High-end liquors continue to succeed in China. According to a Wall Street Journal report, a bottle of Cognac was sold for just over $150,000 at an auction in Shanghai (around 1 million yuan). This adds an exclamation point to drink’s increasing popularity in East Asia.
A Hong Kong woman purchased the 1858 bottle from the House of Cognac Croizet—the brand, Cuvée Léonie, was named after the daughter of the house’s founder and was part of her dowry in 1892.
China’s elite seems more than willing to pay up for fine liquors. Back In March, 100 bottles of maotai baijiu, a domestic brand, sold at a similar action for a total of 5.22 million RMB. But foreign liquors are becoming increasingly desirable.
Since 2010, China has been the second-largest consumer of Cognac in the world. While the drink’s sales have leveled off in the United States in Europe, the BNIC (Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac) reports incredible growth in East Asian countries like China and Singapore. Expensive Cognac has become a staple of extravagant Chinese New Years dinners.
China’s abundant consumers are thirsty and smart foreign brands are capitalizing.