Australian winemakers try cellar door marketing in China

Exports are critical to the Australian industry, which produced 1.1 billion litres of wine last year. Sales are down and another larger-than-expected harvest will add to oversupply.

One family-owned winery, Bird in Hand, has opened two stores in northeast China that replicate its Woodside Winery cellar door in the Adelaide Hills and include tasting rooms complete with original vines transported from Adelaide.

The first, which opened in Dalian in May, is located next door to a Ferrari showroom. It was followed in July by another cellar door in the coastal city of Yingkou, in the same northeast province of Laioning.

"Cellar doors are a new concept in those areas. China is the fastest-growing market for ultra-premium wine and it has got some terrific trends in growing consumption," says Bird in Hand global sales director Justin Nugent.