Premium wine sales in Hong Kong account for more than 50% of total wine sales, making it a global powerhouse for premium wine market, while countries like Germany and South Africa have least preference for high-end wines, according to IWSR.

Although premium wine sales only take up roughly 13% of global wine sales, however in two markets – Hong Kong and Ireland – premium wine sales dominated, reported Vinex.

Hong Kong in recent years since the removal of wine tariffs has become a wine trading hub in Asia, and a key market for global auction houses.

In Ireland in particular, premium wine sales take up 67% of the country’s overall wine sales, ahead of Hong Kong.

New Zealand consumers also have a taste for expensive wines, with 47% of sales generated from premium wine sector. In neighbouring Australia, top tier wine sales are 37% of the country’s overall wine sales.

In Asia, Singapore’s premium wine sales contributed 36.5% to the overall wine sales, while In Japan the number is 29%, ahead of Malaysia’s 24.1% and Taiwan’s 23.1%.

While consumers in the US and the UK are drinking relatively cheaper wines. In the US, 22% of wine sales come from premium wines, and the percentage is much lower for the UK.

There are also outliners to the picture where wine consumption is meagre but per bottle wine spent is staggeringly high. In Bermuda, 70.5% of wines consumed are top tier bottles, while in Cayman islands, the number is 58.6%. Other obscure wine consumers in Grenadines (52.2%), Grenada (45.1%), and the US Virgin Islands (43.4%) all have expensive taste.

Meanwhile, some of the world’s biggest producers have the least preferences for high-end wines. Only 2.7% of wine sales in Germany come from premium sector, and 2.2% for Portugal, ahead of Romania’s 1.75% and South Africa’s 1%.

Premium wine sales in Italy stands at 9.6%, followed by France’s 7.8% and Spain’s 6.7%, according to IWSR.

The article first appeared in Vino-joy.com. To read more news and analysis on China’s wine market, please sign-up for vino-joy.com newsletter here.