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Shift of focus essential for Chinese wine market success

In contrast to the push towards focussing on the premium end of the market, international Chinese wine judge, Fongyee Walker says that the Australian industry needs to stop alienating the general public when it comes to wine exports.

Walker is the co-founder of Beijing’s first wine consulting service, and she also lecturers in wine at one of China’s mainland universities. Walker says that wine should be viewed as an everyday product that is easily accessible to everyone, not just the elite.

"Australia's biggest problem is that they spend all their time bloomin' running after the French; I buy Australian wine because it's not French," Walker told ABC News.

As Walker gives many of her students their first taste of wine, she says that it’s this market that Australian winemakers should be focusing on.

"I think that people should be realistic about China and remember it is a market where people are discovering wine, slowly," she said.

"It's a wine market with great potential because it's a food culture.

"So I think we need to get a lot of drinkable, nice wines, over there and for different styles."

Due to the Chinese austerity measures which has seen a sharp shift away from ultra-premium wine gift giving, the market for these kinds of wines have taken a hit over the past number of years.

In order to target the Chinese market effectively, Walker says that Australian winemarkers should look beyond Shanghai and China’s other ‘first-tier’ cities, and instead focus on the country’s growing ‘second tier’ cities.

“Shanghai in particular is almost impossible to gain any sort of real fan following because everybody and their dog is there every week of the year," she told ABC News.

"I would avoid the whole of south China … they don't like a lot of that wine."

 

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