"Huaxia Wine News" reporter Liu Xuexia
Only by returning to the essence of wine, adapting to the changes in consumer demand, doing a good job in quality, and creating a good brand can we expand the category and create a beautiful era of liqueur
In the past two years, the category that has always been a little "niche", liqueur, has begun to appear on a bigger "stage".
In 2022, the liqueur industry will achieve sales revenue of 26.2 billion yuan, and the year-on-year growth in revenue and profit has surpassed that of rice wine and wine, making it the third largest liquor in China after liquor and beer. While the overall growth rate of the wine industry is only 5%, the wine industry maintains an average annual growth rate of 30%. **By 2030, the market size of liqueur will reach 200 billion yuan. On December 15, the China Liquor Industry Development Conference and Liquor Value Forum hosted by the China Liquor Industry Association was held in Yibin, Sichuan, and Song Shuyu, chairman of the China Liquor Industry Association, revealed the above information in his speech.
It has become the third largest liquor, with an annual growth rate of 30%, and the future market size will reach 200 billion. There are all kinds of signs that the liqueur is in a state of rapid development and overall improvement, and is ushering in a new spring.
Although the liqueur industry has begun to take shape and has broad prospects, it is also unavoidable that it is still in the initial stage of development and there are various problems that need to be solved urgently. Industry insiders believe that only by taking consumers as the core, giving full play to the natural advantages of liqueur, and meeting the trend of diversified and personalized consumption, can liqueur occupy a dominant position in the fiercely competitive liquor market.
Jumped to the "third largest liquor", "dew" from the **
Liqueur began in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, expanded to the Chu and Han dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Yuan dynasties, and was abundant in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Although it has a long history of development, the development of this category is slightly lagging behind due to insufficient consumer awareness and product popularization.
What is the length of liqueur, it has been a problem that has plagued the industry for a long time. When it comes to liqueur, whether it is consumers or industry practitioners, the first thing that comes to mind is the wine that has been soaked in various medicinal materials and has health care and medicinal functions. Therefore, the "number vein" liqueur, first of all, must be clear, what is liqueur?
Dew wine is not medicine, it is wine, and like white wine and rice wine, it is one of the traditional liquors unique to China. At the China Liqueur Industry Development Conference and Liqueur Value Forum, Song Shuyu said that Liqueur should have the attributes that wine should have, including material attributes, spiritual attributes, and cultural attributes, rather than the efficacy attributes of medicine. Only by clarifying this point will the development direction and realization path of the liqueur industry be clear.
In recent years, standards for liqueurs have been developed. In December 2021, the Group Standards Review Committee of the China Alcoholic Beverages Association issued the announcement of T CBJ 9101 "Liqueur" and T CBJ 9102 "Liqueur Vintage Liquor (Baijiu Liquor Base)", which officially implemented the standard for liqueurs, and the definition and production process of liqueur have been clearly and systematically defined.
Under the new national standard, liqueur is defined as a beverage liquor with a specific style made of liquor and rice wine as the base liquor, added to substances that are both food and Chinese herbal medicines or specific food raw and auxiliary materials or in accordance with relevant regulations, and are made by dipping, extracting, or re-distilling or directly adding specific ingredients extracted from food.
With the high standard and high quality of activities such as the Liqueur Summit, the T5 Summit, and the Shanghai Wine Expo, as well as the selection of the "National Liqueur Evaluation Committee" and the selection of the Liqueur Award products, liqueur has received extensive attention inside and outside the industry.
In recent years, giants such as Wuliangye Xianlin, Jinjiu, Fenjiu Zhuyeqing, and Luzhou Health Liquor have also continued to increase investment. According to the data released by the China Liquor Industry Association, in 2021, there were only 149 liqueur production enterprises above designated size, and in 2022, more than 5,000 domestic liqueur companies were involved in "liqueur". Obviously, under the "general trend" of decreasing the scale of liquor enterprises in the liquor industry, the number of liquor enterprises has bucked the trend**, which shows the development space of the liquor industry.
It has become a new direction for the competition in the wine market
In the domestic liquor market, liquor undoubtedly occupies a high market position, but the competition in the liquor market is very fierce, and the emergence of liqueur may provide a new development direction for the brand.
On the one hand, dew liquor can be used as the base liquor, but at the same time, it is necessary to add the raw materials of the same origin as medicine and food, and make it after some processes, adding some "health" genes on the basis of liquor;On the other hand, the health and health preservation value of liqueur is more prominent, suitable for self-drinking, gift-giving and other scenarios, and is more in line with the expectations of healthy drinking.
At present, with the advancement of a better life, people's personalized needs are becoming more and more prominent, and the needs of internationalization, youthfulness and aging are also increasing, and the new liqueur standards have opened up a space full of imagination to meet people's individual needs.
First of all, the raw materials of dew wine are more extensive, China is rich in land and resources, and there are many authentic raw materials that can be used for the brewing of liqueur, such as bamboo sunflower in Yibin, honeysuckle in Nanjiang, rose in bitter water, tartary buckwheat in Zuoyun, ginseng in Changbai Mountain, chrysanthemum in Bozhou, lychee in Luzhou, Fuding white tea and so on. This makes the liqueur products more distinctive and regional, which coincides with the current rural revitalization and local characteristic economic development
Secondly, the new standard liqueur has a wide range of degrees from 3 degrees to 68 degrees, which can better meet the drinking needs of different groups of people
Thirdly, the richness of the raw materials of liqueur will surely make the products present diversity and richness, which will make liqueur have more natural advantages in meeting personalized and diversified needs in the future.
At the same time, the rich theories and culture of food therapy in Chinese history, as well as the cognition and application of wine in traditional Chinese medicine, make liqueur have natural advantages in terms of comfort and pleasure after drinking.
Discover the "dew of the future" of dew wine
The fact that liqueurs were able to successfully advance to the third place in the wine industry was behind the continuous and steady growth. With the overall growth rate of the wine industry only 5%, it is not easy for liqueurs to maintain an average annual growth rate of 30%. However, at present, China's liqueur accounts for less than 3% of alcohol consumption, so there is huge room for development.
How to take advantage of the east wind, seize the industrial dividends, and accelerate the high-quality development of the liqueur industry?At the Liqueur Value Forum of the China Liqueur Industry Development Conference, industry experts discussed the value and future development path of Liqueur from the perspective of "category, quality and brand", and discussed the technological innovation strategy of Liqueur.
Song Shuyu believes that as one of the traditional Chinese liquors, how to inherit the brewing skills, how to innovate and develop, how to seize the opportunity in the fierce market competition, and how to break through at the level of consumption and culture are issues that must be clear to the entire liqueur industry.
Regarding the future industry of liqueur, Wang Xuliang, secretary general of the liqueur branch of the China Liquor Industry Association, said that the category value of liqueur lies in its "root" and "soul", which grows with the development of Chinese civilization and has cultural attributes. In the face of the era of diversified and personalized consumption, there is a broad space, we should first do a good job in the quality of liqueur, and then create a liqueur brand, so as to drive the development of the category.
Liqueur has a profound cultural heritage and technical heritage, including thousands of years of people's understanding and practice of the integration of wine and medicine. Sun Baoguo, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former president of Beijing Technology and Business University, put forward three suggestions for the development of liqueurSecond, the concept of traditional Chinese medicine health preservation is the source of innovation in liqueur, and "curing diseases" is the fundamental follow;The third is that dew wine is not a medicinal wine, it is better than a medicinal wine, it is not for the purpose of curing diseases, and its universality should be combined with specificity.
Han Beizhong, a professor at China Agricultural University, said that dew wine shows a development trend of low intensity, diversification and internationalization, and more than eighty percent of consumers choose liqueur because it can make people feel happy and relaxed. Therefore, it is recommended that wine companies educate and guide consumers to understand liqueur and drink healthily.
Lu Fuping, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and president of Tianjin University of Science and Technology, proposed the "four modernizations" to clarify the future road of liqueur. The first is to realize the mechanization, automation and standardization of the production process under the production digital standardThe second is the rejuvenation of flavor, that is, the low alcohol content, sensory personalization, and fashionable design;The third is the health of products, and continue to dig deep into the health value on the basis of the enrichment of raw and auxiliary materialsFinally, the internationalization of the market, with history as the key link, and Wenxinglu to complete the standard quality expression.
Mao Jian, a professor at Jiangnan University, made a more detailed and in-depth study of the digital development of liqueur, and he believes that the core content of liqueur quality in the future can be deeply explored in the seven major areas of raw materials, base wine, extraction, perception, comfort, health and even neuromarketing.
Through systematic scientific research, more advanced food active substance extraction technology has been established, which can better endow liqueur with flavor, efficacy and characteristics. At the same time, the long historical inheritance and rich and diverse cultural accumulation have endowed the wine with unique cultural value and identity. Song Shuyu emphasized that only by returning to the essence of liquor, adapting to the changes in consumer demand, doing a good job in quality, and creating a good brand, can we expand the category and create a beautiful era of liqueur.