China’s taste for Australian wines, and its vineyards, is growing
Wine is seen as a prestige product in China, and Australia sells ‘a few vineyards a month’ to Chinese buyers — but can the buying spree last?
Hunter Valley/Shanghai — Wang Zhe, a wealthy Chinese businessman from Guangzhou, liked his glass of decade-old Chardonnay at an Australian winery so much he wanted more. So he asked to buy the entire vintage. It was the sort of offer, made over roast lamb and vegetables at a dinner in Wang’s honour, that has sent Australian wine exports to China soaring by 63%, hitting A$848m ($660m) last year. And Col Peterson, the winemaker behind the Chardonnay, said Wang is the kind of buyer who has up-ended Australia’s wine industry. At the dinner party, Wang, wearing a red hoodie and Prada loafers, said through a translator who works at Peterson’s Hunter Valley vineyard that the wine was "amazing". "I’ve tried a lot of wines from different countries, and after that I thought: ‘Australian wine is very good’," said Wang, whose purchase at the vineyard, some 250km north of Sydney, sought to add more wine to a collection already full of Burgundy and Bordeaux. His association with Peterson illustra...
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