A pair of Chinese wines just got the ultimate state endorsement and shoppers went wild.
Two domestic bottles served during events tied to President Donald Trump’s visit to China this week became instant online sensations after banquet menus leaked onto Chinese social media, triggering a buying frenzy across the country’s biggest e-commerce platforms.
Within 24 hours, sales of the wines exploded by as much as 20 times.
The bottles came from China’s two wine giants — Changyu and Great Wall Wine — both longtime staples at high-level state functions and diplomatic banquets.
Trump, famously a teetotaler, was seen raising and sipping white wine during a state dinner on May 14 with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though the official dinner menu released online did not specify the wines served.
But another menu circulating online from an official luncheon the following day did.
The meal featured dishes including lobster in golden broth, crispy beef, Peking duck and salmon with mustard sauce — paired with two premium Chinese wines.
One was the Chief Winemaker’s Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 from Chateau Sungod in northern China’s Hebei province.
The other was the Changyu AFIP Reserve Chardonnay 2016 from Chateau Changyu AFIP near Beijing.
Once the menu hit social media, Chinese consumers rushed online to snap up the bottles.
According to figures released by JD Liquor, the alcohol division of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, sales of the Great Wall Cabernet surged 19-fold between May 14 and May 15, while the Changyu Chardonnay jumped 15-fold.
JD quickly slapped “same wine served at the state banquet” labels onto the product pages.
The Great Wall red retails for roughly RMB 1,900 (US$264) a bottle, while the Changyu Chardonnay sells for around RMB 698 (US$97).
The Great Wall Cabernet was crafted by superstar French consultant Michel Rolland and made from 40-year-old Cabernet Sauvignon vines. The wine spent 20 months in oak barrels followed by more than a year ageing in bottle.
The Changyu Chardonnay pushes a luxury concept. The wine spent six months ageing in French oak barrels before further cellar ageing under temperature-controlled conditions.
The Trump-linked publicity coup proves once again that in the age of social media, one viral political dinner can move bottles faster than any advertising campaign.
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