China Is Drinking More Wine. And South Africa Is Selling It.

As wages rise in China, so has spending on luxury goods. And wine is one of them.

Over the next four years, the economic giant is predicted to overtake France and the United Kingdom to become the world’s second-largest market for wine, behind the United States.

Wine consumption in China is expected to rise by more than a third to $23 billion in 2021, when it will reach a volume of 192 million cases, according to Vinexpo. That’s a growth rate of 30%.

Noticing this trend, Hein Koegelenberg, chairman at the South African wine producer L’Huguenot Vineyards, saw an opportunity. In 2013, together with Chinese distribution company Yangzhou Perfect China, the company created a range of wines specifically for the Chinese market. The result was Perfect Wines of South Africa and the brand now accounts for 25% of all South African wines sales in China.


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