China's Wine Market Is Overflowing

HONG KONG, March 19, 2007 — -- Simon Tam recalls the time he was invited by the government to host his first wine-tasting in Beijing.

He remembers standing in a room of influential Chinese VIPs and comparing the taste of a wine to "toast and butter, just as you would have for breakfast." The analogy drew blank stares so he moved on quickly, he remembers with a laugh.

When invited back to Beijing a few years later, Tam compared the smell of a wine to "burnt rice."

Bingo. Rather than giving blank stares, this time the tasters related to the comparison.

Tam, born in Hong Kong and raised in Australia, has since started his own tasting business as director of the International Wine Center in Hong Kong, Macau and Shanghai -- dedicated to bridging the East and West through cultural awareness.

As sales and consumption continue to rise, he has tapped into the growth of wine appreciation in China.

Wine sales (grape and nongrape) in China jumped 42 percent between 2001 and 2006, from 1.5 billion liters in '01 to 2.18 billion liters last year. And per capita consumption of wine in China is up 55 percent from 2000 to 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Trade Office, Shanghai, making China one of the six biggest wine consuming countries in the world.

The other leading consumers by volume are France, Italy, the United States, Germany and Spain, according to Trade Data and Analysis (TDA).

"Wine consumption is growing globally," said Eric Pope, manager of International Winery Programs at the Wine Institute in San Francisco.

"China is very attractive as the largest single wine market in the world based on its population. Yet, it is not without its significant challenges, as the channels of distribution are not fully developed and imported wine commands only a very small percentage of the total market," Pope said.

China's wine imports have tripled from $25 million in 2004 to $77 million in 2006.

With growing numbers like these, Tam is busy -- and he's not the only one.