Changyu sets goal of ballooning out China's brandy market

China's biggest wine producer, Changyu Wine Group, is moving to rapidly expand the domestic brandy market with the launch of the country's first brandy chateau in Yantai, East China's Shandong province.

As the pioneer of Chinese high-end brandy, Chateau Koya helps fill the current gap for professional brandy wineries in China and even in Asia.

Chateau Koya, located in Yantai Economic and Development Zone, was designed and built in the medieval Romanesque style of Europe.

With a building and processing area of 20,000 square meters, the winery is expected to produce 300 tons of wine annually.

Brandy, known as the "soul of wine", is a distilled liquor up to 40 degrees strong and is similar to Chinese white wine in terms of its alcoholic strength.

China has great potential in developing brandy market, industry experts said. The country's rising middle class has created a strong purchasing power that will support domestic liquor sales, said Wang Qi, executive vice-chairman of the China Alcoholic Brinks Association.