There is a saying that suggests, “You can’t sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo.” Unfortunately, many wine importers find themselves in similar situations in China’s wine market, where there is no historical culture of wine consumption over thousands of years, and 70% of the Chinese population has minimal or no wine knowledge.

Most attempts to decode China’s wine market focus on socioeconomic factors such as GDP and disposable income, given that “price and label” are still the most predominant purchasing triggers. Yet the evolution from “price and label” to “quality and taste” is happening, accelerated by many factors including thriving wine education institutes and the Chinese government’s anti-corruption movement.