{"id":405322,"date":"2025-11-26T06:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T06:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/405322\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T06:16:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T06:16:14","slug":"sour-grapes-european-wines-left-on-the-shelf-as-china-chases-cheaper-tipples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/405322\/","title":{"rendered":"Sour grapes? European wines left on the shelf as China chases cheaper tipples"},"content":{"rendered":"

As China\u2019s traditional spirits and premium wines grapple with declining consumption, a significant shift is under way across the beverage landscape. This three-part series<\/a> examines the challenges faced by Maotai town as its once-coveted baijiu liquor loses its lustre, the impact of economic shutdowns on European wine imports, and the rise of craft beer as a budget-friendly alternative for consumers seeking quality without breaking the bank.<\/p>\n

Marshall Su, a 30-year-old headhunter based in Shanghai, has long been a wine enthusiast. But these days, he is more likely to open a bottle at home than order one in a fancy Western restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cheaper than drinking out,\u201d he said. \u201cWith the growing popularity of Mediterranean cuisine in China, wine is becoming a go-to drink with home-cooked meals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Su is far from alone. As China\u2019s economic growth slows, consumers are looking to reduce their spending<\/a> \u2013 and expensive foreign wine is an easy place to start. Many are drinking less, switching to cheaper brands, and trawling online shopping platforms for cut-price bottles.<\/p>\n

The trend is causing a headache for vintners around the world, especially European producers that have long been leading players in China. Just a few years ago, the Chinese wine market was booming and exporters felt it was possible to sell \u201canything at any price\u201d in the country. Now, some are slashing prices as they struggle to secure orders.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s consumers are not the only ones cutting back. Global wine consumption has plunged since the pandemic, falling to an estimated 21.4 billion litres (45.2 billion pints) in 2024 \u2013 the lowest total since 1961 \u2013 according to a report by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine released in April.<\/p>\n

But the turnaround in China is still striking. After hitting a peak of about 552 million litres in 2017, China\u2019s wine imports went into a long decline that accelerated markedly during the pandemic, Chinese customs data showed. Last year, imports reached just over 165 million litres \u2013 less than 30 per cent of the total seven years earlier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As China\u2019s traditional spirits and premium wines grapple with declining consumption, a significant shift is under way across…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":405323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[191306,4740,50113,191307,64,74,22165,191308,13299,191309,191310,79,191311,4460,156,117749,117,53260,8464,191312,191313,9996,43548,2219,170,32300,191314,191315,8372,191316,191317,191318,191319,191320,24240,191321,191322,191323,257,6043,23134,15243,128,58235,67,132,68,75957],"class_list":{"0":"post-405322","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-annie-lin","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australian","11":"tag-baijiu","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-chinese","15":"tag-christopher-oconnor","16":"tag-costco","17":"tag-domane-castell","18":"tag-du-qingxian","19":"tag-economy","20":"tag-elisabeth-finkbeiner","21":"tag-european","22":"tag-france","23":"tag-french","24":"tag-germany","25":"tag-guizhou","26":"tag-hong-kong","27":"tag-hong-kong-dragonfly-international-group","28":"tag-hong-kong-international-wine-spirits-fair","29":"tag-indonesia","30":"tag-italian","31":"tag-italy","32":"tag-japan","33":"tag-kazakhstan","34":"tag-madeit-group","35":"tag-maison-le-star","36":"tag-malaysia","37":"tag-marshall-su","38":"tag-mathias-saint-marc","39":"tag-mediterranean-cuisine","40":"tag-mulando-winery","41":"tag-ningxia","42":"tag-north-korea","43":"tag-pasquale-valentino","44":"tag-premium-wine-negociants","45":"tag-riesling","46":"tag-russia","47":"tag-shanghai","48":"tag-singapore","49":"tag-south-korea","50":"tag-spain","51":"tag-spanish","52":"tag-united-states","53":"tag-unitedstates","54":"tag-us","55":"tag-xinjiang"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}