In 2019, Diageo and Chinese liquor producer Jiangsu Yanghe Distillery established a new joint venture, and jointly created a "new world whisky" - Zhongshiji.
CH Chu, Managing Director of Diageo China, said Diageo has long regarded China as one of the most important emerging markets for whisky in the world, and Zhongshi is a step in their development of the Chinese whisky market.
With the acceleration of urbanization and the rapid growth of the middle class, Chinese consumers' pursuit of quality of life is getting higher and higher, and the process of whisky development in the Chinese market is getting faster and faster, and Diageo is not the only one who sees this opportunity.
In 2019, Pernod Ricard also plans to invest 1 billion yuan in the construction of a whisky distillery at the foot of Mount Emei in Sichuan, China, covering an area of 13 hectares, and the chief bartender will be a Chinese bartender, aiming to combine the whisky manufacturing process with the local terroir of Mount Emei, which was planned to be officially put into production in 2021, but the construction period was postponed due to the epidemic and other reasons.
It can be seen that the major whisky groups have seen the rise of the Chinese whisky market. In its July report, Johns Nick said Scotch whisky had eased in post-pandemic market conditions in 2021, with double-digit sales growth and net sales in Greater China up 38 percent in fiscal year 2021 as of June 30.
Through market analysis data, Diageo said that China's alcoholic beverage market is the highest in the world in terms of total volume and value, and that the market will grow in the next five years, led by the trend of high-end.
In order to promote the pace of opening up china's whisky market, in addition to corporate cooperation, Diageo revealed in the first half of this year its plans to establish an R&D center in Shanghai, which focuses on creating new products for the Chinese market. Not only that, Diageo also opened a logistics center in Shenzhen, paving the way for future development.
Based on the goal of "products developed in China, oriented to China", Diageo continues to develop the possibility of Chinese whisky based on local market research and market trends.
Within months of the R&D center's planned launch, the group released the big news: Diageo will invest 500 million yuan to build a carbon-neutral whisky distillery in Eryuan County, Yunnan Province.
According to the plan, the 66,000-square-meter winery also includes an immersive visitor experience center to attract whisky lovers and promote the development of local tourism and cultural heritage.
The winery is built at an altitude of 2,100 metres above sea level, with a mild climate and abundant sunlight, similar to the geographical features of the Scottish Highlands, and due to the different natural terroirs, the area is rich in biodiversity and a supply of natural springs.
Sam Fischer, President of Diageo Asia Pacific Global Travel, said the natural environment and landscape allow Diageo to produce world-class Single Malt Whisky of Chinese origin, which will attract the attention of Chinese whisky lovers.
And in line with the Sustainable Development Goals mentioned in Vision 2030: A Spirit Forward, the winery will use renewable clean technologies to achieve the goals of carbon neutrality, water recycling and zero waste.
On November 1, Vice Governor Cui Maohu met with Diageo China General Manager Ai Enhua and his party in Kunming, and held a groundbreaking ceremony on November 2, with construction scheduled to begin early next year.
With the growth of the Chinese whisky enthusiast group, Diageo took the lead in seizing this market opportunity, from the beginning of the combination of East and West to the current creation of China's single malt whisky, Diageo for the Chinese market can be described as full of confidence.
In addition to foreign investment in factories, we are also exploring the path of whisky production ourselves. In the first half of this year, Shanghai Bacchus Wines established a Chinese whisky distillery in Qionglai, Sichuan Province, the Laizhou Distillery. On October 19, 2021, The Laizhou Distillery held a New Century Barrel Filling Ceremony.
The reason why it is called Kaiyuan barrels is because these wooden barrels are the first batch of yellow wine barrels in the world, made of rice wine after 15-18 months of running barrels, so they are named after the meaning of "opening up a new era", and according to the size of the winery and future plans, it can also be described as ambitious.
But whisky in our country can be said to be a new group, everything is difficult at the beginning, so it is inevitable that there is a lack of experience, so whether it is a foreign enterprise to invest in a factory, or our own factory, we can not get rid of the help of "foreign capital", not only from the capital or personnel and technology, we have a long way to go, there is a lot to learn.
But from the beginning to the present, China's whisky has been visible to the naked eye into the rise, I believe that in the next few years we can see our own single malt whisky, can we conquer the chinese whisky lover group, or even conquer the world whisky lover group? Let's wait and see.
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