Companies

US wineries seek growing Chinese market

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-08-09 11:05

Customers choose imported wines at a supermarket in the file photo taken in 2008. [Photo / Asianewsphoto]

SEATTLE — Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland are developing a strong thirst for wine, and Washington and Oregon are hoping for a taste of those growing markets.

So far, only a trickle of Northwest wines make it to Asian countries outside of Japan. But experts say as affluence grows in China's booming economy, so will the demand for the finer things in life.

The recession hurt US wine sales to most of the world last year, but not to Hong Kong, where the value of American wine imports jumped 138 percent to $40 million.

Most of that vino came from California, which accounts for about 90 percent of the US's total wine exports. But the value of Washington's shipments to Hong Kong grew more than fivefold.

Washington's larger wineries have long cultivated customers in the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, and smaller exporters are seeking a foothold. Earlier this year, a delegation from Washington and Oregon signed a deal to promote wines in Hong Kong, their first trade agreement with that city.

"For our region, it's about being present, and you win by being there," said Al Portney, vice president of international sales for Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, which has been exporting wine to Hong Kong and the mainland for years.

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Portney said the Woodinville, Washington, winery pursues a methodical and long-term strategy showing that Northwest wines are high quality yet affordable.

While Ste. Michelle's exports to the region can fill a container on a cargo ship, Jonathan Ryweck, a one-man exporter of three Washington labels, ships a few pallets at a time.

"This is not a get-rich scheme, let me tell you," Ryweck said of his Port Townsend company, Transnational Ventures Inc. "It's growing very nicely but it's still real small volume and it's a tough sell."

Still, the Chinese associate foreign wine with success, education and status, he said.

"The Chinese love the taste profile of Washington wines," Ryweck said. "If you can get the product in their mouth, you can sell it."