1612st wine feature (1)

CITY LIVING

FEATURE

Wine Not?

Many are apprehensive about the domestic wine industry but we say, “wine not”?

Nyima Pratten

The fine wine industry in China was growing at an astronomical rate before Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. Since then, top end wines have taken a nosedive, but mid-range wines have continued to grow slowly, in a more organic way.

Thanks to the growth and demand in the mid-range section, domestic wines from around the country are emerging to prominence. After all, why shouldn’t the economy benefit from the country’s insatiable appetite for wine?

TalkMagazine

December16

ProWine China

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s a regional event for ProWein Düsseldorf, ProWine China has continued to lead in quality and quantity regarding its international exhibitors - an ideal destination for Chinese importers, distributors and suppliers to source from the perfect vineyards. This year the trade exhibition attracted 12.431 trade visitors, an increase of 20% year-on-year, with trade visitors from outside of Shanghai representing 36%.

At this year’s ProWine China, some 650 wines and spirits manufacturers, importers and distributors from 37 countries showcased their newest and most sought-after products, presented at the 13 country pavilions and 5 regional pavilions in the exhibition.

Most of the international exhibitors were from France, followed by Italy and Spain. Other major wine regions, including Portugal, Germany, Greece and Austria also took part in the exhibition. Brazilian Pavilion and Chianti Pavilion from Italy exhibited

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his year, ProWine China, an international trade fair for wines and spirits, welcomed participation by its first wine producers from China. Award-winning winemakers from around the country joined forces to create a new Chinese country pavilion, marking the first Chinese pavilion at an international wine industry trade fair. Participating exhibitors hailed from Xinjiang, Ningxia and Huailai wine regions.

We visited the Chinese pavilion to sample some of their best putaojiu and were pleasantly surprised with what was on offer.

As ProWine China places such emphasis on wine education, offering supporting programmes during the trade show, therefore we were able to avail ourselves on the experts and delve a little deeper into the mysterious local wine market.

Although beer had long been popular in China, the wine market in the country

only developed later. “The Chinese wine market grew as many Western products came into China. Once the Chinese market started to realise the investment potential for fine wine, it gave it a big kick and a lot of distributers started up as a result of this growth”, said Ian Harris, Chief Executive of Wine And Spirit Education Trust. The wine market in China, however, was hit hard after the fallout from the anti corruption campaign in 2012 and has only recently started to gain ground again.

“Many people were using fine wines as gifts and the market was hit quite badly when the austerity measures were brought in. This firstly hit the fine wine market, but eventually had a knock on effect for other distributers in Mainland China”, said Harris.

This drop in demand for fine wines, however, offered an opening in the market for cheaper wines from other countries such as Italy, Spain and Australia, as well as from the Middle Kingdom itself. “I am

for the first time. Meanwhile, Yao Family Wines by YAO Ming, the Chinese basketball star, visited ProWine China 2016.

ProWine China welcomed participation by its first wine producers from China. The wine tasting magazine RVF China brought together award-winning winemakers of the “2016 RVF Chinese Outstanding Wine Annual Award” for joint participation

in a new Chinese country pavilion, marking the first Chinese pavilion at an international wine industry trade fair, with exhibitors coming from Xinjiang, Ningxia and Huailai wine regions. In addition, Chinese importers and distributors have doubled their exhibition areas, a clear sign that ProWine China is offering market expansion for China’s local market.

very pleasantly surprised by the quality of wine coming out of China, particularly Ningxia province. The quality of wine has really improved and I think that in 10 year's time they will take their place on the global stage, not just as a major wine producer but as a major exporter of wines to countries such as the UK and US”, predicted Harris.

One such winery in Ningxia is Leirenshou, founded in 2002. The company owns a 600 square metre vineyard in the province and their bottles of wine sell for RMB 30 to RMB 500. Currently, the company mainly sells to consumers from the local region; however, they have big plans for country, and possibly world, domination.

“First we focused in the local area and then moved to first tier cities. Currently, we only sell in China, but we are taking part in international competitions so people from around the world can know us”, said Li Kang Min, the company’s Promotion Planner. As for why the Ningxia wine region is so unique and special in China, Li said, “The climate is very suitable for making wine because the area has over 3000 sunshine hours and less than 200 millilitres of rainfall per year. The soil is sandy because it is close to the Gobi Desert and the altitude is over 1100 metres, which means there is a higher temperature in the day and a colder one at night”.

It is not just small-time Chinese companies who are now looking to benefit from producing wine in China. In 2013, Chandon opened a 6,000 square metre vineyard in Ningxia to meet demand in the booming China market.

Chandon currently have six wineries around the

world, however, Chinese production only meets the demands of the local market. A vineyard in Yarra Valley, Australia supplies all other Asian countries. “We have the same image and same quality products all over the world, but in each country we tailor new products to be more adapted to the market. So in China, next year, we will have a more sweet sparkling wine that is adapted to the Chinese palate because they don't like too much acid in wine”, said Maxime Saes, Manager of Business Development at Chandon China.

So it seems that wine is here to stay, and the market is only going to expand moving forward, even if it still remains a mystery to many outside the country.

“The wine market is still growing, but at a much slower rate. All the hype about wine has started to die down, but the wine market is still going strong and growing in a much quieter way, which we prefer as international publicity gets overhyped and the wine has suffered for a long time”, said Brendan O’Connell Jennings, General Manager at China International Exhibitions, the hosts of ProWine China.

Cheers to many more Chinese wines that won’t break the budget.

December16 TalkMagazine