Staglin steps up China exports

Staglin Family Vineyard, a small winery from Napa’s Rutherford region, is planning to sell 250 cases of its famed Cabernets and Chardonnays to China over the next three years as the winery launches its latest releases of Staglin and Salus wines in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China.

Shari Staglin and Garen Staglin at Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong

The winery, whose output is 80% reds and 20% whites, is currently selling approximately 100 cases of its flagship Staglin series and its second label – ‘Salus’ range – to China.

Its Cabernets, including Staglin Estate Cabernet, a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and its Salus Cabernet, a 100% pure Cabernet, have been popular among drinkers in Mainland China who favour big and fruity reds.

Salus wines in particular, have been well received in China thanks to the wines’ ultra fruitiness, said Shari Staglin, CEO and co-owner of the 26-hectare winery in Rutherford, a quality she believes is “very attuned with Chinese food” when speaking to dbHK over the weekend in Hong Kong.

Made from younger vines, the Salus Cabernet is principally 100% Cabernet (only in a few vintages it is sometimes blended with other grapes), which makes the wine more fruit-forward, approachable and food friendly, she explained.

The Salus Chardonnay does not go through second fermentation. This, according to the owner, helps preserve fresh, clean aromas. The whites are grown from a small parcel of vineyards on a deposit of volcanic ashes that give the wines plenty of fruit intensity and aromas. Compared with other locations, the vineyards also enjoy longer hours of shades from the highest mountain in the region from Mayacamas Range, she continued.

“It gives us shade in the early afternoon, and Chardonnay likes it a little bit cooler. It’s good for the Cabernet as well, because it gives us longer hang time for the grapes because it stays out longer and we harvest a bit later than other people in the valley. It gives them a softer and slower growing period, and the grapes love that.”

“We are the only one in Rutherford making Chardonnay because we are the only winery to have that deposit,” said the vintner, who founded the winery in 1985. Profits from the Salus range are going to be donated to mental health charities, the owner said, a personal cause she and her husband, Garen, started when her son was battling schizophrenia.

Speaking of challenges, the vintner said, “one of the challenges we have is to get Chinese people to open up about Napa valley, and not just French wines.” Chinese drinkers still prefer reds over whites, although in Shenzhen, she noted, people tend to drink more whites than the northern regions.

Japan is Staglin’s oldest export market, its wines have been going there since the 1990s. Its wines are also exported to India, but co-owner Garen admitted that “India is a less developed market compared with China”, adding most of the wines sold there are are through hotels.

The Staglin Estate wines and Salus series are available at ASC Fine Wines in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China.