As China Wine Market Gets Mature, Is Screw Cap Booming Now?

Write | WBO Morris    Translate and Edit | WBO Kiwi 

Wines produced in new world regions, including many fine wines, prefer screw cap than cork, but when they entered China market, in order to adapt to the ceremonial sense of drinking, deliberately changed to cork for the needs of importers. This also led to the phenomenon that screw cap only accounted for small proportion in China imported wines.

What is more interesting? In the past two years, many domestic wines began to use screw cap quietly , many of whom are big brands and mainstream wines.

Chang Yu ZENITHWIRL series, positioning for young people, will upgrade its package at the end of August and early September, this big item changed its old package of cork, replaced with screw cap. According to Sun Jian, vice president of Changyu, analyzed: The change from cork to screw cap is largely attributed to the free life style of 80s and 90s, it’s easier to open screw cap and drink whenever and wherever they want. In addition, screw cap is now becoming the international trend, Chang Yu ZENITHWIRL series, was just on-trend.

Chang Yu ZENITHWIRL series

Another famous domestic wine company, Grand Dragon, has launched a new screw cap package called LOOK UP. This wine also has "young positioning". With the characteristics of small bottle, semi sweet taste and informal drinking occasions, such as promoting this wine by highlighting "party wine". Its sales channels are mainly in online platform like Tmall to which young people usually paid more attention.

Starting from a few years ago, Grace Vinyard launched a screw cap package for New Year, but this wine didn’t sell to consumers directly, just send as gift to clients and wine critics.

Last year, the main promoted series of Hua Dong Vinyard in Qinigdao in its producing region is such package. Turning to why the use of screw cap, Song Yueping, representative of the company, introduced to WBO, “Consumers still prefer cork in East China. Based on its easy drinking, convenient storage and quality assurance like corks, also because of the mature of China market, we made this attempt in 2016. If it was 5 years ago, it must be even tougher. Last year, our screw cap package launched in supermarkets in Qingdao, we trained all the sales with related promotion skills, after a season with good explanation to consumers, now consumers gradually accepted its benefits, which also brings good sales for this product.”

Screw cap series produced by Qingdao Hua dong

For friends party and family daily consuming

Even the wine company Min Quan Jiu Ding in Henan province, at the inland areas of China, has also launched a 4-5 screw cap package in recent years, including different capacities of 187 ml, 375 ml, 750 ml.

"When parents received wine from their children, many don't know how to open the cork," Zhu Heping, General manager of the company, told WBO, “With the screw cap, it’s totally different. Some housewife could easily open a bottle of 375 ml to drink and help sleep. If not finish it, put it into the refrigerator, very convenient."

"At the time with friends, a lot of restaurants with medium or low consumption level, screw cap and small bottles are easier to open and still can share with each person a bottle, when they feel good and ask for more, then open a few more bottles. This also contributes to sales. ” Zhu added.

The wide use of screw cap in many domestic wines, proved changes of the market

Two years ago, from Grace Vinyard screw cap only for insiders to more such package produced by small wine enterprises. And now, many wine companies mainly push screw cap, which also entered the forefront products series of famous wine companies, and even appeared as mainstream products in big wine companies, such rapid development goes beyond our imagination.

Some experts of wine industry believe that this change reflects China wine market develops quietly. Of all wine consumers, young people gradually become the mainstream, and the consumption scene has not rigidly adhered to the business occasion, but for daily life. When a number of domestic wine producers detected this point, they used their own advantage of producing and selling integration, results of the rapid reaction can be expected, in the driving of mainstream wine producers in the next 3 years, screw cap will grow rapidly in China market.