China's Taste For Class By The Glass

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday December 9, 2008

Jeni Port

Our wine industry must aim high-end, writes Jeni Port.

CHINA is an exciting emerging market for the wine industry. There are 1.3 billion people in China and, with a per capita wine consumption of half a litre each, many wine-making nations want in.

Our success rests on the shoulders of a young woman who is Wine Australia's market development officer, based in Shanghai. Summer Yan was born in 1979 in Jiaxing, the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party. She has plenty of advice for Australian winemakers wanting to enter the Chinese market.

China was introduced to the wines of France, particularly those of Bordeaux, nearly two decades ago. Little wonder, then, that there is a preference for red wine.

"Eighty per cent of wine is sold in supermarkets and 80 per cent is red," Yan says. "Cabernet blended with merlot is better than a single-variety cabernet. That's not attractive."

This is handy to know as Australia produces a fair amount of cabernet. Encouragingly, Yan says merlot and shiraz sales in China are increasing.

Forget about sending bulk wine to China, she says. And forget about trying to sell cheap, fruity wines of recent vintages. They can't compete with China's own industry, which churns out really cheap varieties.

And those koalas and kangaroos on labels don't impress. "If you put a koala on the label, although this is very Australia, this is not high-end," Yan says.

A report by the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation notes wine drinking in China is "aspirational", with many buying wine for prestige. "The majority of wine sold in China is given as gifts," the report says. This is where expensive bordeaux, champagne and cognac come into play.

France is the No. 1 exporter of wines to China. Australia is second, with Spain and Italy close behind.

Yan represents the younger generation who have been exposed to Western culture and for whom wine drinking is more natural. Her tastes in wine are those of other young people in China: white, sparkling and rose. She expects sales of these wines to increase.

The wine of the moment in China (apart from those reds) is moscato. Brown Brothers' biggest seller in Asia is its sweet and fruity zibibbo (meaning muscat or moscato). Victorian winemaker Terra Felix has just sent the entire 15,000-litre production of its moscato gold to China.

Gold is the colour of good luck and figures prominently on the Terra Felix bottles - not a koala or wombat in sight.

Premium brands open doors

Victorian winemaker Yabby Lake is opening a cellar door in Guangzhou, in Guangdong province, to introduce its premium brands. There will also be tastings and wine education talks.

The move gets a cautious nod from Austrade's Summer Yan. "I wouldn't want every Australian wine company to do the same," she says.

"China is extremely competitive and our perspective is that there are enough Australian brands out there for now."

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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