Chinese wine consumers steer clear of modern labels, says research

Chinese wine consumers are suspicious of 'modern' label design and prefer more traditional styles, a new report is claiming.

Market analysts Wine Intelligence, in conjunction with wine label designers Amphora, showed eight different labels to 40 wealthy Chinese consumers from Beijing and Shanghai who drink imported wine regularly.

They found the overriding need among the respondents – described in the report as ‘upper middle class’ – was for reassurance.

‘This typically correlated with consumers’ perceptions of how sophisticated and traditional the label looked,’ researchers said.

‘More funky, modern labelling tended to be treated with caution by respondents, many of whom still struggle to interpret some of the wine terms written on the labels.’

The author of the report, Jenny Li, suggested that as Chinese culture was closely tuned to visual symbols, the wording on the front label was in some sense irrelevant and ‘often unintelligible to all but the most sophisticated wine consumer’.

The report found that there was some scope for more contemporary label interpretations.

‘The “Elegant Contemporary” (pictured) design, which incorporates some of the traditional cues of simple line drawings and landscapes with more white space and modern typefaces, also proved popular with respondents.’

Written by Adam Lechmere