How Hong Kong Transformed the Global Wine Trade : Culture, Geopolitics, and Taste

This timely and innovative book provides an insight into the rapid growth of the wine trade in Hong Kong after the withdrawal of the import duty on wine in February 2008, and outlines Hong Kong’s journey towards becoming a successful global wine consumption and trading hub that has transformed the wine industry worldwide.

This timely and innovative book provides insight into the rapid growth of the wine trade in Hong Kong after the withdrawal of the import duty on wine in February 2008 and outlines Hong Kong’s journey towards becoming a successful global wine consumption and trading hub that has transformed the wine industry worldwide. The book draws on information from over 40 visits to private cellars, storages, vineyards, and attendance at seminars, tasting sessions and trade fairs, as well as other wine related events; over 70 interviews and focus groups conducted with consumers, collectors, diplomats, trade ministers, and other professionals such as auctioneers, distributors, educators, restaurant managers, and sommeliers; and a wide range of marketing material. The findings of this book have practical implications, with the aim of identifying target consumers, outlining a successful formula for transforming a region into a wine hub, mapping connections amongst key individuals driving the wine trade, and assessing the potential impact of geopolitical uncertainties on the global wine trade. The book aims to contribute to the growing academic literature on business management, global consumer culture, luxury branding and marketing, and wine research. It illustrates the growth of the Hong Kong wine trade, the development of wine education, and changing consumption practices in the broader context of mainland China and other East Asian regions, highlighting their relationship with the West. The book explores what this transformation tells us about the economic history, cultural ideology, geopolitical changes, and social transformation of the region and how the creation of the wine trade was driven by visionary policymakers, inquisitive consumers, and entrepreneurial individuals. This book is relevant to courses in the fields of Anthropology, Asian Studies, Business Management, Geography, Geopolitics, Intercultural Communications, Luxury Brand Marketing, Public Health, Sociology, Tourism, and Wine Education, but equally importantly, it is of interest to professionals working in the food and beverage industry and related business sectors.