Chinese Demand for South African Wine Continues To Rise
Date£º
2018-12-17 16:15 Source£º
www.thedrinksbusiness.com Author:
Calum Trenaman Translator:
Perfect Wines of South Africa, a brand formed in 2013 between L¡¯Huguenot Vineyards and Chinese distributor Yangzhou Perfect China, now accounts for 25% of all South African wine sold in China.
South African wine is challenging the dominance of French wine in the Chinese market (Credit: iStock)
Earlier this year, a Vinexpo report showed that by 2021, China would be the second largest wine market in the world after the US.
Over the next five years, China¡¯s consumption is expected to rise by over one third to $23 billion when it will reach a volume of 192 million cases.
It would seem that the chairman of South African wine producer L¡¯Huguenot Vineyards, Hein Koegelenberg, has excellent foresight, after forming a partnership with Yangzhou Perfect China all the way back in 2013.
This union occurred at just the right time, with China becoming the world¡¯s largest consumer of red wine just a year later in 2014.
The company now exports three South African brands to China: L¡¯Huguenot, Leopard¡¯s Leap and La Motte.
The company have been taking advantage of China¡¯s massive online market, with 49% of the company¡¯s foreign wines being sold through the internet last year.
L¡¯Huguenot, much like other South African wine companies, have been marketing themselves in China by hosting wine tasting events in hotels and high-end restaurants in China. However, they¡¯ve gone above and beyond just this.
Renier Van Deventer, head winemaker at L¡¯Huguenot and Leopard¡¯s Leap, says the Chinese palate is very different from the South African palate.
So to find the wines that best suited the tastes of Chinese cuisine, they did a lot of research in China, but also invited Chinese clients to their wineries in South Africa.
This has definitely paid off, with around 13,000 stores now stocking L¡¯Huguenot wine in China, and around 1,500 salespeople exposing consumers to new wines.
The 49% Chinese import tax is a bitter pill to swallow when competing with French wine producers, which export the most wine to China by country of origin.
As South African wine has a seal of origin and isn¡¯t as well known as some French wine brands, they do not have as many problems with counterfeit wine.
Koegelenberg is optimistic about the future though. ¡°We come from a bad history where we couldn¡¯t plant in all regions [due to apartheid laws]. Now we are planting. So all of a sudden winemakers in South Africa are making excellent wines.¡±
(https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/12/chinese-demand-for-south-african-wine-continues-to-rise/)