Wine Market China Nov 2011

Hong Kong: 'broader than imagined'

In a survey of more than 250 local wine businesses for her Guide to the Hong Kong Wine Trade, Meiburg debunks the idea that Hong Kong wine consumers only drink super-premium or very low quality wine with no middle market.

‘Sixty-two percent of all wine business is mid-market – Hong Kong has a really strong, solid core. That's not what anyone is saying about our market,’ Meiburg told Decanter.com.

According to the research, six out of every 10 bottles sold are between HK$100 and HK$150 – that is, for between £8 and £13 a bottle.

Nine percent of wines sold in the Special Administrative Region sell for less than HK$150 while sales over HK$1000 (£80) represent just 17% of the market.

Meiburg's study is supported by Hong Kong on-trade specialist, Applied Wine.

Christian Pillsbury, managing director, said, 'We hear a lot of hackneyed stories. A lot of people are saying there's no middle market and producers are fooled into believing those stories, but there's been very little consumer research until now.'

'The market is broader than was imagined,' he added.

According to Pillsbury, 73% of local respondents identified themselves as wine drinkers with 22% drinking wine once a week or more. Personal recommendation and brand prestige were the two key purchasing cues with region of origin unimportant.