Uncorking a new market in China(2)
“It’s like Costco, but for very rich people,” said Pomer’s office manager, Flora Wang.
“They don’t know Aces or big Canadian names, they just know Mascube. They just trust us, so we feel our responsibility is very huge. If the product is not good, our reputation would be destroyed,” Wang said.
Gift giving is a large part of the Chinese culture, with some companies shelling out 500,000 RMB for nicely wrapped and packaged gifts for their employees and clients during the holidays, Wang explained.
But tapping into the Chinese market is not that easy. Most drinkers still reach for domestic wines. Greg Berti, from Peller Estates in Ontario’s Niagara region, says about 28 million people in China buy imports.
With no distribution channels in place, setting up shop can be difficult for newcomers.
Canada’s icewine – a favourite in Asia – could end up being the golden ticket into the Chinese market for this country’s vintners.
The cold, sweet drink, made from grapes hand-picked during the winter in Ontario’s Niagara wine region and in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, is considered a luxury beverage worldwide. It first dazzled the Japanese, then the South Koreans and now it’s poised to do the same to Chinese consumers, said Randy Dufour of Vincor Canada, who handles exports for Canada’s No. 1 icewine producer, Inniskillin, which entered the Chinese market 10 years ago.
Dufour has been travelling to China since 1995. He says he’s seen dramatic changes through the years, with icewine starting out as a gift item, and now becoming a drink consumed at dinner banquets along with the French grand cru.
“During the trade shows in the 1990s, the Chinese were more interested in my POS system than the wine. They were fascinated by anything Western,” Dufour said. “The middle-class is emerging and they see wine as part of that image of wealth.”
A Credit Suisse report last year said the top 10 per cent of Chinese household incomes have grown 255 per cent since 2004.
It’s not uncommon to see wine drinkers chain-smoking during a tasting or pounding a glass of wine like a shot of baiju, a popular Chinese rice liquor that can contain as much as 60 per cent alcohol.
“Fifteen years ago, people didn’t like the taste of wine and would mix it with something else; some still do,” Dufour said. “This generation may mix their Bordeaux with Coke but the next will drink it as Bordeaux.”
A bottle of Inniskillin’s icewine sells for $140 to $200 in China.
According to a report from Agri-Food Canada, Canada exported $8.6 million of icewine to China in 2009, and it remains the top export destination for the Canadian specialty.
The young wine market – with its inexperienced Chinese palates and growing disposable income – has created the perfect formula for Canadian winemakers.
