Despite the uncertainty surrounding the global economic outlook, enthusiasm for wine consumption does not seem to be waning. The global market for wine was valued at $489.3 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.1% between 2022 and 2030, Acumen Research and Consulting said in an October 2022 report. Among them, North America and Europe account for most of the market share, while the wine market in the Asia-Pacific region, especially China, is growing rapidly, driven by national policies and changing consumer preferences.
With the progress of social economy and the improvement of living standards, more and more Chinese consumers are increasing their wine expenditure, and their education and understanding of wine are also deepening, they are more able to identify and select countries, production areas, varieties, and confirm quality indicators such as symmetry and awards when making consumption decisions. In addition, Chinese consumers are constantly seeking new, high-end experiences – according to the international wine and spirits research institute IWSR, the share of high-end and above wines in the Chinese market has increased from 15% in 2017 to 20% in 2021, and this proportion is expected to rise to about 25% by 2026.
So, what kind of wine counts as "high-end"? The definition range is broad, but quality should come first – is the taste balanced and harmonious? Can consistency be maintained consistently? Is it from a well-known production area? These factors all affect the uniqueness and scarcity of wine. In addition to quality, there must be "inheritance" behind high-end wines, which represent their long-term accumulated brand reputation and connotation, as well as the traditions and characteristics of the place of origin.
01. Attack the traditional new forces
Whether it is the region or the product, Chinese wines are showing their high-end quality and strength to global consumers. Worldwide, although Burgundy and Bordeaux are traditional high-end wine regions, some well-known estates there, such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, produce high-quality wines relatively consistently. But there is also growing attention to regions such as California's Napa Valley, Italy's Barolo, Chile, Australia, and China's Ningxia.
Judging from the results of major competitions such as Decanter, Berliner Wein Trophy and MUNDUS vini World Wine Competition, Chinese wines are becoming more and more dazzling, and Zhangyu, which has spanned three centuries, is undoubtedly one of the most shining brands. At the just-concluded FIWA, FIWA Bio & FISA French International Wine, Organic Wine and Spirits Competition in the fall of 2022, Zhang Yu won 22 medals including 4 gold medals and 11 gold medals, among which the Dragon 12 Cabernet Sauvignon dry red wine from Zhangyu's Longji Winery was the only wine to win the highest score of Cabernet Sauvignon and Trophy.
For the Chinese wine industry, Zhangyu is a relatively special existence. 130 years ago, this company, founded by Zhang Bishi, a patriotic overseas Chinese leader, kicked off the industrialization of wine in China. With a long history of development and research on quality, Zhangyu is now a trendsetter in the globalization of Chinese brands, and the meaning of "Changyu prosperous" is becoming more and more apparent.
Recently, Jim Rogers, a former partner of the "Quantum Fund", told the media that in the past 40 years, no country has developed as rapidly, so strongly, and so steadily as China, and the Chinese people have begun to consume wine more and more like people in other countries, so he holds Chinese wine stocks. He also said he would leave his Chinese stock holdings to his children.
According to media reports, Rogers bought Zhangyu shares as early as 1999 and made good returns through long-term holding. It is worth mentioning that Rogers has continued to increase its holdings of Zhangyu's shares in recent years, which shows confidence in China's wine giants.
In order to further convey to the world China's determination and ability to produce high-end wines, Zhangyu launched the high-end brand "Longji", hoping to share first-class quality and unique wines with the world based on Chinese terroir.
Ningxia Longji Winery
02. How to make a "really good wine"?
There is a famous Parker's law in the international wine market: "Wine above 90 points cannot be bought, and wine below 90 points cannot be sold." ”
The so-called Parker, the founder of Parker Wine Review and Wine Advocate magazine, Robert Parker, a famous American wine critic, whose 100-point scoring system has a strong influence in the international wine market.
In 2020, the Parker team announced the tasting record of the 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon Dry Red, giving a score of 93 points, the score is in the "90~95 points" range, the Parker scoring system defines wines in this range as: "excellent wines of great complexity and excellent quality." ”
"When tasting the dragon oracle, you can taste that the sunshine in Ningxia is abundant, you can taste that the soil there is influenced by the water of the Yellow River, you can taste all its characteristics, and all its flavors are really good and represent the best Chinese wine." Fongyee Walker MW, the world's first world wine master based in Chinese mainland, said of the oracle.
Fongyee Walker MW, the first world wine master based in Chinese mainland
In addition to the praise of authoritative wine critics, more and more high-grade, high-net-worth individuals also favor Longji.
"Kangdi, Lafite, including our Zhangyu dragon oracle, the quality must be very good." According to the famous violinist Lu Siqing, Chinese wine brands have really begun to treat wine as an art. At the recent "National Red Dragon Oracle - World Entrepreneur Shanghai Center Night" event, business elites from banking, insurance, finance, investment, high-end consumer goods and other industries also praised the quality of the dragon oracle.
In order to make the dragon oracle into a high-quality "work of art", Zhang Yu invested in land selection, grape planting and winemaking technology at any cost. Since 2006, Longji has been using the "reverse verification method" to select plots in the eastern foothills of Helan Mountain in Ningxia, which is recognized as the golden area for the production of high-end wines: the grapes grown in each small plot are fermented separately in small tanks, and only small plots that can "grow good wine" for several years can be included in the exclusive base of the winery. For 16 years, almost all over the entire Helan Mountain East Foothills appellation, Longji accurately selected 25 small plots totaling 5,600 mu from the 82,400 mu base as the exclusive base of the winery.
In order to allow each grape to ripen under the same ventilation, light and heat conditions, "grow 100 grapes", the Longji team created the "inclined horizontal dragon trunk" planting rack type, which controls the inclination angle between the main trunk and the ground within 45°, and the grape fruiting part is only between 60 cm and 80 cm above the ground, and all other parts are discarded. In addition, through field primary selection, manual ear selection and optical grain selection, the elimination rate of more than fifty percent makes any little defect "hidden".
In the vinification stage, in order to stimulate more aromas and structural types of grapes, Château Longji will macerate in three temperature zones of 5-10 °C, 26-28 °C and 16-20 °C, and use three rounds of microbial fermentation of non-Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and lactic acid bacteria, the whole process requires more than 20 fermentation processes and takes 30 days to complete. On the other hand, in order to give the wine its unique personality and style, the original wine is aged for more than 600 days in more than 30 high-end oak barrels with different textures and degrees of roasting, and the team of winemakers blends more than 100 base wines from the perspective of skeleton, skin and flesh, aroma and balance. Every year, more than 20 senior bartenders and winemakers from around the world are invited to mix different proportions and styles according to the experience of each master. After that, after the blind tasting selection of the technical review committee of Zhangyu Company, the wine with the best taste can be made into a "big sample", and then after 6 months of vat fusion, and then bottled storage for 6-24 months, the final product is on the market.
Dragon oracle wine
Ingenuity, dedication and persistence have made Longji more and more recognized in the international market. From being ranked first in the Financial Times' "Best Wines in China", to being one of the seven wines recommended to the world by Jancis Robinson MW, the "First Lady of Wine", to winning the "Best of Show China" at the MUNDUS vini World Wine Competition and being selected into Vinum magazine's "World's 100 Bottles of Top Wines" list... The Dragon Oracle, which has won hundreds of world awards, has become an outstanding classic in Chinese wine.
03. From Chinese brand to world brand
As a member of the current wave of Chinese brands going overseas, Longji is passing on its own quality and making a Chinese mark in the global high-end wine market in various ways, which is a contemporary globalization road, and more importantly, it can promote the further integration of China and the world through a common symbol and context.
The report of the 20th National Congress of China proposed to enhance the influence of the communication power of Chinese civilization, adhere to the position of Chinese culture, tell Chinese stories and disseminate Chinese voices well, show a credible, lovely and respectable image of China, and promote Chinese culture to better go to the world. In this context, Longji and many Chinese high-end brands are naturally responsible: in the international cultural exchange event "2022 Global Common Time - Beijing CBD Mid-Autumn Festival Night", Longji appeared as a designated wine, and received tastings from many envoys from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and other countries; At the exchange meeting between the Japan-China Business Association and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, the dragon oracle was presented to each other as a "precious gift from China"; In 2021, the dragon oracle became the wine for the reception of guests at the official residence of the Chilean Embassy in China, and was praised by Chilean guests; At the welcome banquet of the 8th China-Japan-ROK Summit in 2019, the dragon oracle was selected as the wine for the dinner, showing China's sincerity and enthusiasm...
At the dinner at the official residence of the Chilean Embassy in China, Longji wine became the wine for entertaining VIPs
The performance of Longji in the global high-end terminal also shows the strength of the "wine king" - the British royal wine merchant Berry Bros and Rudd (BBR) introduced Longji winery products in 2013 and set up a permanent sales cabinet, which is the first time BBR has set up a permanent sales counter for Chinese wines, and Longji has become the first Chinese winery wine to enter the European market. At the same time, Longji has also entered many well-known Michelin restaurants such as the three-Michelin three-star Vendome in Germany, the three-Michelin three-star Xinrong Ji (Xinyuan South Road) in Beijing, the two-Michelin-starred Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (founded by the British three-Michelin three-star chef Heston Blumenthal), the Shanghai two-Michelin-starred 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA (founded by the Italian three-Michelin three-star chef Umberto Banna), and the Shanghai two-Michelin-starred Joel Lubusson Food Shop.
Sun Jian, general manager of Zhangyu Co., Ltd., once shared the "blind tasting story" of Longji in Europe with the media: "Before the outbreak of the epidemic, I had to go to Europe every year to participate in the promotion meeting held by local Longji dealers. The usual practice of these distributors is to invite the world's wine masters, sommeliers of well-known restaurants, professional buyers and media reporters together, and then put the dragon oracle and the wine kings of the world together for blind tasting, from their demeanor, the evaluation of the taste, I can judge that our dragon oracle is definitely not worse than them. Not only that, the score of the dragon oracle is often in front, and it has become the first on the scene many times. ”
For Longji, each appearance shows more people the calm confidence of Chinese wines, and also explains the high-end connotation of Chinese terroir to the world.
Sun Jian, general manager of Zhangyu Joint Stock Company
At present, Longji has been exported to 45 countries on 5 continents, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia, and Canada. In the UK, there are more than 1,000 terminals selling Longjia Winery wines in London alone, including the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London, Sexy Fish in Berkeley Square in London, Selfridges in London, and 67 Pall Mall, a high-end club in London, known as the "world's largest wine archive". In addition, the figure of the dragon oracle has also appeared in the Le Clos wine and spirits duty-free shop at Dubai International Airport, Burj Al Arab in Dubai, Vinoteka80/100, a well-known wine store in Russia, the Ontario Liquor Authority Specialty Store (LCBO), and Meregalli in Italy and other high-end terminals.
"Taste the world, love China more", the dragon oracle not only shows the feelings of home and country carried by a century-old national brand, but also an international expression of China's self-confidence in comprehensively promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation Chinese. In this process, the oracle wants to evolve itself from a Chinese brand to a world brand, to give people a sense of belonging, to feel that they are part of "a larger and more meaningful theme and realm", after all, local brands show "what we are", while world brands show "what we want to be".
As Sun Jian said, there is no evaluation agency in the world to evaluate the wine king, but I hope that through the unremitting efforts of the dragon oracle, everyone will feel that the dragon oracle is indeed the Chinese wine king.
Zhangyu, which has spanned three centuries and gone through 130 years, has ranked fourth in the world in terms of scale and second in brand value, and its pace towards the world is becoming more and more determined and calm.
John Steppfeich, editor-in-chief of the internationally renowned wine magazine Decanter, once said: "The progress made by Zhangyu is amazing, the era of Chinese wine is coming, which will have a huge impact on the entire wine world!" ”
Obviously, whether it is Zhang Yu or the dragon oracle, it is worth the world's greater and more expectations.
Disclaimer: The information related to the voice of the brand is creative content, and the corporate data involved in the article is provided by the brand.