The fourth China Guizhou International Alcoholic Beverage Expo has not only drawn the public's attention, but has also attracted many wine professionals.

The fourth China Guizhou International Alcoholic Beverage Expo has not only drawn the public's attention, but has also attracted many wine professionals.[Photo/gzgov.gov.cn]

On the afternoon of September 9, prestigious wine professionals including Long Chaoya, vice-president of the Guizhou Wine Industry Association; Huang Ping, deputy secretary of the Guizhou Wine Industry Association; and Sun Minyi, deputy director of the Guizhou Light Textile Design Institute, visited the expo and looked around the exhibition halls.

As wine industry insiders, they carefully looked at every exhibition booth and learnt about the products and features, manufacturing and operation, market development, innovation and branding of every participating wine company. They also offered their professional suggestions.

The wine industry insiders carefully looked at every exhibition booth and learnt about the products and features, manufacturing and operation, market development.[Photo/gzgov.gov.cn]

Most leading wine brands across the nation have gathered at this year's expo, including Moutai, Wuliangye, Dongjiu, Xijiu, Gujing, Luzhoulaojiao and JNC. Leading wine brands in Guizhou, including Guizhou Chun, Guotai, Zhenjiu, Anjiu and Guijiu, also participated.

In the exhibition booth of Guizhou Moutai, visitors could look and taste top Moutai collections. The booth also sold limited edition Moutai to people at an affordable price, attracting many visitors.

"The limited edition we are offering here has the logo of this expo on each bottle and is sold at a pleasant price. The limited edition package has three bottles and costs only 3,390 yuan ($552) for all three," said a salesman at the Moutai booth.

"Moutai has positioned itself as the national luxury wine. However, the luxury wine industry nowadays is moving downwards. In order to survive the industry, I highly recommend that the wine companies, especially the luxury wine manufacturers, launch some affordable wine products and adapt their market focus to the general public. Moutai's limited edition package in this expo is a good trial," said Sun Minyi.

"I noticed that many wine manufacturers in Guizhou have brought up customized wine services to meet a larger market demand, which, in my opinion, is a good move to develop the market and enhance their brand value," Sun added.

There have been some problems in China's wine industry, such as the imbalanced product structure, excess capacity and bubble prices, which requires a radical change in the wine industry to tackle the problems, including structural adjustment, market development and brand building.

Another luxury wine brand in China-Wuliangye also changed its market strategy in this expo. To increase affordable wine products, some brands "aim to promote mid- and low-end wine products through this expo, but not high-end wine, as there is a larger market there," said a Wuliangye officer at the expo.

"Through this year's beverage expo, we can clearly see the trend of China's wine industry in the near future: mid- and low-end wine and tonic wine," said Huang Ping.

"It smells good and tastes special," Huang said after tasting herbal wine at Dongjiu's exhibition booth.

Dongjiu is a well-known wine company in Guizhou, and it has developed herbal wine with more than 100 herbs inside.

"As much as 98 percent of wine is water and alcohol, but the last 2 percent decides a wine's specialty. The academic research has proved that Dongjiu's herbal wine has cancer resistant, anti-viral and anti-oxidation qualities. I highly suggest that Dongjiu put effort into its market development and brand building to let more customers know its herbal wine product," said Huang.

The wine professionals spoke highly of the expo after looking around every exhibition booth. Long Chaoya said, "I attended every year's beverage expo since 2001 and I can feel the improvement of this event each year. The expo has built a mature platform for exhibition and exchange, as well as sharing the development strategy, marketing channels and structures with each other, enhancing the influence of China's wine industry as a result."