WSET sees growing demand for wine education on the mainland

More and more Chinese people are burnishing their knowledge about wines and spirits and demand from the country far outstrips others, according to the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

The largest global provider of qualifications related to wines and spirits reported a record list of 94,822 candidates globally in the academic year that finished at the end of July, an increase of 11 percent on the previous year.

Most of the growth came from the Chinese mainland, where candidate numbers were up by 18 percent, to 15,117. A further 3,954 wine and spirits candidates were from Hong Kong, 347 from Macao, and 2,508 from Taiwan.

Ian Harris, chief executive of WSET, said: "2017-18 has been another successful year for WSET as we continue to strengthen our offer to maintain our 'best in class' reputation. Global demand makes wine education the bread and butter of our business, but it is great to see such high growth in spirits qualifications."

The Chinese mainland's booming economic growth and a burgeoning middle-income earners with disposable income, along with changing social and cultural factors, have been cited as causes for the growing interest.

Earlier this year, the Financial Times noted that China was consuming more whisky. And the China Landscapes 2018 report found the number of imported wines consumed in China has been growing steadily, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total.

WSET said while the popularity of wine education continues to soar, consumers' penchant for spirits has also boosted demand for spirits education.

According to research by Euromonitor, there has been a double-digit growth in the volume of spirits sold in China during the past five years, with Chinese white spirit baijiu, brandy, and whisky dominating sales.

"China is WSET's strongest international market and our WSET Asia-Pacific team ... is at full strength to meet the growing demand for wine and spirits education across the region," Harris said.

Recognizing the importance of the key Asian spirits baijiu, shochu, and soju to the spirits market, WSET will be introducing these three Asian spirits into the syllabus for the new WSET Level 3 Award in Spirits, which will be launched next year.