Australian wines report positive feedbacks from ProWine China

Australian wines turned heads at the 2016 ProWine China, with close to 200 wines from 30 brands showcased at the Wine Australia Pavilion during the three-day fair in Shanghai, says Wine Australia.

Australian wines’ strong presence at the wine fair came at a time when China has surpassed the US to become the country’s most valuable export market. In the 12 months ending in September this year, Australia’s wine exports to China grew by 51% to US$474 million – from US$27 million just a decade ago, according to figures released by Wine Australia. The two countries signed a free trade agreement in 2015.

“We’ve had a lot of enquiries and we noticed the growing interest towards Australian wine. People are becoming more knowledgeable about wine and they’re beginning to know more about our region, Margaret River,” commented Stephen Bradshaw, group sales and marketing manager of Fogarty Wine Group, one of the 19 Australian exhibitors at the ProWine China event.

Held from 7-9 November, the fair featured wines from nearly 20 regions across five states in Australia. This also provided an opportunity for Chinese consumers to learn more about Australia’s diverse wines, many of which are not yet available in the China market.

“Many of the exhibitors at the Wine Australia Pavilion showed boutique wineries and their premium Australian wines, which are not commonly seen in the China market,” said Sihan Wang, wine expert at Auchan Supermarket, “It gave me a good opportunity to explore the different styles of high quality Australian wine and I was very impressed.”

During the three-day fair, Wine Australia also invited two of its certified educators, Sophie Liu and Jackie Qi, to deliver tasting classes on the topics of key Australian red and white varieties. An event dinner was hosted by the trade organization on the first night of the fair, attracting 50 guests.