Dateline: Asia

Wines & Vines, July, 2004 by Kevin Sinclair

One day this spring, two wine industry figures were visiting Hong Kong, one from Britain, the other from Western Australia. The two men didn't know each other, but were on similar missions. Their backgrounds hammered home once again the necessity for wine marketers to invest time over many years if they hope to get their products listed well in Asia.

Kit Stevens, M. W., has been a regular visitor to Hong Kong and other Far East markets since 1972. On his latest trip, the chairman of Vinifera H.S. was wearing his Guigal estate hat; he's an advisor to the distinguished Rhone winery and was on a swing through Asia pushing its product.

Peter Pratten, a former top medical specialist, was first in Hong Kong in 1983, nine years after he planted his first grapes on an unknown portion of land south of Perth. Today, his Capel Vale wines are sold worldwide, but Hong Kong and Asia are niche markets for his labels.

Both men stress that to build and maintain business links in Asia, continuity is the key. When people like Stevens and Pratten visit Asia, they are listened to with respect. That's because many people in the industry have been doing business with them for a total of more than half a century.

A visit may not pay immediate, obvious, dividends. But it helps create a climate of faith for future deals. When Stevens chatted with industry figures, for instance, he didn't directly press them to buy Guigal. Instead, he gave an overview of the industry.

"Everyone's going corkless," the engaging Englishman said at one meeting with wine industry figures. "It's time to bury the cork. I couldn't believe it, but now even the French are saying it."

That's fine for whites, he notes, but it is still a different story for red wines. Still, Stevens, who is a third-generation Singapore-born Englishman, got a lot of attention when he repeated what everyone fears--the sweaty, humid climate of places like Singapore and Hong Kong is anathema to corks. It rots them. "So the switch to corkless is happening so fast, it's unbelievable," he says.

He points out to winemakers in places like Australia and New Zealand that large supermarket chains in Britain are now insisting that 90% of the wines they stock have screwtops.

England? What about France? Stevens looks positively morbid as he trots out statistics that show wine consumption per head has dropped 30% in the past decade.

Peter Pratten also spoke at a wine dinner at the swank Belvedere Restaurant in the Grand Stanford InterContinental Hotel, explaining to media and trade why Western Australian wines tend to be a little pricier than other Down Under vintages. "Perth is 3,000 miles from Sydney," he explained over his famous unwooded Chardonnay. "So bottles, corks, equipment, everything, has a cost-added component."

He also explained vividly the climatic differences of Western Australia's wineries. "Perth is similar to Portugal, while the south coast is like north Germany," he pointed out. Such illustrations help Chinese restaurateurs and importers distinguish among the range of products coming from the state. They also explain the passion that winemakers like Pratten show when deciding what grapes they can grow in what regions--he's got total plantings of 220 hectares (1 hectare = 2.47 acres) scattered in three sites with vastly different soils and climates.

Make It With Cheese

Management at the famous McGuigan Winery in the Hunter Valley, two hours' drive north of Sydney, has a novel approach to significantly boost cellar door sales--next to its retail vineyard outlet is a gourmet cheesemaker.

Working closely together, the two producers have a symbiotic relationship that is mutually profitable. "We get 15,000 visitors monthly," says Steve Scott, senior cheese educator of the Hunter Valley Cheese Company. "Most of them buy one of our specialized cheeses, which are sold 85% through the winery outlet. And, naturally, wine goes with cheese ...."

The oldest wine region in Australia--convicts planted the first vines 180 years ago--is going through a stunning revitalization. It's led by art, craftsmanship, strongly targeted tourism aimed at corporate and upper-bracket leisure, and cuisine.

Investment is pouring into the area not only from Australia but worldwide. The U.S.-based Troon golf management combine is one major player with a real estate, winery and hotel development hinged on a Greg Norman-designed course.

Even flowers are a major drawing card, with cabins, an Irish pub and gourmet restaurants set among a million roses at Hunter Valley Gardens, where sculptured trees and Chinese gardens give a Disneyland effect.

"But it's all based on wine," says the valley's wine country tourism marketing director, Heidi Duckworth. True, but added-value attractions are proving almost as lucrative to wineries as their wine output. Last year, Hunter Valley crushed 30,000 tons of grapes, making about 25 million liters of wine worth about US$182 million. Wine-related tourism is roughly measured to be worth US$390 million--twice as much as the total value of wine sales. Of the 1,700 hotel, motel or vineyard cabins in the valley, about 40% were added in the past five years, mostly in the luxury brackets.