California is pouring on the charm as wine producers from the US state
open up opportunities in Asia.
One of the busiest wineries is the Russian River-based DuMol
-- home to a label served at a Washington state dinner US President Barack Obama
hosted for visiting Chinese president Hu Jintao.
That state dinner was a really big deal.
Every aspect of it
was covered in the media,
not only in the States but also here. And the media picked up on this wine
and our phone started ringing immediately
We think there¡¦s just a lot of potential here
and an enthusiastic group of
not only consumers
but also the sommeliers and everything else
That kind of enthusiasm was reflected at at the Wines of California pavilion
at the 2012 HKTDC Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair
Doubling in size for its third year ¡V the group exhibit still couldn¡¦t
accommodate all companies casting their eyes across the Pacific ¡V
¡V and especially toward an eager Chinese mainland market. 20 00:01:13,820 --> 00:01:16,650 They¡¦re more sophisticated ¡V they¡¦re seeking out specific
appalachians - for example Napa, or a specific kind of wine like Zinfandel
¡V so they¡¦re becoming more educated about California wines and they¡¦re also becoming I think
a little bit more daring, wanting to try different types of wine ¡V and California¡¦s
perfect for that because we grow more different wines than any other place in the world.
The Chinese consumer is very thirsty for knowledge - pardon the pun ¡V
and they want to find out not only what¡¦s in the wine,
and how it¡¦s made, but how to serve it.
And I think what they¡¦re moving forward from is a culture of toasting and
ganbei and grain alcohol, and they¡¦re finding that doesn¡¦t go all that well with food.
Wines
go well with food.
At the same time ¡V US producers are realizing that wine goes well
in Hong Kong.
The city is California¡¦s third-largest export market ¡V
up 39 per cent in value and helping push up overall US wine exports.
American entrepreneur Toby Marion has been based in Hong Kong for nearly nine years ¡V
and now has a steady business with some 65 brands
and 350 wines ¡V
including some famous names from the States.
Hong Kong is a sophisticated place
has been for a long time. It has all the infrastructure whether
it¡¦s physical
or economic or social
-by that I mean banking and logistics and rule of law and so forth
and in addition it has a large wine-drinking population that¡¦s growing ¡V it¡¦s still
a minority but large population that¡¦s growing.
Banking is quick,
legal procedures are quick,
people are hardworking, people are loyal, and great place to do business.
We have a natural advantage
and disadvantage when it comes to American wine.
The advantage is that it¡¦s recognized as being high quality,
and we¡¦re the fourth largest, so France Italy, Spain and the US are really the big four.
But what we¡¦ve traditionally consumed most of our wine,
so we¡¦ve not been a big exporters.
That's changing-
along with tastes in Asia¡¦s fast-growing markets.
You find the Chinese now going for things like Zinfandel which
a few years ago
they would¡¦ve been like, ¡¥What¡¦s that?¡¦
Now they see you¡¦re a California wine company and the first questions they might ask you
¡¥What do you have? Do you have Zinfandel?¡¦ What do you have that¡¦s different?¡¦
Hong Kong is the gateway to Asian wine markets, I believe.
Hong Kong itself is an important wine hub 65 00:03:44,499 --> 00:03:48,439 but also in terms of being
finding wine variety and things like that.
I mean, there are more mainland Chinese here than any other segment of
a buyer, so it¡¦s really the place to be I think.
If you¡¦re looking at wine as an industry sector,
for us it¡¦s a US$600 million a year throughput through our port.
But what it also does is create jobs, because those grapes aren¡¦t going anywhere.
They¡¦re being
and fermented and bottled in California.
And so we will keep jobs there and we will grow jobs
as we export more wine.
I think if you¡¦re going to do it, you have to commit to
being over here
on a regular basis and develop relationships, because very much like in the United States, it¡¦s a people business.
we need to stay in
contact with your distributor, partner ¡V
do events for consumers. We got a little bit of catch-up to do ¡V the French
have got a couple hundred years on us in the market,
but I¡¦m willing to take that ¡V I¡¦ll spot them a couple hundred years
and it¡¦s a marathon not a sprint.