The Buyer | Baoyun Jiu Project: Sample a range of premium Chinese baijiu

If you are interested in taking part in The Buyer’s sampling campaign of Baijiu from the Baoyun Group you can contact Chris Ashton at Wine Logistics on: hello@winelogistics.co.uk/

Can you tell us some background to the company?

The company name, Baoyun, comes from ‘Bao’ which means precious treasure, and ‘Yun’ which means wine and liquor in ancient Chinese. Together, ‘Baoyun’ represents precious wine and liquor, which is what the Baoyun Group is committed to. As a comprehensive wine and liquor company, Baoyun operates and distributes many of China’s top baijiu brands and wineries in China, imports fine wine and world-renowned wine and liquor brands into China, and, most importantly, has its own brand – Baoyun Jiu.

The very distinctive Baoyun range is available to taste as part of a sampling campaign with The Buyer

The company was founded on May 9 2020, and has already shown how resilient it is by launching during the pandemic and is already expanding its markets and sales channels through both online and offline sales. It has been able to achieve a substantial increase in its annual performance in an overall market that is in decline. It has been able to quickly establish a good reputation in the industry, based on strong products, supported by a marketing and team structure that is set up to achieve the operating targets of the group.

What are the key products and brands that you produce?

Baoyun Group’s Castle Li

Baoyun owns and operates several co-brand products famous brands that include: Wuliangyinxiang; Wuliangye World Red; Guotai Longyao Vintage (small batch blended); and Jinsha Standard which are all exclusively operated in China.

The group is also the exclusive distributor of many famous Jiang-flavor liquors and Nong-flavor liquor products and has the exclusive rights to many famous liquor brands’ online distribution channels.

Baoyun Group launched Baoyun’s own brand, a high-end Jiang-flavor baijiu, ‘Baoyun Jiu’ during the China Food & Drinks Fair Spring 2021, and quicked gained a strong recognition in the Chinese market.

What do you think makes your company and your brands different from the competition?

How to understand baijiu and the various flavour profiles

First of all we have excellent product quality across all our brands. For example, Baoyun Jiu is a typical Jiang-flavor baijiu that originates from Maotai Town -the core region of Jiang-favor baijiu in China. The amazing terroir of Maotai Town, the traditional baijiu making techniques, the baijiu maker – China’s most renowned Master of Jiang-Flavor Baijiu, Ji Keliang, and the long period of baijiu ageing, all come together to shape the outstanding quality and style of Baoyun Jiu.

Secondly we have well-designed products. The design inspiration of Baoyun Jiu comes from Chinese aesthetics and cultural relics of various dynasties, contains Chinese culture and beautiful wishes.

Thirdly we have a strong brand culture. Baoyun Jiu, positioning the culture leader of Jiang-Flavor Baijiu. It extensively works with China’s top cultural and art organisations, such as Peking University, China Film Co., and UCCA etc, to promote Chinese traditional culture. It also aims to bring to the world China’s baijiu and culture, to convey oriental aesthetics and philosophy with an international perspective and contemporary expression.

Finally we have an experienced team and strong leadership. The Baoyun team has a rich knowledge of wine and baijiu, and most of our team has experience working on imported wine brands and are baijiu experts. That’s why we are confident our Baoyun Jiu brand can adapt well to both international and domestic markets.

What have been your export markets up to now?

We have not yet expanded into overseas markets. The UK will be the first.

Helping to promote and portal the culture of China is very important to the Baoyyun brand and group

Why is the UK an important market for you?

The UK is a mature alcohol market, which plays a leading role in the international market, and the UK also has great market demand for new products. The latest figures from the Wine & Spirit Trade Association shows how strong sales of wines and spirits have been in specialist retailers and supermarkets in the UK. That’s clearly going to be a key target market for us. We also see great opportunities in the on-trade and with the Chinese community in the UK.

Which styles of baiju are you targeting at the UK market and why?

We have chosen the same Jiang-flavor style as Maotai, first because Maotai is the most well-known Chinese baijiu, and secondly, the Jiang-flavor style has similarities with wine and whisky brewing, with a strong focus on region, terroir, grain, ageing, etc. which we think will be more acceptable to the UK market.

What price points do you have in your export range?

These are the Chinese market prices. We are still working on the export prices.

The Baoyun Jiu Hanyun 30 500ml is €360.
Baoyun Jiu-Tangyun 20 500ml is €140.
Baoyun Jiu-Songyun 10 500m is €110.
Baoyun Jiang Jiu 425ml is €70.

What sort of distributor are you looking for in the UK?

We look forward to finding a distributor in the UK to help Baoyun Jiu enter the market. We expect the distributor to be interested in the Chinese baijiu category overall and can quickly recognise the brand culture of Baoyun and believes in the quality of our products, and at the same time be willing to help Baoyun build its brand and maintain a good brand image in the UK. Which is why we are keen to work with a distributor able to store and send samples to prospective customers when they need it.

Baijiu Sampling Campaign

The Buyer has teamed up with Baoyun to give buyers the chance to sample key baijiu in its range and see for themselves what baijiu might be able to offer them and their customers. If you would like to take part then select the baijiu you would like to taste from the list below then please contact at Wine Logistics on: hello@winelogistics.co.uk. The baijiu samples available are: