Cheers to the Health of the Chinese Red Wine Market

By Aliza Kempner

Thanks to new urban affluence and a penchant for the color red, China has become the biggest market worldwide for red wine. Over 1.8 billion bottles sold in China in 2013, with economists attributing the surge to the color’s affiliation with the Communist government and good luck, in contrast with the color white, commonly associated with death in Chinese culture. Since the mid-2000s, sales have steadily climbed and today’s sales figures demonstrate a 175 percent increase from those in 2005. 

The Guardian sheds light on this trend in the world of vin rouge as well as the interactions between state restrictions on corporate excesses and wine-makers looking for new customers.