Private winery draws investors' strong interest

By Zhao Ruixue in Rushan, Shandong province (China Daily) Updated: 2014-11-17 07:30

Peng says her plot is expected to produce 600 bottles of wine every year and for each bottle she will pay 50 yuan ($8.2).

"I think it is a fair price, to spend 30,000 yuan buying 600 bottles of wine which will bear your own customized trademark, logo and greeting. These are precious presents," she says.

"The wine made at Taila has the personality that I like."

Li Changgang, another buyer who has bought three vineyard plots in the Taila area, sees it as more of an investment.

"China's wine industry is promising. What I will produce at my vineyard will be limited, so that makes it a good investment," he says.

From the city of Weihai, in eastern Shandong province, Li has the comfort of knowing fully well that the area produces good wine.

Positioned at the eastern tip of Shandong Peninsula, the area is adjacent to the city of Yantai, where the country's first industrialized wine manufacturer was set up by a Malaysian Chinese in 1892.

The region now brews more than 30 percent of China's wine products.

"The area around Weihai has abundant sunshine, sandy soil and with the sea nearby, all the elements are in place to make a good product," says Li.

Liu Shuqi, the author of the Codes of the Wine Industry, points out that as some Chinese investors have experienced losses with other financial products, a growing number are becoming more passionate about investing in wine instead.

"Investors prefer wine futures, especially, which are bought before the wines are actually bottled and released onto the market," says Liu.

"Wines that are much cheaper and limited in quantity have become the investors' favorites."

Weihai-local Li says he won't be selling the bottles of wine he produces. Instead, he will keep them as a personal investment.

But other people, much like Peng Xiaoxia, will just give the wine to friends and family to enjoy.