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Aussies upbeat on China market
By David Maguire |
May 24, 2009, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AUSTRALIAN wine makers descended en masse on Shanghai last week in a show of strength not seen before by the vignerons from Down Under.
In what has become an annual event on the Shanghai wine calendar, 65 wineries pushed their red and white wares in the grand ballroom of the Regal International East Asia Hotel for the Wine Australia Tasting.
This Aussie wine assault on China is in its third year but support from the wide brown land's producers has grown so much that the event has outgrown the Australian consul's residence where it began as a boutique taste and nibbles affair in 2007.
And there's good reason for the growth - China is consuming more of the stuff. So that makes an upgraded major wine marketing exercise all the more relevant.
"The China market has significantly jumped up the ladder to become a priority country for us, up there with the United Kingdom and the United States," said Ali Hogarth, regional manager of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation and one of the event's organizers.
Export markets
The Chinese wine market is now Australia's 5th largest customer by volume and 4th largest by value and in June 2007 it overtook Japan, one of Australia's traditionally strong wine export markets.
"It's never happened for China to be in the top five and that's only in the last year," Hogarth said, reaffirming it has become the No. 1 export market in Asia for Aussie wines.
"Bottled wine exports to China have increased 26 percent by volume in the 12 months to the end of February this year," she said.
The wine event is an outcome of the formal collaboration between Hogarth's organization and the Australian government's overseas trade entity Austrade. Friday's event was the single biggest tasting of the country's wine ever held in China.
"Most of the exhibiting wine companies were already trading in the China market but there were eight new producers looking to find importers," said Shanghai-based Austrade Trade Commissioner Julie-Anne Nichols.
"Those already in the market were seeking more distributors, particularly in regional areas of China," she said.
More than 250 wine buyers and merchants mingled and meandered through the spacious hall, making taste selections from many hundreds of premium red and white wines.
On hand to guide the fans were representatives of some of Australia's finest labels, such as Maria Lurighi from Domaine A, a classy cabernet from Tasmania, Neill Robb who produces Sally's Paddock premium wines in Victoria, Andrew and Cathryn Peace from Peace Wines and others from De Bortolli, Angoves and McPherson's.
Lurighi has attended the three shows and felt there was more wine knowledge in the market in this visit. "The Chinese are the most interesting wine tasters with a great instinct enabled by clean palates and a clean diet," she said.
"They obviously benefit by their knowledge of fruit and tannin ratios from tea tasting."
Domaine A's cabernet sauvignons come from a vineyard about 35 kilometers north of Hobart which produces 5,000 cases a year, 20 percent of which go to China, the company's biggest export market. They retail for about A$100 (US$77.55) a bottle.
Prefer wine
As Hogarth notes, the Chinese predominantly prefer red wine.
"Cabernet sauvignons are the No. 1 choice and shiraz is No. 2. There's an automatic association in China that if you want shiraz, it's got to come from Australia.
"But Australia has a lot more to offer and we focus on our other reds and whites with tastings and educational programs to build the market for other styles," she said.
"These include comparing cooler climate shiraz and warmer climate shiraz to increase the understanding."
Hogarth and Nichols believe the event model they have unveiled in Shanghai allows consumers and agents to take time to taste wines and talk to producers and experts in a no-pressure environment.
"Rather than getting lost in a trade show with a host of other producers, regions and countries, it's an opportunity for Australian wineries to stand out alone and make a strong category statement," Hogarth said.
"A dream of mine has been to do in China what we have done successfully in the UK for 20 years which is bringing the wine makers to the market and that helps give buyers a powerful message," she said.
In what has become an annual event on the Shanghai wine calendar, 65 wineries pushed their red and white wares in the grand ballroom of the Regal International East Asia Hotel for the Wine Australia Tasting.
This Aussie wine assault on China is in its third year but support from the wide brown land's producers has grown so much that the event has outgrown the Australian consul's residence where it began as a boutique taste and nibbles affair in 2007.
And there's good reason for the growth - China is consuming more of the stuff. So that makes an upgraded major wine marketing exercise all the more relevant.
"The China market has significantly jumped up the ladder to become a priority country for us, up there with the United Kingdom and the United States," said Ali Hogarth, regional manager of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation and one of the event's organizers.
Export markets
The Chinese wine market is now Australia's 5th largest customer by volume and 4th largest by value and in June 2007 it overtook Japan, one of Australia's traditionally strong wine export markets.
"It's never happened for China to be in the top five and that's only in the last year," Hogarth said, reaffirming it has become the No. 1 export market in Asia for Aussie wines.
"Bottled wine exports to China have increased 26 percent by volume in the 12 months to the end of February this year," she said.
The wine event is an outcome of the formal collaboration between Hogarth's organization and the Australian government's overseas trade entity Austrade. Friday's event was the single biggest tasting of the country's wine ever held in China.
"Most of the exhibiting wine companies were already trading in the China market but there were eight new producers looking to find importers," said Shanghai-based Austrade Trade Commissioner Julie-Anne Nichols.
"Those already in the market were seeking more distributors, particularly in regional areas of China," she said.
More than 250 wine buyers and merchants mingled and meandered through the spacious hall, making taste selections from many hundreds of premium red and white wines.
On hand to guide the fans were representatives of some of Australia's finest labels, such as Maria Lurighi from Domaine A, a classy cabernet from Tasmania, Neill Robb who produces Sally's Paddock premium wines in Victoria, Andrew and Cathryn Peace from Peace Wines and others from De Bortolli, Angoves and McPherson's.
Lurighi has attended the three shows and felt there was more wine knowledge in the market in this visit. "The Chinese are the most interesting wine tasters with a great instinct enabled by clean palates and a clean diet," she said.
"They obviously benefit by their knowledge of fruit and tannin ratios from tea tasting."
Domaine A's cabernet sauvignons come from a vineyard about 35 kilometers north of Hobart which produces 5,000 cases a year, 20 percent of which go to China, the company's biggest export market. They retail for about A$100 (US$77.55) a bottle.
Prefer wine
As Hogarth notes, the Chinese predominantly prefer red wine.
"Cabernet sauvignons are the No. 1 choice and shiraz is No. 2. There's an automatic association in China that if you want shiraz, it's got to come from Australia.
"But Australia has a lot more to offer and we focus on our other reds and whites with tastings and educational programs to build the market for other styles," she said.
"These include comparing cooler climate shiraz and warmer climate shiraz to increase the understanding."
Hogarth and Nichols believe the event model they have unveiled in Shanghai allows consumers and agents to take time to taste wines and talk to producers and experts in a no-pressure environment.
"Rather than getting lost in a trade show with a host of other producers, regions and countries, it's an opportunity for Australian wineries to stand out alone and make a strong category statement," Hogarth said.
"A dream of mine has been to do in China what we have done successfully in the UK for 20 years which is bringing the wine makers to the market and that helps give buyers a powerful message," she said.
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