As I have had occasion to write numerous times before, China is not a single wine market. It is a system of cities, each shaped by fundamentally different consumption logics. Shanghai, Chengdu, and Shenzhen illustrate this clearly. In Shanghai, wine is understood. In Chengdu, it is used. In Shenzhen, it is selected—quickly, and often comparatively.

These are not stages of the same market. They are distinct systems. The question, therefore, is no longer whether to enter China, but how to position within it.

From Market Entry to Market Fit

For years, China was approached as a distribution problem: find an importer, build channels, and expand. That model is no longer sufficient. The real challenge is not access—but alignment. Success depends on whether wines are placed in the right city, within the right consumption context, and through the right channels.

There are three structural realities one needs to be aware of. First, China is not one market: this is something so fundamental, I never tire of repeating it. Consumption is driven by different forces across cities. Education and understanding shape demand in Shanghai. Dining and social occasions dominate in Chengdu. Efficiency, comparison, and channel dynamics define Shenzhen. Treating these as a single market often leads to strategic misalignment and hopelessly unavoidable poor results. Second, consumption follows different logics. Wine may be learned, used, or selected—depending on the city. Understanding how consumption happens is often more important than understanding the product itself. Third, growth is driven by structure, not volume. The market is shifting: from institutional demand to individual consumption, from volume to value, from product to experience. Success is no longer about selling more, but about selling better—and placing correctly.

From Product to Structure

In this environment, product alone is not enough. What matters is how the portfolio is structured. A single-tier offering rarely reflects the complexity of China A layered approach is more effective: entry-level wines create accessibility, mid-tier wines drive turnover, premium wines build positioning. This allows consumers to move from entry to upgrade—naturally and progressively.

A Practical Example: Concha y Toro

Concha y Toro offers a useful illustration of how this framework works in practice. Its performance in China is not driven by a single product, but by the structural alignment of its portfolio. Growth has come less from volume expansion, and more from premiumization and clear segmentation. Entry-level wines create frequency. Mid-tier wines sustain volume. Premium wines build value. This layered structure enables consumers to move across occasions, budgets, and channels. At the same time, these wines share key characteristics: clarity, accessibility, and stylistic consistency. In a market where consumers often lack the time to decode complex appellations or labels, clarity itself becomes a competitive advantage. More broadly, this reflects a pattern often associated with Chilean wines in China: consistent style, clear branding, competitive pricing, and strong adaptability across channels. These traits make them relatively easy to understand, distribute, and consume across different cities. However, not all Chilean wines have succeeded in China. What distinguishes Concha y Toro is not the model itself, but the discipline with which it executes it. Equally important is its multi-channel presence: e-commerce builds visibility, on-trade creates usage, distribution ensures availability. Concha y Toro did not succeed by selling more wine.It succeeded by placing the right wines within the right structure.

Channels as Structure

If cities define how consumption happens, channels determine whether it happens at all. E-commerce builds awareness. Restaurants create context. Distribution ensures access. Misaligned channels do not just limit growth-they distort positioning. What this means for wineries is that China cannot be approached with a single strategy. Wineries need to: differentiate positioning by city, structure portfolios across price levels, align pricing with expectations, and maintain consistency across channels.

China is not a difficult market, only a complex one. The challenge is not understanding wine, but understanding where and how it is consumed. Success is not determined by what you sell, but by where—and how—you place it. In China, structure is not a supporting element, it is the strategy itself.