Chinese wine in duty-free shops worldwide

Chinese wine will be sold for the first time this autumn in duty-free airport shops around the world, including Rome, Paris, Bangkok, Singapore, Amsterdam and Helsinki.

Chinese producer Dragon Seal signed a 10-year agreement last month with Cognac giant Camus, also the world’s leading tax-free shop operator.

Camus will sell the Chinese wine in its duty-free outlets globally within six months, spokesman Philippe Bernard told decanter.com.

Dragon Seal, a state-owned monopoly since 2001, introduced the first Chinese wines of ‘designated origin,’ according to a Camus press release.

One wine will be made from a mixture of grape juice, and its maceration and distillation with Osmanthe tree flowers from Shanghai. The wine is sweet and has 14 to 15% alcohol.

The other wine will be a dry red blend of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon plus some Syrah from vineyards planted in the Hebei Province in northeastern China outside of Beijing.

Camus sells a series of different Chinese alcoholic drinks at its airport duty free shops worldwide under an initiative, launched by its sinophile president Cyril Camus in 2005, called ‘Spirit of China’.

Written by Panos Kakaviatos