Chinese avoid modern wine labels

Wine Intelligence market analysts presented eight different labels to a group of 40 wealthy Chinese wine consumers from Beijing and Shanghai, who regularly drink imported wines. These test persons from the upper middle class are used to upmarket labels, and so is the normal wine consumer in China.

“Wines with modern labels were rather treated with care by the persons asked. Moreover, they tried to interpret the terms written on the label; this is in a sense irrelevant,” Jenni Li, author of the report, explains. “One has to know that the Chinese culture is determined by visual symbols. However, names are often incomprehensible, if they can be translated at all.”

The study points out, too, that there is a scope in the interpretation of contemporary labels. And it is just contemporary pictures on the labels, like simple line drawings with buildings or landscapes in their focus, that were far more appreciated in the test persons than white or black backgrounds, dominated by modern fonts. (red.yoopress)