Marketing Wines? Do Not Forget About China and Vinews!

As a wine marketer  I realize China has become the biggest market for red wine in 2013 and represents a huge market opportunity for more producers. As a graduate student in Northwestern Medill IMC program, I have been researching wines and have found couple articles on Wines and China you would fine interesting.

2014 Beijing Vinexpo Cancelled 

Vinexpo cancelled its 2014 Beijing Wine Fair, due to the permission issues with Chinese government. In October 2013, Chinese government limited the import wine from Europe, which had some impact on France wine. France organizes Vinexpo in Asia every two years. It is the first time; the organizers have planned to hold this wine fair in Mainland China besides Hong Kong, its regular meeting place. The cancellation showed the tensions between China and EU trading business happened last year.

http://www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/584466/vinexpo-cancels-2014-beijing-show

Chateau Lafite Rothschild Cut Price of 2013 Vintage by 14%

Article two is about Chateau Lafite Rothschild cut the price of 2013 vintage by 14%, due to the cool market demand in China. From 2009 to 2011, Chateau Lafite Rothschild boosted its wine price thanks to the increasing demand in Asia. After the Chinese government limited in gift giving, fine wine price starts to drop towards more reasonable direction. Whether it is the right place to invest on fine wine at this price or the price of 2014 vintage will continue drop? It is an interesting article for wine brokers to think about.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-16/lafite-rothschild-cuts-price-of-its-2013-vintage-by-14-.html

After reviewing these two articles, here are three action items wine professionals need to take:

• Analyze price– analyze the history price and decide whether it is worth to invest here.
• Involve – involve the Vinexpo and meet with the visitors from Mainland China at Hong Kong.
• Try – try to match the food and wine in your way! Customers would find interesting matching food with your wine!

Everything needs a start. Even though the Vinexpo will not hold in Beijing, still wine professional have the chance to meet their target audiences in Hong Kong. One thing they need to do is attend the Vinexpo! Whether it is a good time to invest in fine wine, investors need to start to do some research. Information helps to make decisions. 

Minyao Zheng is an MS. Candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. She has previously worked in the wine industry for two years. Follow her @minyaozheng