All hail the modern-day conquistadors

Guillaume Deglise, CEO of Vinexpo. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Spanish wine is set to come in second behind French wine in terms of foreign wine consumed in China last year, according to a study by Vinexpo and the International Wine and Spirit Research.

The report, issued at a news conference in Beijing last week previewing Vinexpo Hong Kong in May, found that Spain was the top performer in China last year in terms of the increase in sales.

The study, jointly published by Vinexpo, billed as the world's largest wine fair, and the International Wine and Spirit Research looked at the worldwide wine and spirits market. For 14 years IWSR has carried out the research for Vinexpo, with forecasts covering five years.

In 2014, 3.9 million cases of Spanish wine were consumed in China, behind Australian wines, holding second place with 4 million cases consumed, the study found.

French wines in general and Bordeaux in particular remained the most popular. French wines accounted for 42 percent of foreign wine consumption in China, with 13.9 million cases in 2014.

However, Spanish wines have established themselves as the cheapest mass-market wines, the study found. Spanish wine imports rose 55.6 percent between January and May last year compared with the corresponding period in 2014.

IWSR predicts that another low-cost, high-quality supplier that will continue to enjoy growth is Chile, 3.8 million cases of whose wines were sold in China in 2014.

IWSR was founded in 1971 and is widely regarded as the world's largest and most trusted source for data on the global alcoholic beverage market.