U.S. wine exports rising(1)
Wine exports from the U.S. hit a new high last year, thanks to growing demand in Asia and increased shipments to Canada, Europe and elsewhere, but few Temecula Valley wineries are reaping the rewards of the boom.
U.S. exports of wine reached nearly $1.3 billion in the first 11 months of last year, already surpassing 2010’s total of $1.1 billion even without December’s tally. About 90 percent of U.S. wine exports come from California, but only a handful of Temecula Valley wineries export any product at all. And those who do say the amounts are minimal.
Jim Carter, founder of South Coast Winery Resort & Spa, said he’s focusing primarily on building business throughout the U.S., but the winery is wholesaling some surplus product to China and other Asian countries. He said he has tried to market to Canada and to make contacts in England.
Wilson Creek Winery representatives traveled to China in October to a wine festival in Shanghai and came back with a string of medals, including a Best of Class for Rosie’s Rose, said Jim Wilson, the winery’s CEO. Wilson Creek sells wine to China through an intermediary in the U.S., but only on a limited basis.
Wilson said he has also sent some wine to the Philippines and is in talks with intermediaries for Dubai and Switzerland. He, too, prefers to focus his energies on developing the U.S. market.
“We’d rather spend money to develop Chicago, New York, Florida,” he said, markets that are “equally unfamiliar with Temecula as China, Dubai and Switzerland without a huge language or cultural barrier.”
CHALLENGES OF EXPORTING
There’s tremendous upside potential to exporting, particularly to China with its growing middle class, Wilson said. But new markets bring complications, and winemakers already face varying licensing and distribution requirements for each state.
“It’s absolutely crazy,” he said.
To expand into a large international market, you've got to be able to fill containers, said Peggy Evans, executive director of the Temecula Valley Winegrowers Association.
