Moet Hennessy has signed a joint venture deal with a Chinese company to make high-end sparkling wine on the Chinese mainland.
The deal will expand the country’s wine market by educating the public and wine producers in sparkling wine, observers said.
Moet signed the deal earlier this month with state-owned agricultural company Ningxia Nongken to produce wine from a 67ha site in the northern region of Ningxia Hui.
‘This will be the first sparkling wine in China made according to traditional methods,’ a Moet spokesman said, adding that the first wines would be ready in three years.
The venture would ‘enhance the winemaking skill level in China. There will be more companies to educate the public…and develop the sparkling wine market in China,’ Rex Yeung of Hong Kong-based mainland producer Dynasty Wines told the South China Morning Post.
LVMH, Moet’s holding company, already has a healthy market for Cognac and Champagne on the Chinese mainland: it is the company’s biggest market for Cognac and the Champagne market is growing every year.
The two companies expect the joint venture to attract many more companies to China. Nongken already has 670ha planted, which it aims to expand to over 2,000ha.
The Chinese mainland’s thirst for wine continues to expand. According to the latest figures from According to the latest figures from International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR), commissioned by Vinexpo, consumption of wine by China and Hong Kong increased by over 100% between 2005 and 2009, from 46.9m to 95.9m cases.
Vinexpo predicts that this figure will increase a further 20% by 2014, to 126.4m cases.
In terms of domestic production of wine, China is set to increase by 77% over the next four years, from an average 72m cases to 128m cases.
In terms of domestic production of wine, China is set to increase by 77% over the next four years, from an average 72m cases to 128m cases.
In 2009, mainland wine producers accounted for 83% of the country’s wine consumption.
China and Hong Kong together make up the world’s largest volume importer of Bordeaux wines
Written by Adam Lechmere
