Tough sell' but Kiwi wines are doing well in China

The New Zealand wine industry faces a tough sell in China, where a new generation of drinkers have never heard of Kiwi sauvignon blanc or "clean green".

Speaking at the Wine Discovery New Zealand conference in Christchurch yesterday, Shanghai wine retailer and importer Simon Zhou said China was a blank canvas when it came to wine.

"New Zealand sauvignon blanc doesn't have the halo there that it has everywhere else in the world. Don't just rely on sauvignon blanc in China, try something else."

Mr Zhou started Ruby Red Fine Wine in Auckland more than a decade ago. It sells mostly to high-end Chinese restaurants in a market flooded with wine importers.

Mr Zhou poured cold water on much of the hype around opportunities for New Zealand wines, saying, "Everyone is targeting China at the moment."

Of the 1.4 billion people in China, about 100 million were potential customers. Aged between 25 and 45, they had money to spend and most lived in cities.

The biggest opportunities were through two high-end supermarket chains, the German Metro and French Carrefour, which sell 95 per cent of China's imported wine.

However, despite the almost total ignorance of New Zealand among Chinese, Mr Zhou said New Zealand wines were doing well in China.

"We are punching well above our weight."