WA wine exports bounce back

0Western Australian wine exports are on the up as the Chinese develop a big thirst for higher quality wines.

 

There has been a total increase in wine exports from WA to China over the past year, which is encouraging for an industry recovering from the global financial crisis.

 

Aymee Mastaglia, general manager of the Wine Industry Association of WA, says there's a trend developing for more expensive wine.

 

"The Chinese are starting to, in some areas, appreciate a quality drop versus just a glass of wine," she said.

 

"That comes with education campaigns that are going on over there as well as bringing out key wine tasters and wine buyers and really trying to focus on quality."

 

Ms Mastaglia confirmed that the United Kingdom remains Margaret River's most valuable overseas customer.

 

"The UK is a huge market for Western Australian wine, but at the same time, we have to always hedge our bets and look in other areas to make sure our product is well spread around."

 

This trend towards fine wine is welcomed by smaller producers who would prefer to send less volumes of better quality wine.

 

Gavin Cahill is the manager of sales and marketing at Laurance Wines in Margaret River.

 

He has spent a lot of time dealing with China and says there's safety in knowing there are big opportunities out there which leaves more room to pick and choose markets.

 

"Quality has always been a driver for this region so we can all get to stand up together and the best wines are the ones that are going out," she said.

 

"Before when you'd have an opportunity put in front of you you'd jump on it, now we can sit back and say we've got a few to look at here and can actually make more of a calculated decision about the way forward into a new market."