Getting a good bottle of wine in Shanghai used to be difficult. 5 years ago it was very difficult to find a bottle of wine in Shanghai (other than in an expensive western restaurant) that was not a bad imitation or extremely overpriced. Wine in China used to be seen as a status symbol and if you were relatively wealthy than you might have a bottle of red from France at home that you could drink with some ice and cola on a special occasion.
Well things have now changed slightly. The city has now gone a little wine crazy with younger Chinese seeing drinking wine as not only something that is cool but something that is a sociable and even nice past time.
Younger generation Chinese are really getting into the wine craze. Wine bars are starting to open on every street corner and off premise wine stores are beginning to thrive, but the prices are still pretty crazy. Wine representatives from overseas nearly fall over when they see what their wine is being sold for in China and you have to ask yourself - why is it that the prices are so high?
Well first there is the tax - you are looking at a 200% mark up just for tax/ duty alone. Then there are the costs of getting the wine to China - and lastly, the rent in Shanghai is obscene.
Well again - things are starting to change. Wine has become increasingly accessible and there are even a few places in Shanghai where you can now buy good wine a decent price - or something similar to what you would pay back home.
One such place that does this is a place called Staxx -[http://bestwinestoreshanghai.com]
This little hole in the wall wine shop actually gives you a discount depending on the amount of wine you order and because their wine store in Shanghai is so small the rent and overheads are kept to a bare minimum. Another interesting thing about this little wine store is that it buys great cheap wine from countries like Argentina and South Africa where the currency is slightly lower and this comes through in their pricing as well.
There are no glasses at this store - but they do however have plastic cups if you are in the mood to sit back a try a few samples of what they have to offer.
For more info about Staxx - [http://bestwinestoreshanghai.com/about]
It is great to see that wine in China is finally easy to find.
More about wine in China in general [http://onthegas.org/swillable/the-rise-rise-of-chinese-wine-jia-bei-lan-is-it-worth-it]
Well things have now changed slightly. The city has now gone a little wine crazy with younger Chinese seeing drinking wine as not only something that is cool but something that is a sociable and even nice past time.
Younger generation Chinese are really getting into the wine craze. Wine bars are starting to open on every street corner and off premise wine stores are beginning to thrive, but the prices are still pretty crazy. Wine representatives from overseas nearly fall over when they see what their wine is being sold for in China and you have to ask yourself - why is it that the prices are so high?
Well first there is the tax - you are looking at a 200% mark up just for tax/ duty alone. Then there are the costs of getting the wine to China - and lastly, the rent in Shanghai is obscene.
Well again - things are starting to change. Wine has become increasingly accessible and there are even a few places in Shanghai where you can now buy good wine a decent price - or something similar to what you would pay back home.
One such place that does this is a place called Staxx -[http://bestwinestoreshanghai.com]
This little hole in the wall wine shop actually gives you a discount depending on the amount of wine you order and because their wine store in Shanghai is so small the rent and overheads are kept to a bare minimum. Another interesting thing about this little wine store is that it buys great cheap wine from countries like Argentina and South Africa where the currency is slightly lower and this comes through in their pricing as well.
There are no glasses at this store - but they do however have plastic cups if you are in the mood to sit back a try a few samples of what they have to offer.
For more info about Staxx - [http://bestwinestoreshanghai.com/about]
It is great to see that wine in China is finally easy to find.
More about wine in China in general [http://onthegas.org/swillable/the-rise-rise-of-chinese-wine-jia-bei-lan-is-it-worth-it]