China's Wine Market in 2026: The Numbers

• Output is up a little. Larger domestic producers made 1.6% more wine than a year earlier.
• Imports cost more but there are fewer of them. China paid more for foreign wine but bought less of it.
• Exports are tiny but jumping. They rose 140% in value, though the total is only 3,600 kl.

A kilolitre (kl) is 1,000 litres, or about 1,333 standard bottles.

China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) counts wine made by "industrial enterprises above designated size". That means companies with annual revenue above a set threshold, so small wineries are left out. By that measure, output was 63,000 kl in January–September, up 1.6%, according to NBS data reported by China Wine News (华夏酒报) and Sina and summarised by Vinetur.

It's been bumpy. September alone was 8,000 kl, down 11.1%, per the same NBS series. August had been up 20%, according to a compilation of the series reported by Vinetur.

The real centre of quality is Ningxia, the dry region below the Helan Mountains. Xinhua reports it has 261 wine enterprises, including 130 wineries, making 140 million bottles a year. Our Ningxia region page covers the estates.

This is where sources start to disagree slightly. Each counts a little differently, so we give them separately.

The China Chamber of Commerce for Foodstuffs and Native Produce, in its release of 2 November, puts January–September wine imports at US$1.167bn, up 5.61%, on 156,800 kl, down 5.32%.

China's customs data, as reported by China Wine News on 19 October, put import volume at 157.44 million litres (down 5.2%) worth RMB 8.065bn (up 1.5%).

Australian Wine Market analysis of customs data (22 October, reported by Vinetur) puts the average import price at US$7.44 a litre, up 11.7%.

The same AWM analysis shows where the growth is. Sparkling wine imports rose 31.6% in value to US$64.5m. In AWM's figures, Italian sparkling grew 53.8% in volume to 4.4 million litres. Still bottled wine, the biggest category, rose 5.7% in value to US$1.06bn while its volume fell 10.8% to 94.6 million litres.

To put that in context, AWM notes that import value peaked at nearly US$2.9bn in 2018. The market is far smaller than it was, but it's no longer shrinking in value.

China doesn't export much wine. But it's starting to. The Chamber of Commerce reports January–September exports of US$102m, up 140.24%, on 3,600 kl, up 10.08%.

Value rising far faster than volume means the bottles leaving China are getting more expensive. On those two Chamber figures, our own arithmetic gives an average of roughly US$28 a litre. That's our estimate, not a published number.

One new channel: in October, Ningxia's Helan Mountain East region set up a European sales hub with Ricardo Fernández Núñez of VIDELL in Spain, according to Ningxia Daily. It uses Spain as a warehouse base, promises 72-hour delivery within Spain, and runs a European website.

China has always been a red-wine country. That's changing. Yang Zhengjian of the WBO Wine Business Academy, quoted by Vinetur on 27 October, says the red-to-white ratio has moved from roughly 9:1 to around 10:2.5–3. That puts white wine near 30% of volume.

He gives a striking example: white wine made up 62.8% of Dynasty's revenue in the first half of 2026, he says. Dynasty and Great Wall are importing bulk white wine from New Zealand.

Not every big company is thriving, though. The same Vinetur report gives Changyu's January–September revenue as RMB 2.25bn (up 6.5%) and net profit as RMB 151m (down 19.3%).

If you want to try the whites, our guide to Chinese wine grapes explains what's being planted.

• World Congress of Vine and Wine, Yinchuan (October 2026). The 47th congress of the OIV, the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, opened in Ningxia's capital on 12 October. Xinhua says it was the first held in Asia since the congress began in 1924. More than 800 people from 51 member states attended.
• China's Wine List of the Year Awards (22 October). Judges counted Chinese wines from over 70 producers on the finalist lists. See where to drink Chinese wine in Shanghai and Macau.
• ProWine Shanghai (10–12 November). The trade fair at SNIEC is the next big moment for importers.

If you import wine into China, the message is that volume is falling but value per bottle is rising. Sparkling and white wine are where the growth is.

If you're a drinker outside China, you'll see more Chinese wine on shelves, but it won't be cheap. Exports are rising in value far faster than in volume.

These are our readings of the numbers, not forecasts. For what the critics make of the wines themselves, see our critics page, and to find producers, use the directory.

• Drink it: see where to drink Chinese wine in Shanghai and Macau.
• Visit it: start with Ningxia, or take a day trip to wineries near Beijing.
• Read next: Chinese wine guide · Chinese wine grapes · History