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Asia the future for Jacob’s Creek?
Ben Bryant, the chief winemaker of Australia’s biggest wine brand Jacob’s Creek, has tipped Asia as its future growth engine, and one where the wine brand has already become the number one imported wine in India.
Ben Bryant, chief winemaker of Jacob’s Creek
Asia, including China, India and other southeastern Asian countries, currently accounts for 10% of Jacob’s Greek’s global sales volume, the winemaker told dbHK. The brand is a popular name in China, and in 2013, it became the top selling imported brand in India, despite these two countries’ spirits-driven market consumption.
“They are tough markets but it’s about looking into the future of the wine. China is big, growing fast and consumption is growing fast. Female buyers are key, that’s why we are focusing on these markets,” the winemaker explained without giving any specifics on volumes.
The wine brand’s parent company, Pernod Ricard, has developed a sound distribution network in China, and Bryant said the company had, “strong ambitions” in that market.
Jacob’s Creek’s whole range of wines are available in China from the more approachable ‘Cool Harvest’ to more premium ‘Reserve’ range, and the company aims to push for more on-premise drinking. “We want the wines to be consumed on the table,” Bryant emphasised.
“The perception of Australia is very favourable. It’s clean and it’s fresh. Secondly, it’s close to us and it’s faster and easier. But the challenge is to understand how to do business in China, and we are fortunate to have a good network of distributors, so the Australian export is growing and this is fantastic,” he added.
Regarding consumption differences between China and India, the winemaker said in India still wines top all categories of consumption, with a relatively balanced ratio of red and white wine consumption, while in China, red wines still dominate.
Speaking of challenges in India market, the winemaker singled out the constant hot temperature in the country as a challenge to storing wines in shops etc.