Brave New World - an analysis of the Chinese grape and wine industry

摘要

The Wine Industry Journal has asked for my views about the future of the Chinese wine industry. I thought it would be useful to add Spain and Australia to this comparison. We need to begin by considering the meaning of 'Old' and 'New' Worlds. Conventionally, Europe is the Old World, and, thanks to explorers like Columbus the New World is the Americas. Since then, the definition has stretched to include other European colonies like South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as New World. This is the accepted convention when talking about wine.rnThe picture becomes blurry when we talk about Asia; is it Old or New World? It had thriving and well-structured societies without European visitation, and even had indigenous vines, and a wine culture. Even though countries like China and Japan are rapidly developing its wine business in today's world, and can be considered among other New World players, they should be considered Old World. Let's not get hung up on definitions.