Australian wine exports to China booming(3)
When the winemaker asked what the company's marketing strategy was, the prospective buyer and translator spoke in Mandarin for 20 minutes before coming back ''in English with a three-word answer.''
Brand conscious
Smaller, premium-priced Australian wine producers are wary about selling their product to buyers who won't ship, transport or market their wine correctly, especially into an emerging market, where a wine's reputation may be hard to alter after initial sales.
That concern is acute for vineyards producing premium brands, with some fearing their wines could be dumped on the Chinese market, undermining their value.
Worse, if the wine isn't shipped or stored correctly, it could ''get cooked'' resulting in a ruined produce entering the market, spoiling the brand's image, winemakers say.
For Chinese consumers with little knowledge of western wine, they will know only that they don't like it. For more discerning consumers, some may ask for a refund, which will eventually trickle up from the distributors to the suppliers.
Government's role
Asked whether they thought the Australian government was making it too easy for Chinese to acquire business visas, one Victorian winemaker, said, ''If you ask that question, you can expand that to ask about a whole lot of other questions about migration.''
''In the end of the day, if it's a legitimate business person who can generate sufficient economies to have a reasonable business, then morally you would say they could add value to Australian society and economy, if they did end up becoming citizens down the track.''
''There's no doubt that trade between Australia and China is going to grow, so I don't think we can stick our heads in the sand and say: 'forbid it'.''
Also, he said, the connections fermenting between the wine industry and Chinese businesses could benefit Australian winemakers in years to come.
