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Monday 14 May 2012
Chinese wine makers looking to win back local taste buds
While China’s wine lovers continue their obsession with French vintages, a number of local labels are determined to lead the charge to convince them that Chinese winemakers can compete with the very best there is.
Chinese wine makers looking to win back local taste buds
AFP Relax 11 May 2012
While China’s wine lovers continue their obsession with French vintages, a number of local labels are determined to lead the charge to convince them that Chinese winemakers can compete with the very best there is.
Dynasty Fine Wines is based near the city of Tianjin - about a 30-minute train ride from the capital Beijing - and has established a network of around 15 vineyards across the country, which grow not only native Chinese grape species such as Dragon’s Eye but increasingly have turned to the more internationally recognized cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc varieties.
There is an “overwhelming preference for dark, tannic red wines in China” - according to the China Wines Information Website - which says this is because Chinese consumers are judging their wines less on taste and more on “what is deemed socially acceptable - or aspirational - to consume.”
To the great majority of those buying at the high-end of the wine market, that basically means vintages from the famed and historic wine growing regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy, hence French wines account for around half of China’s entire wine imports.
But the people at Dynasty want to change that kind of thinking.
The label will be out in force at the Vinexpo Asia-Pacific wine fair - to be held in Hong Kong from May 21-29 - and on show will be its high-end range of red wines.
“People prefer Louis Vuitton to domestic brands these days. The same goes with wine,” company chairman Bai Zhisheng told the South China Morning Post.
But Bai said that Dynasty’s top range of reds - which sell for around 1,400 yuan (171 euros) per bottle - would account for 30 percent of its output within five years, up from the current 10 percent, as the company increased its marketing push and its distribution.
Dynasty has no plans as of yet to tackle the international wine market and another one of China’s leading wine labels also believes that Chinese winemakers should conquer their own market before setting their sight overseas.
And it makes sense considering wine consumption in China is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world, according to industry reports, and the market has grown by 20 percent over each of the past five years.
The Great Wall label has wineries at both Sanggan and Huaxia in the northern Hebei province and another near Junding in the eastern Shangdong province growing more than 10 varieties of grapes.
The state-run China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp, which owns the label, last year brought in renowned French winemaker Michel Rolland - ex of Chateau Angelus, Chateau Lascombes and Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot - to help both improve the quality of its wines and to teach a new generation of Chinese winemakers all the secrets he learned back in France.
“We have brought in the best kind of vines, but we also need a good wine maker, just as a decent restaurant needs a good chef, the company’s vice-chairman Chi Jingtao told the China Daily.
He said the company had invested heavily in established vineyards in France, Italy and Australia as it looked to produce vintages from the red grape varieties it had imported such as cabernet sauvignon.
“We will look for more high-end global acquisitions later, as the immediate priority is to have more products in the domestic market. No other market is growing as rapidly as China,” Chi said.
1 comment:
Chinese wine makers looking to win back local taste buds
AFP Relax
11 May 2012
While China’s wine lovers continue their obsession with French vintages, a number of local labels are determined to lead the charge to convince them that Chinese winemakers can compete with the very best there is.
Dynasty Fine Wines is based near the city of Tianjin - about a 30-minute train ride from the capital Beijing - and has established a network of around 15 vineyards across the country, which grow not only native Chinese grape species such as Dragon’s Eye but increasingly have turned to the more internationally recognized cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc varieties.
There is an “overwhelming preference for dark, tannic red wines in China” - according to the China Wines Information Website - which says this is because Chinese consumers are judging their wines less on taste and more on “what is deemed socially acceptable - or aspirational - to consume.”
To the great majority of those buying at the high-end of the wine market, that basically means vintages from the famed and historic wine growing regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy, hence French wines account for around half of China’s entire wine imports.
But the people at Dynasty want to change that kind of thinking.
The label will be out in force at the Vinexpo Asia-Pacific wine fair - to be held in Hong Kong from May 21-29 - and on show will be its high-end range of red wines.
“People prefer Louis Vuitton to domestic brands these days. The same goes with wine,” company chairman Bai Zhisheng told the South China Morning Post.
But Bai said that Dynasty’s top range of reds - which sell for around 1,400 yuan (171 euros) per bottle - would account for 30 percent of its output within five years, up from the current 10 percent, as the company increased its marketing push and its distribution.
Dynasty has no plans as of yet to tackle the international wine market and another one of China’s leading wine labels also believes that Chinese winemakers should conquer their own market before setting their sight overseas.
And it makes sense considering wine consumption in China is growing at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world, according to industry reports, and the market has grown by 20 percent over each of the past five years.
The Great Wall label has wineries at both Sanggan and Huaxia in the northern Hebei province and another near Junding in the eastern Shangdong province growing more than 10 varieties of grapes.
The state-run China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp, which owns the label, last year brought in renowned French winemaker Michel Rolland - ex of Chateau Angelus, Chateau Lascombes and Chateau Beau-Sejour Becot - to help both improve the quality of its wines and to teach a new generation of Chinese winemakers all the secrets he learned back in France.
“We have brought in the best kind of vines, but we also need a good wine maker, just as a decent restaurant needs a good chef, the company’s vice-chairman Chi Jingtao told the China Daily.
He said the company had invested heavily in established vineyards in France, Italy and Australia as it looked to produce vintages from the red grape varieties it had imported such as cabernet sauvignon.
“We will look for more high-end global acquisitions later, as the immediate priority is to have more products in the domestic market. No other market is growing as rapidly as China,” Chi said.
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