When it comes to France, it is always linked with wine. As a symbol of French culture, wine is closely bounded with the French way of living since it has already percolated to religion, politics, culture, and art. The history of wine-making has a long history. Although France is not the largest and earliest winemaker, it has become a leader of wine culture with its rich wine varieties and superior qualities. Nowadays, a wine connoisseur, who learns to savor its textures and explores the famous French wineries, has become a byword for style and elegance all over the world. A key commodity of French foreign trade, wine has earned a worldwide reputation for France.
In the various French-Chinese exchange activities over the years, wine exhibitions stand out as a very popular platform. As a major wine-consuming country, China is an attractive market for French wine companies. According to the Fédération des Exportateurs de Vins & Spiritueux de France (FEVS), France exported a total of 198.6 million cases of wine and spirits in 2017, among which imports to China ranked the second with an increase of 25% vis-à-vis the previous year. The well-known French wine brands such as Lafite, Latour, Mouton account for a lion’s share of China’s imported wine sales, and the entire wine market is tilting towards Asia, especially China.
This tectonic shift in the wine consumer markets has led to the transformation and upgrading of the wine brands. Taking Lafite as example, as early as 2012, sales of Lafite in China already accounted for about 15% of the total global sales, which testifies the significance of the Chinese wine consumption market. It is the recognition of the prospect of the Chinese consumer market that made Lafite Group invest in a winery project in China, which will become its third global production base after the ones in Argentina and Chile and the only one in Asia.
The popularity of wine culture in China not only drives the export sales of wine, but also promotes the development of vineyard tourism. It even attracts many Chinese investors—such as celebrities in the areas of film, sports and business as well as some well-known Chinese companies—to take over wineries. In addition, some traditional leading industries have also begun to export products of grape extract to China. For example, FICACCI, a skincare brand making grape extract as its selling point, has developed a series of products such as hand cream, body lotion, sunscreen spray and soap. Up to now, the Chinese market have made up for a staggering 80% of FICACCI’s total sales volume. Moreover, the design, research and development, and production of its products have begun to be fully transferred to China. The output of these series of brands from the beginning of the 21st century, and the input of foreign capitals, not only benefited from the appeal of French products, but from a congenial relationship between France and China.
With the acceleration of the economic globalization and the deepening of cultural exchanges among different countries, French culture and products are claiming major markets around the world at an unprecedented rate through the Internet and other channels. At the same time, wine and grape derivatives are playing an important role in cultural communication.
In the future, it is believed that grapes will open the doors for more countries, and the bonds between France and other countries will become ever tighter and closer.
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