China now has more land in use as vineyards than France, but is still behind the amount used in Spain, the world’s largest grower.
Last year it recorded a record of 800,000 hectares of vineyards, with the growth having been prompted by increasing domestic demand.
But its output ranks as the world’s seventh because its production techniques are not as efficient as elsewhere in longer established wine-producing countries.
A number of European countries have recently been reducing vineyard land and concentrating on improving efficiency and quality.
China’s harvest is expected to be 11.2 million hectolitres while that of France was 46.7 million last year.
Most of China’s wine will stay in the country where the population’s demand still outstrips domestic supply. Last year 15.8 million hectolitres, some 2 billion bottles, were purchased, leading China to become the sixth-largest wine importer in the world.
But they have a way to go to catch up with the Americans who last year drank 31 million hectolitres (4 billion bottles), ensuring that the country wore the crown of the world’s biggest consumer of wine.
