Australian wines impress Chinese trade group

Wine Australia hosted an “immersive Australian experience” for a group of 16 professional wine merchants and educators from mainland China, giving them an opportunity to experience grape harvesting and winemaking at wineries in the Margaret River, Great Southern, McLaren Vale and Barossa.

The 10-day trip from 16-25 April gave guests insight to the unique characteristics of each region through winemaker dinners, winery tours, tastings, master classes and informal education sessions with regional experts, the trade organisation said.

“The diversity of Australian wine really impressed me. Not only the grape varieties, ranging from classic ones such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, to Sangiovese, Tannat and Fiano, very diversified. The styles are also varied, from juicy to complex, from crisp to rich,” said Darren Wang, sommelier of Ritz-Carlton Shanghai.

“During the conversations with winemakers, I also got to know that the summer of 2017 was cooler than average, so the harvest season was postponed for a few weeks. This makes me have an even higher expectation on the 2017 vintage of this region,” commented Yin Lixue, a certified Wine Australia educator.

“This year, as always, all of our guests were impressed with the high quality, diversity and terroir of Australian wine, and I’m sure they will deliver the Australian fine wine message to the China market after they return,” added Willa Yang, Wine Australia’s head of market in China.

Australian wine exports to China grew by 43% to $568 million in the 12 months to end of March 2017.