Domestic wine production in China

Given that we are discussing wine in China today in class I decided to do a bit of research on the domestic wine industry in China. China now has 10% of the world's vineyards, with 3000 square miles of land planted in grapes, second only to Spain. China has also become the world's largest consumer of red wine at 155.4M cases annually, compared to 150M in France and 141M in Italy. Most of the wine produced in China is consumed domestically. Although there is a lot of bulk production of low cost wine there are also high end red wines being produced in several regions of the country, notably coastal Shandong and far-west Xinjiang. Most of the high end wineries produce relatively high priced wines on a small scale and thus, cannot compete with established producers in other regions on price or volume. For example, in 2010 the Wall Street Journal favorably reviewed a 1998 Great Wall Cabernet that listed for $72 in Shanghai but was not available for export. Domestic producers have a rapidly growing and lucrative domestic market to serve and presently have no economic incentive to export their wine. The recent history of wine production in China dates back to 1892 when the Changyu winery was established in Yantai, Shandong province. Some of the early wineries were established to make sacramental wines for Chinese Christians. The three largest domestic wineries, with combined revenues in excess of $8B, are Changyu, Great Wall and Dynasty. Several French producers like Rothschild, Remy Cointreau (a partner in the Dynasty winery) and Moet have acquired Chinese vineyards and are producing wine locally to appeal to brand-conscious Chinese consumers. In general, this source predicts a big future for Chinese wine, not only domestically but internationally as well. In the words of Master of Wine Debra Meiburg, "China will rock our wine world--we just have to wait a little longer."
Source: China's wine industry explodes but not yet on the world stage. Michelle Florcruz. IBT 5/3/2015. http://www.ibtimes.com/chinas-wine-industry-explodes-not-yet-world-stage-1902284