an increase of 0,5 l. per habitant. The total consumption was 16,9 millions, after France (33 millions hl), Italy (28 millions) and the US (24 millions).

How can the US be soon the largest wine consumer? "Wine Market Council President John Gillespie told decanter.com that 'most in the wine trade believe that the US passed Italy in 2007' in terms of overall consumption – and is likely to pass France in total volume of wine consumption by 2010." Even if their per capita consumption is lower than France and Italy, the US may reach the no 1 position in overall consumption as soon as 2008.

These dry figures are telling us that wine is now a lifestyle: instead of drinking beer or spirits, the Americans are turning to wine as part of a sophisticated and elegant lifestyle. Wine is the trendy drink just after work, to relax before a dinner or part of a convivial meal.

Welcome to our American friends to the club!