Summary
The 2026 China White Wine Consumption Trend Summit has highlighted a structural shift in China's wine market, described as 'red retreating, white advancing'. Yang Zhengjian, dean of the WBO Wine Business School, said the ratio of red to white wine in China was 9 to 1 a decade ago but has now reached 10 to 2.5–3, with white wine approaching 30 percent of market volume. Exports of Bordeaux AOP white wines under two litres grew 86.3 percent.
Domestic dry white production capacity is insufficient, and companies such as Dynasty and Great Wall have begun importing New Zealand bulk wine for domestic bottling. From January to September this year, China's wine imports were about 160 million litres, down 5.3 percent year-on-year, with import value of about USD 1.17 billion, up 5.6 percent year-on-year. In September, bottled wine imports from New Zealand were 1.13 million litres, up 127.5 percent year-on-year, with import value up 50.1 percent year-on-year, rising to third place among bottled wine source countries by value.
Imports from Germany grew 59.9 percent in volume and 49 percent in value. Liu Xixi, sales president of New Zealand brand Oyster Bay for Greater China, said its single-month shipments in September were roughly equivalent to the whole of 2021. Jiang Changyu, general manager of the 1919 supply chain platform, said the company's terminal wine sales share fell from about 18 percent to 6–7 percent, with white wine growing strongly.
But low-price competition is intensifying. Tianjin wine merchant Wang Sheng said some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc purchase prices have fallen from RMB 50–110 per bottle to RMB 20–30 per bottle.
Commentary
China's wine market is undergoing a structural shift, with white wine's share rising from about 10 percent a decade ago to nearly 30 percent, and New Zealand as a white wine exporter is benefiting significantly. In September, New Zealand's bottled wine exports to China surged 127.5 percent year-on-year in volume and 50.1 percent in value, jumping to third place among source countries. New Zealand varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, with their fresh taste and high value for money, meet young consumers' new scenarios of self-indulgence and food pairing, and are rapidly gaining volume in instant retail and new retail channels.
Oyster Bay's single-month shipments have reached the full-year level of 2021, confirming the demand surge. However, hidden concerns of low-price competition are emerging, with some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc purchase prices having fallen from RMB 50–110 to RMB 20–30, and homogeneous follow-the-trend behaviour may erode profits. For NZ SMEs, short-term opportunities lie in bulk wine supply and brand OEM, but long-term success requires building differentiated brand recognition to avoid falling into price wars.
China's white wine market is still in a cultivation phase, and channel fragmentation and consumer rationality require companies to deepen segmented scenarios, such as low-alcohol sweet white, organic, or specific regional stories, in order to gain a foothold during the engine-change phase.
Keywords: white wine, red retreats white advances, New Zealand wine, import data, consumption trends, low-price competition, Oyster Bay, Sauvignon Blanc
Photo by Look Up Look Down Photography on Unsplash
Source: East Money
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