Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/81015
EDITOR'S DESK Will China Supply its Own Wine? "What can we do to get our wines into China?" That seems to be the question on many North American vintners' minds these days. And certainly, there's great potential there, thanks to Chi- na's growing thirst for wine and population of more than 1 billion. But while export managers have been busy trying to establish their brands in China, the Chinese have been building a wine industry of their own. I had a fascinating discussion recently with Oregon-based pho- tographer and writer Jãnis Miglavs, who spent the last three years walking the vineyards of every major Chinese winegrowing region, interviewing winery owners, wine- makers and vineyard workers for his upcoming book, "China Wine." While you may imagine Chinese wineries as primitive operations producing wines that are rust ic at best, Miglavs paints a different picture: Disney- esque winer ies with faux French villages and enter- tainment com- plexes, state-of-the-art production facilities, and talented foreign vine- yard and winemaking consultants. Along with Australian and French consultants and winemakers, he told me, many of China's winer- ies also have foreign sharehold- ers from the United States, Italy, France, etc. (Why stop at exporting French or American wines to China when you can have a stake in sell- ing them Chinese wines, too?) And unlike some of the labor issues experienced by vintners in North America, labor is cheap and plentiful in China. As one win- ery owner told Miglavs: "I can get 1,000 workers in a day's notice." 10 VINEYARD & WINERY MANAGEMENT SEPT - OCT 2012 Most Chinese wineries aren't looking to export, so there's little threat of Chinese wines taking over American shelf space. But will the increasing production and quality of Chinese wines mean that China will be less receptive to imports? Not likely. "In Hong Kong and a little bit in Beijing, the wine buy- ers can be very sophisticated and knowledgeable about wine," Miglavs confirmed. "Those buy- ers are interested in prestige and French wines."(See the news item on page 14 for more on Chinese demand for California wines.) So it appears that North Ameri- can wineries – at least those mak- ing luxury wines – will continue to find a receptive market for their products in China. But just in case that situation changes in the next decade or so, it's not a bad idea to step up your efforts to sell more wine to consumers right here at home. There are always new domestic markets to explore and people to win over from craft brews and high- end spirits. China's not about to stand by and let other countries slake its citi- zens' thirst for wine – at least not without giving foreign producers a serious run for their money with local products. And that's a lesson we'd all do well to learn. Salute! Comments? Please e-mail us at feedback@vwm-online.com. vwm-online.com WWW.VWM-ONLINE.COM