Hong Kong’s wine market ‘no longer a circus’

The fine wine market in Hong Kong has become more organised and is “no longer a circus”, according to Olivier Leflaive’s CEO, Jean Soubeyrand.

Speaking to the drinks business HK, Soubeyrand pointed out that since the abolition of alcohol tax in 2008, Hong Kong’s wine market has “normalised.”

“At that time, everyone was rushing in with all qualities of wine, people set themselves up as an importer, distributor seemingly overnight and the distribution of knowledge among the trade was very scattered. And historically, because consumers were drinking red wine influenced with what was happening in China, white Burgundy, even premium white Burgundy was left out of the picture in the scramble to meet the customers’ wants.”

Soubeyrand who was in Hong Kong with distributor, Corney & Barrow says sticking with one partner since Olivier Leflaive entered the market was the key to success for the highly regarded Burgundy Domaine.

“In order to have a successful presence in somewhere like Hong Kong which is so competitive, we needed a good representative. Other producers have tried the open market approach, but for us as a relatively small operation with only 16 hectares, we like to build successful relations with the on-trade and private clients through one company.”

In November 2009, Olivier Leflaive expanded his négociant business by bringing back five plots he owned from Domaine Leflaive: Meursault premier cru sous le Dos d’Âne, Puligny-Montrachet premier crus, Les Folatières and Les Pucelles and two grand crus, Bâtard-Montrachet and Chevalier-Montrachet.

“This helped consolidate our brand and work out which level of wines would suit each new market. Hong Kong originally wanted the more premium end with village, grand cru and premier cru but consumers now really like Bourgogne Blanc by the glass which would never have happened before.

Since trends such as fine wine by the glass is now a firm fixture on Hong Kong’s wine scene,  Soubeyrand commented that the knowledge among the trade has improved, especially since the wines are only available in precious few places, Amber in the Landmark Oriental, Pierre in the Mandarin Oriental and the Hong Kong Club, enabling more structured tastings and also arrangement of overseas visits.”

“Ninety percent of our on-trade and private client visits to Puligny are from overseas with Hong Kong and China being a huge part of this. Education among the trade is important, because with such small volumes of wine, we prefer a more focused approach. In the time we’ve been in Hong Kong with Corney & Barrow, we’ve seen such progress in how the trade approaches white Burgundy. It’s no longer inferior to red.”