• 1 Kotschevar L.H. & Tanke M.L., Managing bar and beverage operations, East Lansing, Educational Inst (...)
• 2 Capitello R., Agnoli L. & Begalli D., "Asian growing markets and competition: evidence in the Chin (...)
• 3 Pan S., Fang C. & Malaga J., "Alcoholic beverage consumption in China: a censored demand system ap (...)
• 4 Xin H., "China now world's most attractive wine market: exporters & professionals", China Daily, O (...)
• 5 Mercer C., "Top wine consuming countries in 2015", Decanter, 2016, April 26, p.75
• 6 Qiu H. Z., Yuan J. J., Ye B. H.& Hung K., "Wine tourism phenomena in China: an emerging market", I (...)

1Since the late 1980s, wines and spirits consumption patterns have been changing throughout the world. The consumers drink less than the past while the demand for premium wines and spirits have been increasing1. Capitello, Agnoli and Begalli2 also observed this trend of decreasing wine consumption. However, they indicated that there is increasing demand for wine in the Pacific-Asia region, such as China, Japan and Taiwan. Pan, Fang and Malaga3 found that there is a large potential wine market in China after China joined the World Trade Organization. The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) claimed Chinese consumers drank 1.72 billion liters of wine in 2016, with 6.9 percent year increase, the highest in the world4. China is currently the fifth largest wine-consuming nation in the world5. Many wine producers and vineyards regard China as the most potential market in the foreseeable future. At the same time, China was the world’s fifth largest wine production country in terms of vineyard area and produced more than 490,000 tons of wine. It ranked the seventh largest wine production country6. China also has the potential to develop as a major wine production country in the future.

• 7 Thorpe M., "The globalization of the wine industry new world, old world and China", China Agricult (...)
• 8 Pettigrew S. & Charters S., "Alcohol consumption motivations and behaviors in HK", Asia Pacific Jo (...)
• 9 Somogyi S., Li E., Johnson T., Bruwer J. & Bastian S., "The underlying motivations of Chinese wine (...)
• 10 Balestrini P. & Gamble P, "Country-of-origin effects on Chinese wine consumers", British Food Jour (...)
• 11 Williamson P., Robichaud J. & Francis I. L., "Comparison of Chinese and Australian consumers’ liki (...)
• 12 Jiang L., "Comparison of the difference between Chinese and Western drinking culture", Asian Socia (...)
• 13 Shepherd R. & Sparks R., "Modeling food choice", H. J. H.Macfie. & D. M. H.Thomson (Ed.), Measurem (...)
• 14 Laroche M., "Impact of culture on marketing strategy: Introduction to the special issue", Journal (...)

2China can be an emerging wine consumption market and a competitor to existing wine production countries7. This phenomenon aroused the interest of academic in recent year. There were many previous studies about Chinese wine consumer behavior. Pettigrew and Charters8, as well as Somogyi, Li, Johnson, Bruwer and Bastain9 investigated the motivation of Chinese wine consumption. There were some studies related to the country-of-origin effects on Chinese wine consumers10. However, few academic scholars started looking in the different wine consumption behavior between Western and Chinese. There is no comprehensive study of analyzing the different wine consumption behavior between Chinese and Western. Williamson, Robichaud & Francis11 only compared the Chinese and Australian consumers’ liking responses for red wines. Jiang12 compared the difference between Chinese and Western drinking culture. Because of the different culture, history and social environment, consumer behavior may vary considerably from country to country, even if they face the same product. In the food/beverage model, culture is a factor influencing on consumer behavior13. The effective marketing strategy in the Western market may not be as successful as in China market. Cultural value plays a significant role in the decision process. People in a cultural environment will have a different response to the same marketing communication14. Previous researches did not study the difference of drinking pattern, drinking motivation and the effect of extrinsic factors between Chinese and Western. What are the differences between Chinese and Western wine consumer? And why do these differences exist? The paper will fill the academic gaps. It will investigate the different wine consumption behavior between Western and Mainland Chinese. It contributes to the understanding of the different wine consumption behavior between Western and Mainland Chinese so that the vintners, foreigner wine marketers, restaurant can adjust and localize their marketing strategy in China. They can promote, import some wines which Mainland Chinese consumers prefer.

• 15 Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Wine and Spirits: Looking behind the label, Cambridge, Author, 2011
• 16 Johnson H., Story of wine, London, Mitchell Beazley, 1989
• 17 Luo G. G., "The influence of the development of viticulture on the history and culture of grape wi (...)

4Wine is an agricultural product produced from fermented grape juice. It is made from grape, water and yeast15. It is believed that wine was invented as early as the Paleolithic period. Wine probably originated in Persia. Greek and Roman disseminated the winemaking technique around Europe. After the Age of Discovery, European immigrated into America, Australia and South Africa. They brought the technique of cultivation of wine. So, the USA, Australian and South African wines are called New World wine while the French, Italian wines are called Old World wine16. Wine played a significant role in Chinese culture and history as well. In the Han Dynasty (206-220 BC), Zhang Qiang was as an envoy to the Xin Jiang and Central Asia. It was the first time for Chinese recognizing the existence of fermented grape wine. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907 BC), there is a record that Chinese planted grape and produced red wine17. It seems that Chinese have long-history wine culture as like as European.

• 18 Varriano J., Wine: A cultural history, London, Reaktion Books, 2010
• 19 Gong W. Y., "A historical survey of Chinese wine culture", Journal of Popular Culture, 27 (2), 199 (...)
• 20 Rohere M., "The motif of wine-drinking in the poetry of Tao Yuabming", P. Kupfer (Ed.), Wine in Ch (...)
• 21 Jiang L., "Comparison of the difference between Chinese and Western drinking culture", Asian Socia (...)
• 22 Idem. p. 252.
• 23 Li Z. P., Chinese wine, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2011
• 24 Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Op. cit.
• 25 Op. cit.

5In terms of wine cultures, Chinese and Western have some similarities but also some differences. Roman regarded wine as medicine. It was recorded that Asclepiades (124-40 B.C) was the most prominent doctor who prescribed wine18. It is evident that wine has healthy value in Western people’s mind in the past. Also, the Chinese believe that slight alcohol consumption is healthful19. Wine plays a healthful and medical role in both of their cultures. Wine and art have a very close relationship in Chinese and Western history. The Latin poet Horace stated that wine is conducive to writing20. Many successful Chinese poets drank too heavy wine, such as Li Bai, the Poet Transcendent21. For Chinese and Western poets, wine is a stimulus for creation. On the other hand, there are some differences. Jiang22 stated, “Chinese liquor drinking culture manifests the respect for human beings. Wine is a communication tool in the Chinese eye. The rituals of wine drinking in West reflect the respect for alcohol”. Chinese liquor drinking etiquette is very strict. Master and guests have their fixed seat and order of toast according to their authority and age. If someone disobeys the ritual, they will be regarded as impolite and immoral people23. Western wine lovers have a strict appraisal ritual. First, they will observe the color of wine and feel the fragrance, then taste it, using the eyes, nose and tongue to appreciate the wine24. Besides, they have a strict order to drinking wine in order to taste the delicacy of wine Jiang25. Chinese think wine is important in social connection while Western appreciate the taste of wine.

• 26 Op. cit.
• 27 Li J. G., Jia J. R., Taylor D., Bruwer J & Li E., "The wine drinking behavior of young adults: an (...)
• 28 Camillo A. A , "A strategic investigation of the determinants of wine consumption in China", Inter (...)
• 29 Op. cit.

6Somogyi, Li, Johnson, Bruwer and Bastian26 studied the motivation of Chinese wine consumption. They indicated that Mainland Chinese consumed wine because of health reason. They believed that wine was good for sleep and blood circulation. Li, Jia, Taylo, Bruwer and Li27 studied the wine drinking behavior of Chinese young adult. Approximately 60% of respondents choose social communication as a major reason. The second-ranked reason was body health. Camillo28 also investigated the determinants of consumption in China. Health reason was the main reason. Over half of the interviewees drank wine because of its healthful value. 21% claimed that they drank wine since it tastes good. Pettigrew and Charters29 did research about Hong Kong Chinese’s motivation and behavior of wine. They argued that Hong Kong Chinese consume wine because they want to achieve an altered physical state and get a means of communicating status to others. Hong Kong Chinese are willing to forsake their personal taste preference in order to desired images. It is evident that Chinese drink wine because of health, social communication and image enhancement.

• 30 Thompson K.E. and Vourvachis A., "Social and attitudinal influences on the intention to drink wine (...)
• 31 M. James, N. Christodoulidou, "Factors influencing wine consumption in Southern California consume (...)
• 32 Op. cit.
• 33 Moran C. C. & Saliba A. J., "Reasons for drinking wine and other beverages – comparison across mot (...)
• 34 Williamson P., Robichaud J. & Francis I. L., "Comparison of Chinese and Australian consumers’ liki (...)
• 35 Idem.

7There are also researches about Western wine consumer studies. Thompson and Vourrvachis30 found five salient beliefs among UK wine consumer including, better taste than other alcoholic beverages, wine is only to accompany meals, wine is for special occasions, expensive wine is a good wine, and wine is sociable. However, James and Christodoulidou31 did research about factors influencing wine consumption in Southern California consumers based on the same methodology that Thompson and Vourrvachis used. The result was different from the result of Thompson and Vourrvachis. Health benefits became a major belief in South California wine consumers. 52% of respondents said the wine was good for their health and 32% of respondents wine was sociable, which was the second belief. This result was similar to the results of Li et al.32. It showed that health became major reason for Western drinking wine for a decade. Moran and Saliba33 found that older Australian drank wine because of the taste of wine. 86% of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed with this statement. The reasons for western drinking wine are similar with Chinese except for the hedonic reason, the taste of the wine. Williamson, Robichaud and Francis34 compared the Chinese and Australian consumers’ liking responses for red wines. They stated that Australians had a greater acceptance of higher alcohol and ‘dark fruit’. Appearance, taste and mouthfulness are more important for Chinese consumers. Although Williamson et al.35 provides an insight into differences in drivers of preference of wine between Western and Chinese, they did not investigate the cause of difference, wine consumption pattern and the effect of the moderate variables. In fact, there is no comprehensive study about the different wine consumption behavior between Western and Chinese.

• 36 Liu F. & Murphy J., "A qualitative study of Chinese wine consumption and purchasing: Implications (...)
• 37 Op. cit.

8There are a few journal articles about the relationship between the price and wine selection of Chinese. Liu & Murphy36 stated that Chinese consumers purchase expensive wine for a public situation but they purchase inexpensive wine for private consumption. They explained that there was a strong association between price and "mianzi" (image). Chinese believed that higher price the wine is, the higher “mianzi” consumers can earn. Camillo37 also found the similar result. Chinese prefer purchasing expensive wines as a gift but affordable for their own consumption. It is assumed that the price of wine will affect the usage of the wine.

• 38 Bruwer J. & Buller C., "Country-of-origin brand preferences and associated knowledge levels of Jap (...)
• 39 Capitello R., Agnoli L. & Begalli D., "Asian growing markets and competition: evidence in the Chin (...)
• 40 Balestrini P. & Gamble P, "Country-of-origin effects on Chinese wine consumers", British Food Jour (...)
• 41 Hu X., Li L., Xie C. & Zhou J., "The effect of country of origin on Chinese consumers' wine purcha (...)

9Country-of-origin is a popular topic. Many researchers did studies about how country-of-origin affects wine purchasing. Bruwer & Buller38 found that Japanese consumer with higher levels of objective knowledge did not use the country-of-origin. Recently, there are some researches about the country-of-origin effects on Chinese wine consumers. Capitello, Agnoli and Begalli39 argued that Chinese pursue westernization so that new generation regarded the country-of-origin as an important indicator for good quality. So, French wine occupied approximately half of the Chinese market share from 2002 to 2012. Moreover, country-of-origin is an important factor when Chinese consumers evaluate the quality of wine, especially when the wine being for special occasion40. Hu, Li, Xie and Zhou41 found a similar result. Country-of-origin is more important than brand when the wine is consumed at a special occasion. They deducted that the Chinese cannot establish wine selection criteria because they did not have enough wine appreciation experience and wine knowledge. As a result, they rely on extrinsic factors such as country-of-origin. It is assumed that country-of-origin is an important consideration when purchasing wine. It is possible that Chinese emphasize country-of-origin of wine than Western since Chinese have less wine knowledge than Western consumers.

• 42 Hutchings J.B., "The importance of the visual appearance of food to the food processor and consume (...)
• 43 Cardello A. V., "Consumer expectations and their role in food acceptance", H. J. H.Macfie. & D. M. (...)
• 44 Barber N. & Almanza B. A., "Influence of Wine Packaging on Consumers’ Decision to Purchase", Journ (...)
• 45 Corduas M., Cinquanta L. & Ievoli C., "The importance of wine attributes for purchase decisions: A (...)
• 46 Goodman S., "An international comparison of retail consumer wine choice", International Journal of (...)

10Some researchers studied how package affect the wine selection of Western. However, there is no study about the association between a package and the wine selection of Chinese. The visual appearance of a food package, such as shape, color, label, brand, is as important as the food appearance42. “High expectations for product quality induced by commercial packaging are met by high-quality foods”43. Barber &Almanza44 studied about how wine package influence on the wine purchasing. It showed that consumers were likely to purchase wine based upon the wine packaging. More important, consumers would regard the wine label as an integral information source when doing purchase decision. Consumers preferred front label with the country of origin and brand and back label with“style of wine” and “description of wine”. Flavor and taste descriptions such as “floral” or “essence of peaches and dried apricots” may not add real value to consumers. Information, such as, how dry or sweet the wine is, what the grape varietal is, were more useful for customers. However, there are some contrast results about the usefulness of the package in a mature wine market. Package has no significant effect on the Italian wine consumers45. Goodman46 indicated that the attractive front label is one of the least important elements for consumer staking into account when choosing wine. In fact, there is no conclusion whether or not the package will affect the wine consumer purchasing. There is a big gap existing in the effect of the package on the Chinese wine consumers.

• 47 Op. cit.
• 48 Op. cit.
• 49 Op. cit.

11This study investigates the different wine consumption behavior between Western and Chinese. The quantitative data collection technique was used since many previous researches adopted the quantitative technique to collect the data. Structured questionnaires were designed to collect the information for the study. In this research, a non-possibility, convenience sampling method was chosen. Li, Jia, Taylor, Bruwer & Li47, Camillo48 and Hu, Li, Xie, Zhou49 also used a convenience sampling method to collect data to study Chinese wine consumer behavior. 110 Mainland Chinese and above 109 Western wine drinkers were interviewed respectively. The Western are all Caucasian-looking because of convenient searching. The survey was conducted in February 2015. Hong Kong is selected to be the study site as Hong Kong was the Britain colony. There are many expatriates living in Hong Kong and Western tourists. Besides, many Mainland Chinese travel to Hong Kong every year. It is convenient to collect the data of wine consumption behavior of Western and Mainland Chinese in Hong Kong. The questionnaires were distributed in the traditional tourism regions, such as Tsim Sha Tsui, Admiralty, Wan Chai, Hom Hung and Stanley main market. Many tourists travel these places for drinking since there are many bars and restaurants there.

• 50 Idem.
• 51 Op. cit.
• 52 Op. cit.
• 53 Viot C. & Passebois-Ducros J., "Wine brands or branded or branded wines? The specificity of the Fr (...)
• 54 Op. cit.
• 55 Op. cit.
• 56 Op. cit.
• 57 Op. cit.
• 58 Op. cit.

12The questionnaire was designed accordance with the information provided in literature review. The questionnaire was divided into 4 parts. The first section was about some demographic questions, such as the interviewee’ age, income, education level. These questions of this part were based on the research of Hu, Li, Xie, Zhou50. The second is the questions about wine consumption pattern, such as how much they spend on wine, how frequently they drink wine. The questions were accordance to the Barber, Almanza, Donovan51, Li, Jia, Taylor, Bruwer, Li52, Viot, Passebois-Ducros53 and Camillo’s54 researches. The third section was about wine motivation. The questions in the Barber, Almanza, Donovan’s55 research were used. The final part was the effect of extrinsic factors (price, origin-of-country and package) on the wine behavior. There were some statements for respondents to answer. The statement adopted from the researches of Hu, Li, Xie, Zhou56, Liu, Murphy57 and Barber, Almanza58. The respondents needed to answer how extent they agree to these statements, seven-point Likert scale items ranging from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree). The majority of the data collected had a quantitative nature and information from the completed questions were therefore pre-coded and then entered into the Window version of the Statistical Package for Social Science 20. Frequencies and cross-tabulations were worked out on the descriptive data. Besides, the independent T-test was conducted. The testing is to investigate the difference between means that in the specific values of the means themselves. This method used to analyze if there is the difference between Mainland Chinese and Western when considering various extrinsic factors (Price, Country-of-origin and Packaging).

• 59 Op. cit.
• 60 Op. cit.
• 61 Capitello R., Agnoli L. & Begalli D., "Asian growing markets and competition: evidence in the Chin (...)
• 62 Op. cit.

18In 2010, Li, Jia, Taylor, Bruwer, & Li found that Chinese youngster did not drink wine frequently. Almost three-fifths (58.9%) of respondents drank wine once a year or less and very few (2.9%) drank wine once a week. In this research, over a quarter (27%) of respondent drank wine once a year or less and over one-fourth (23%) of respondents drank wine once a week. Although the frequency of wine consumption of Mainland Chinese is not as many as the Western (46% of Western respondents drink wine once a week), it is evident that Mainland Chinese drink wine more frequently than past. It indicates that wine consumption culture is emerging in Mainland Chinese. In this research, it discovers that Mainland Chinese prefer red wine and sweet wine whereas Western prefer red and white wine. This result is consistent with the findings of Li et al.59 and Somogyi, Li, Johnson, Bruwer & Bastian60. Both of Mainland Chinese and Western regarded vintage as an important factor. There is a difference in the expenditure of wine between Western and Mainland Chinese. Although most of Western and Mainland Chinese spend around 10-32US dollar on wine consumption per time, the proportion of expensive wine consumer of Mainland Chinese was higher than Western. This finding implies that there are two Mainland Chinese wine consumers. One group of Mainland Chinese spend money on wine as much as Western while another group spends much more money on wine. In terms of country of wine, Western and Mainland Chinese have a similar preference. Western prefer drinking French, Italian, Australian and USA wine while Mainland Chinese prefer drinking French, Italian and Chinese. This result is not fully consistent with the report of Capitello, Agnoli & Begalli61. In this research, Italian wine gets more popular while Australian wine gets less popular for Mainland Chinese. This finding perhaps indicated the change of the Mainland Chinese preference. Li et al.62 did a test about the wine knowledge of Mainland Chinese. The result indicated that Mainland Chinese lacked basic wine knowledge. Their research is similar to this research. This research proves that the level of wine knowledge of Western is higher than the Chinese.

• 63 Li J. G., Jia J. R., Taylor D., Bruwer J & Li E., "The wine drinking behavior of young adults: an (...)

19Western drink wine because of the taste of wine, social communication, pairing with the meal while Mainland Chinese drink wine because of health reason, social communication, image enhancement. These findings are consistent with previous researches63.

• 64 German J. B. & Walzem R. L., "The health benefits of wine", Annual Review of Nutrition, 201 (1), 2 (...)
• 65 Op. cit.
• 66 Idem.
• 67 Op. cit.
• 68 Op. cit.
• 69 Op. cit.
• 70 Op. cit.

20Most Mainland Chinese selected health reason as their most important reason for wine consumption. They believe that wine can improve their health. According to some medical research, daily moderate wine consumption can improve cardiovascular health and increase lifespan64. This probably explains why most Mainland Chinese selected health reason for their most important reason. Although James and Christodoulidou65 found that health benefits become more influential in the USA, this current research cannot find a similar result. It may be because James et al.66 only focused on South California American, but this research focuses on all Western wine consumers. Owing to the different target groups, the results are variable. Both of the groups think that social communication is an important reason. It is mentioned that wine is a communication tool in Chinese67. It is believed that the Chinese use wine to communicate with friends. Western also have the same intention to drink wine. Pettigrew and Charters68 did research about alcohol consumption motivation in Hong Kong. They indicated image enhancement was a motivation for Hong Kong Chinese for drinking alcohol. The same motivation can be found in Mainland Chinese. In some extent, Hong Kong and Mainland China wine culture is similar. Apart from social communication, Western drink wine on account of taste and complementarities with food. These results are consistent with James et al.69 research. According to Jiang70, China’s drinking culture mainly show the humanistic dimension. So, the motivations for Chinese usually get involved with human relationships, such as social communication and image enhancement. And Western drinking culture shows the respect and appreciation of wine. Taste of wine and wine pairing with meal become Western’s main motivation. It is evident that cultural difference causes different motivations for wine consumption between Mainland Chinese and Western.

• 71 Op. cit.
• 72 Rao A. R. & Monroe K. B., "The moderating effect of prior knowledge on cue utilization in product

21There are 20 wine behavior statements in illustration 3. 10 of them have significant differences. Illustration 3 shows that Mainland Chinese differ from Western significantly when they consider various extrinsic factors. Mainland Chinese tend to agree to the statements. Western consider price and country-of-origin of wine more important than Mainland Chinese do while Mainland Chinese think package of wine is important more than Western do. Western and Mainland Chinese consider different extrinsic factors. But Western disagree that price, country-of-origin and the package are more important than the aroma, color and grape variety. Mainland Chinese is quite neutral to these statements. Unlike Mainland Chinese, Western consider significantly aroma, color and grape variety. It is obvious that Western and Mainland Chinese consider different factors when purchasing wine. Mainland Chinese consider the package first, then country-of-wine and price, aroma and the grape last. However, Western will consider aroma, grape first, then country-of-wine and price, package last. It implies that Western assess the quality of wine by intrinsic cues (physical characteristics of the product) while Mainland Chinese assess the quality of wine by extrinsic cues (cues external to the product). Liu and Murphy71 also argued that extrinsic cues dominate Chinese consumers’ perceptions more than intrinsic cues. The difference may be attributed to the level of wine knowledge. Rao & Monroe72 found a high level of product knowledge buyer relied on the intrinsic factor more than a low level of the product knowledge buyer. According to current research, it is found Mainland Chinese wine knowledge was lower than Western. It is hypothesized that the level of wine knowledge causes different wine consumer reaction when they encounter intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Besides, since Mainland Chinese have lower level of wine knowledge than Western, Mainland Chinese prefer more information in wine label than Western.

• 73 Shepherd R. & Sparks R., "Modeling food choice", H. J. H.Macfie. & D. M. H.Thomson (Ed.), Measurem (...)

22According to Shepherd& Sparks73, cultural factor affects consumer food and beverage preference. This study revealed that culture definitely influences the motivation for wine consumption. Western drink wine because of the taste of wine, social communication, pairing with the meal while Mainland Chinese drink wine because of health reason, social communication, image enhancement. Mainland Chinese and Western consider different extrinsic and intrinsic factors when buying wine. Mainland Chinese consider wine package while Western consider price and country-of-origin. And this study discovers that Western consider intrinsic factors, such as aroma and grape variety more than Mainland Chinese. Wine knowledge affects the selection of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Mainland Chinese usually are low wine knowledge consumers. They tend to use extrinsic cues to identify the quality of wine. But Western have high wine knowledge consumers, so they will use intrinsic cues to select wine. It is believed that some successful marketing strategies in Western countries might not have the same effect in China market due to the different consumer behavior. Based on the findings of this research, there are some suggestions. The vintners can emphasize the healthy value of wine, highlight the premium image of their wine to Chinese customers. Label and package of wine are important for them. Vintner should make the package of wine more beautiful to attract them. And more information should be covered in the wine label.

• 74 Schiffman L. G. & Kanuk L. L., Consumer behavior, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, 2 (...)
• 75 Op. cit.

24Schiffman and Kanuk74 indicated culture is shared. Particularly, belief, value or practice will influence others from a significant portion of society. Future studies can study the different wine culture among Mainland China. China is a large country. The economic development and ease of information attainment are different between the tier cities and/or rural areas. The wine consumer behavior of residents in tier cities differs from that in the rural area. These future studies will be very useful for wine companies because they can adjust their marketing strategy according to the difference in various provinces. According to Liu and Murphy’s75 study, Mainland Chinese consumed expensive wine in an occasional event while consuming affordable wine in private consumption. However, the finding is different in this research. It may be because the methodology is different. It is worthwhile for future studies to investigate how different methodologies affect the result of wine consumer behavior and find out the reason behind it.