In recent years, Shangri-La wines have attracted attention from the industry because of their quality, but some products are often priced at thousands of yuan or even tens of thousands of yuan per bottle, which has also confused some wine merchants and consumers.
01
Some of the wines are considered by professionals to be close to international standards
Not long ago, when I participated in the China Wine Competition at Wynn Palace in Macau, I talked to a practitioner who said that the quality of some red wines in Shangri-La's region is very close to that of famous foreign wineries.
At one of the luncheons, I tasted a red wine from the appellation, which was indeed the best domestic red wine I had tasted on the past two days, and it was very close to the one I tasted during the master class at Château Bordeaux in the afternoon.
Fang Yi, General Manager of Changsha Portugal One Fine Wines, pointed out: "To make a good bottle of wine, a good terroir and a good brewing are indispensable, and the Shangri-La region has a good terroir, so as long as these wineries have good winemakers and winemaking techniques, they can make good wines." ”
Chen Xun, a wine lecturer and founder of Dumeitang, pointed out that the terroir of the Shangri-La wine region is good and has characteristics, such as sufficient sunshine, obvious temperature difference between day and night, long grape growing period, and ripe grapes.
02
It often costs thousands of yuan, and recently there is a super high-priced single product of 18,800 yuan
In terms of promotion, the Shangri-La production area takes the high-end route. As early as 2018, Shangri-La Wine Co., Ltd. took the lead in establishing the first single vineyard standard, "Technical Regulations for Wine Grape Cultivation in Diqing Plateau", claiming to be officially in line with foreign high-level and high-quality standards.
In terms of product pricing, many wines from Shangri-La's region are also very expensive. Whether it is Xiaoling, Sanctuary, or Aoyun built by LVMH, the price is more than 1,000 yuan, and some even reach the level of 3,000 yuan.
WBO found on the 1688 wholesale network that the price of 6 red and 1 white winery in the domestic Shangri-La production area is 7,000 yuan, that is, the wholesale price is 1,000 yuan per bottle.
An industry insider spoke to the WBO and said: "The Shangri-La appellation is where grapes are grown on the slopes of the mountains, and each plot has its own microclimate, which is expensive but produces good wines and does not produce high yields. Although they did not say it publicly, judging from some actions, they may want to build a standard Burgundy. ”
The promotional article published by the region in the Ole boutique supermarket is titled "A bottle of wine from the Tibetan Himalayas, why not lose to Burgundy?"
Recently, Baozhuang, the former owner of Paffei Winery, who is the chief winemaker from Shangri-La, has launched Sulu, the birthplace of Sulu, worth 18,800 yuan, after launching 1,680 yuan per bottle of dry red and dry white, known as the most expensive Chinese wine.
For such a price, many wine merchants have mixed reviews. Fang Yi believes that the quality of Shangri-La's wines is worthy of this value. Secondly, if there are conditions to do high-end, the winery owner is of course willing, if the market does not accept it, the future can consider reducing the price.
Lin Li (pseudonym), a boutique wine seller in Chengdu, said: "The choice of 1,000-3,000 yuan wine is too wide, and there are many products with more brand value to choose from, but the rise of high-priced production areas can set a benchmark for the industry, and China is a diversified market, and some people may use it to sell feelings." But as a professional wine merchant like me, I don't buy such wine. ”
A wine merchant in Xi'an directly pointed out that some ultra-high-priced wines in the production area ranked low among 10 similar-priced wines in a blind tasting activity organized by local enthusiasts, which was suspected of "listening to flowers" in wines.
In this regard, Shen Yi, a veteran of the wine industry, pointed out: "The pricing of high-end wines has multiple dimensions, including the value of the appellation, the historical story, and the quality. Shangri-La's wines are only of 1,000 yuan in quality, but none of them are worth anything. In this way, consumers may buy a bottle out of curiosity and try it, but the repurchase rate will be low. ”
According to Cheng Peng (pseudonym), a Yunnan wine merchant familiar with Shangri-La's production area, "Shangri-La's wine grapes have only been cultivated on a large scale for more than ten years. ”
As for the pricing logic of Shangri-La products, Shen Yi said: "The well-known brand in the production area is Ao Yun, and the price of Ao Yun is about 2,800 yuan. But Ao Yun belongs to LVMH and has luxury genes and an international sales network, while other products do not. ”
"In fact, the pricing strategy of Shangri-La's appellations is very similar to that of some appellations a decade ago, and it is also benchmarked against each other within a small circle, rather than against the international market. Whether this pricing is sustainable depends on how the market reacts. Shen Yi said.
Cheng Peng said: "The wine production capacity of Shangri-La is not large, and there is no need to enter the professional wine wholesale channel, but to sell it to some VIP customers and high-end ready-to-drink channels. Due to the similarity of user profiles, some wine merchants who sell high-end burgundy may purchase them as a supplement to their products. ”