Wine Wars(4)
Spain
Spaniard Vicente Muedra gave up his career as a lawyer to focus on China's hunger for fine food and wine. After stints importing Iberian ham and olives he's now marketing director at MPC Wines from Spain, which brings in 30 different varieties of Spanish wine including bottles from the renowned Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions.
Why is Spanish wine relatively unknown in China?
Spain is number one in the amount of land under the vine, but only third in production: That's because we produce a lot of wine for overseas blenders, including?vineyards in China.?Domestically, Spain consumes a lot of mediocre wine as mixers such as for calimocho, the cocktail [of wine and cola] you get in Spanish bars.
Why are French wines so popular?
French wines are good but in China this is taken advantage of…you can sell even table wine for a good price if it's French.?
What's Spain doing to catch up with her northerly neighbors?
By shifting toward high quality. Proximity to southern France has made the Rioja region the forerunner in quality. Wine growers are also trying new grape varietals. The current global celebrity status of really innovative Spanish chefs is also drawing attention to our wines.
What kind of Spanish wine do Chinese drinkers like?
The?market is still undeveloped…people here look for wines that are easy to drink, not demanding. [Bottle] labeling should look classical and reflect history and traditional references. You can't say Chinese people like this or that, for example it's not true that they don't like the taste of Rioja. Australian and Chilean success is down to good products that are easy to drink. Wine drinkers will mature into more complex wines. ?
How big is China compared to the US for Spanish wine exports?
China still accounts for only a tenth of the volumes MPC ships to the US. But shipments?will grow, given the new openings of Spanish restaurants here.?Having to pay 48 percent taxes on our imports here it hard to compete with New World wines. Some of them benefit from free trade arrangements.
Be here next week to see who else's grapes Gao's got his hands on.
