As the wine market in China continues to decline, it creates opportunities for European collectors

“Mors tua vita mea”, goes an old Latin adage dating back to the Middle Ages. And it sometimes holds true even in the wine market, where the difficulties faced by some can, more or less cynically, turn into opportunities for others. This is the case, for example, with lovers of great Bordeaux wines, who in recent years have seen prices soar thanks to extremely strong Chinese demand, during a time when, in the Middle Kingdom, owning a bottle from a great château, whether as a gift or to drink oneself, was a powerful status symbol, with many wealthy Asians, from China and especially Hong Kong, purchasing vast quantities of bottles from prestigious wineries and vintages, if not entire châteaux. But this trend ended some time ago, and “everyday” wine consumption has not yet become part of Chinese customs. This is further demonstrated by data from Chinese customs reported by the “South China Morning Post” for the first six months of 2026, which shows that imports of bottled wine from EU countries fell by 16.6% in volume and 7.9% in value compared to the same period in 2025, totaling $251 million. Shipments plummeted by 24.9% from Spain, 17.7% from Italy, and 14.3% from France.
European wines, meanwhile, are following a general downward trend in imports to China, a trend that now also affects the country’s leading supplier, Australia, which has seen an 11.6% drop in volume (though with a 20% increase in value, to $297 million), and a more general decline in wine consumption in China estimated at -13% over the past year by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV). Against this backdrop, in addition to stagnant consumption, there are enormous collections sitting in Hong Kong warehouses, and often even in the Bordeaux châteaux themselves, which, through the right channels, can become opportunities for European collectors, as Asians, for the most part, having moved past the craze for European wines, now effectively don’t know what to do with them. As told to WineNews by Raimondo Romani, owner of Italy’s first auction house specializing in wine (G&R Wine Auction), founded in Rome and operating in Hong Kong since 2011, and Bertolami Fine Art, which art market analysts have once again included this year on the list of the most important Italian auction houses, and which, right now (through September 15), is holding a “live” and online auction dedicated to “Fine Wines. Icons From France & Italy”, with truly attractive starting prices, such as 2,200 euros for a bottle of 1988 Vosne-Romanée La Tache from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, or 1,000 euros for three bottles of 2005 Château Margaux, just to give a few examples.
“Thanks to the work we’ve done over the years in Hong Kong, which is the true ‘treasure trove’ of Chinese and Asian wine collecting, and to the relationships and contacts we’ve bui”, explains Romani, “today we have many opportunities to offer in our catalogs. Because wine, as an everyday consumer product, has not yet become part of Chinese culture, and now that the trend of collecting great wines at extremely high prices has passed, there are now entire collections of 40,000 to 50,000 bottles, often still in stock at the original wineries or in the warehouses of French and European wine merchants, including old and prestigious vintages that Asian collectors tend to be selling off. And this creates interesting opportunities for wine collectors, both European and beyond. Conversely, in Hong Kong, where there is a greater tradition of drinking quality wines, there are many French wines but few Italian ones. Therefore, by working in the opposite direction, from Italy, we can bring Italian bottles of a certain caliber and vintage maturity to the Asian collector audience, making them appealing, to the benefit not only of wines traded on the secondary market but also of the broader reputation of Italian wine in a part of the world that has yet to be conquered”.