Wine Wars (Part 2)(3)
Katharina Prüm
Germany
Katharina Prüm is acutely aware the color red is associated with luck in China and that makes it more difficult for a white winemaker here to do well. Yet Chinese drinkers like the fruitiness of her Riesling whites, said Prüm who's currently busy overseeing the harvest of grapes at her family vineyard in Germany's legendary winemaking belt along the banks of the Mösel, tributary of the Rhine.
Germany is celebrated for its whites, not a preference of Chinese drinkers. China so far represents a puny 1 percent of Prüm's exports: The winemaker ships 70 percent, or 16,000 cases of its production overseas every year. "It will grow, but not too fast," said Prüm who has visited China three times in the past year, mostly to do guided tastings for wine lovers in Beijing and other cities. She also gives training to staff of her distributor here.
Johann Josef Prüm founded family-run Weingut JJ Prüm in 1911. Today, Prüm manages what is one of only nine wine estates in Germany ranked five stars by Gault Millau, European wine's equivalent to the Michelin Guide for gastronomy. The winery focuses solely on Riesling from famous vine farming territories like Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Bernkasteler Badstube. "We only use our own grapes, we don't buy in," explains the winemaker, whose Rieslings are sought after by collectors drawn to their ability to age.
Prüm sees Chinese drinkers as particularly sensitive to taste, given the abundance of tea and cuisine varieties here. Riesling, she said, matches well with Chinese food, "and the Chinese are happy that the alcohol level is lower (Riesling is typically 7 to 9 percent alcohol volume; many European reds exceed 12 percent). Like most wise businesspeople with Chinese ambitions, Prüm is patient. "We want a foot in China, we don't have a certain figure [for total exports here] in mind."
gaofumao@globaltimes.com.cn
