Steves Tour de Asia

Steves Tour de Asia

In mid May this year, I travelled to Vietnam and then on to mainland China to visit importers and to “meet and greet” customers of our brand Terrace Heights Estate (THE)

Vietnam is somewhere I had not been previously, and I was blissfully unaware of the French Heritage in Ho Chi Min City - formerly known as Saigon. Motor scooters are absolutely everywhere. Crossing the road is a mission in itself, and definitely not for the faint hearted, and I passed on the tour where you can fire an M-16 for one dollar per round.

I met with possible import partners and was shown the wine trade in the City. Southern Vietnam is a market to look out for. It has a burgeoning middle class of young mobile people with cash, and that is promising for our wines should be well received. As usual a stumbling block is the ridiculous tax on alcohol and the other import requirements.

Next was Mainland China and Beijing, where I visited accounts before flying to the industrial powerhouse and wealthy city, Wenzhou in Southern China. Absent was the western influence of a Shanghai, but as with elsewhere in China, it is not far away. I did a series of staff training and wine tastings which were received very well, if only for the novelty value of a New Zealanders’ presence.

After this was a five hour high speed train trip to Shanghai to meet with Simon Zhou, of Ruby Red Wines, our distributor. We did several events including staff training before I jetted back to a shaky Christchurch, New Zealand.

Overall impressions were:
• New Zealand is gaining a small foothold since my previous visit in 2009. To see unnecessary slashing of prices in a market that does not require heavy discounting was disappointing
• Some very average 2008/09 NZ wines are in this market and lets hope they flush through quickly with minimal fanfare .The fact they are there is strange, however, on perusing the figures of export to China , it appears they were sent without a lot of fore-thought..
• Accessorise, Accessorise, Accessorise.
• When tasting with our target market, both Pinot Gris and Viognier received excellent approval with all enjoying the experience of their flavours. When quizzed which was their favourite wine of the event all concured “Sauvignon Blanc” was number one. In China this is the “right “ answer but not necessarily their overall personal rating of the varietals.
• Sauvignon Blanc is famous in the wine world. It is drunk by the right people in the right places around the World. It is the market leader in its class Worldwide. So the Chinese consumer will drink it because it is “fashion” pure and simple .We are selling a fashion item, we are a “must have” accessory. We are not selling a green paddock full of sheep with a snowy capped mountain in the background.

Now if only I could get a bottle of THE in the hands of Kim Kardashian ....Then..

Steve Hammond
Terrace Heights Estate

ENDS

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