Sandwiched chronologically between a highly successful ProWein in Düsseldorf and the much-anticipated, rejuvenated London Wine Fair, Vinexpo Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong opened its doors to an uncertain situation. Given the slowdown in mainland Chinese sales following the new government’s anti-corruption clampdown on extravagance and gifting, there were widespread questions over how busy the exhibition would be – and about how many of the visitors would be genuine buyers. As Carl Robinson, CEO of both premium Japanese distributors Jeroboam and Diva New Zealand, said on the eve of the show, “We have lots of great appointments planned, but it will be interesting to see how many turn into real orders.”
Doubts over the event were further exacerbated by Chinese disenchantment with Bordeaux after the manic buying of the overpriced 2009s. Would the Asian iteration of the Bordeaux-based exhibition suffer from any fallout?
A good year
In fact, despite unsubstantiated rumours of Bordeaux merchants’ stands at the show having to fend off Chinese visitors who were trying to sell them recent vintages of their own region’s wines, there is no doubt that 2014 was a very good vintage for Vinexpo Asia-Pacific. The exhibition covered 50% more space than at the previous fair in 2012 and, for the first time, stands were spread across two floors, which explains why the event felt slightly less crowded than last year, even though visitor numbers were up by 6.8%, to just under 17,000.
In any case, there was widespread acknowledgement of an increase in the quality of the visitors to the stands. Michaela Stander, market manager of Europe & Asia for Wines of South Africa, reflected a common view when she said, “This show was a bit quieter… but it was more of a reflection of Greater Asia. There definitely seemed to be a different set of Chinese buyers with a greater awareness of what they are looking for. They know far more about price points and the style of what they are looking for.”
Guillaume Deglise, the recently-appointed CEO of Vinexpo, makes a similar point, “Two years ago there were people walking up to a stand and buying two containers of wine. Now they arrive with details of what they want and the desire to start a relationship.” Deglise, who previously worked for both the Lanson and Bollinger Champagne brands, makes no secret of the efforts his team have made to restrict access to his exhibition. Asian visitors had to provide more convincing credentials than in the past, and would-be attendees from outside the region found the doors firmly closed against them, in the form of impenetrable online registration forms.
One obvious rationale for this last restriction was to prevent producers from using Vinexpo as a stage on which to sell their wines without investing in a stand. Some people managed to circumvent this barrier with the help of compliant exhibitors, while a number of buyers from markets a long way from Asia were evidently allowed in – when they were felt to meet the appropriate criteria. As Deglise puts it, “we are flexible for good customers.”
This flexibility helps to explain the presence of buyers from both Israel and Scandinavia. Charlotte Read, Asian and Middle East market manager for the New Zealand producer Villa Maria Estate, was delighted to see her Finnish buyers at the show, but she also made the point that representation from other Asian countries was wider than in the past. “There were people from almost everywhere – places like the Philippines, Malaysia and Cambodia,” she said, “and very few time- wasters”.
Read is confident that, despite the historic focus on red wine in China in particular and Asia in general, her company’s Sauvignon Blanc has great potential there. Her confidence in the potential of white wine is shared by the Alsace producer Etienne Hugel who attracted attention by persuading visitors to his stand to have the word ‘Riesling’ temporarily tattooed on their arms. “Being here is a no-brainer,” he said. “Every time I come to events like this, I see a greater appreciation of what we are doing.”
Innovative
While previous Vinexpo executives have been accused of Gallic arrogance, Deglise, who at 39 is significantly younger than his forebears, makes a point of being open and pragmatic. “We told visitors that we want to listen to them, to see what they wanted, and that has led to a number of innovations.” Among these, the most visible was an increased focus on spirits, which filled 16% of the stand space, as well as a new ‘concept bar’ called Spiritual. Organised in conjunction with The Spirits Business magazine and the Hong Kong Bartenders Association, whose members stirred and shook cocktails throughout the show, this feature reflected the fact that, as Deglise pointed out, 63% of all spirit sales are in Asia. This compares with a figure of just 11% for wine.
Other innovations this year included an increase in the number of off-site dinners and events. Deglise claimed that there were ‘hundreds’ of these in restaurants and cafés in both Hong Kong and Kowloon. The off-site initiative of which he was most proud, however, was a well-attended ‘private networking event’ called “Behind the Fan”, which was held at the Isola restaurant. This first attempt to run its own evening event, rather than leave it to exhibitors, was intended to attract some 500 people.
Among the major topics for discussion among those busy networkers, unsurprisingly, was the impact of the anti-corruption austerity measures introduced by the new Chinese government last year. Roberto Bava, one of the most widely travelled producers in North West Italy said, “the market is definitely suffering, one year after the clampdown, and it shows how these markets really aren’t stable yet.” But, he continues, “If we want to succeed here as producers we have to be stable in what we do, and work for the medium term. There’s no point in being here if you are looking at anything faster than the medium term.”
Deglise acknowledged the need to take things gradually by making one of his first decisions as CEO to cancel – or as he put it, ‘postpone’ – the Vinexpo Beijing event that was scheduled to take place directly after the Hong Kong show. Instead, it was resolved to focus attention on the latter exhibition, and the Vinexpo Nippon show to be held in Tokyo in November. “That show will give us the chance to experiment to see what we might do in Beijing – and to fine tune things for that market.”
Apart from the exhibition stands, Vinexpo has gradually developed tastings and conferences and this year’s were the most impressive yet. The traditional exposition by the Union des Grands Crus – UGC – was not as packed as the one four years ago, but numbers looked similar to those in 2012 when the vintage on show was 2009. This time it was the turn of the far less starry 2011.
Charles Sichel, export director of Sichel, one of the longest-established merchants in Bordeaux, said, “I think the tasters were very surprised at how well the 2011 vintage was showing at the UGC tastings and there will be buyers for those wines”. Sichel was evidently not one of the negociants who were said to have been fending off unhappy buyers. But that might be because China was only one of the countries from which his prospective customers hailed. “I’ve been rushed off my feet for all three days,” he said. “And I’ve seen people from everywhere.” While he was struck by a perhaps stronger than expected interest in the crus classés at the UGC event, he was gratified by the know ledgeable approach visitors were taking to his more modestly priced wines.
The wines being bought today are less likely than in the past to be given as gifts or served at banquets where they were often downed in one ‘gambei’ - bottoms up – gulp. Today, they are destined for the shelves of large chains of new shops. Arvin Tian of Wuxi Athena MondoFoods, is an example of the quiet revolution within China. After working for a Chinese winery, he is now responsible for setting up the wine department of a franchised retail business that will open this year with 200 outlets and is scheduled to have 1,000 by the end of 2015. Tian is looking to build a range of 100 to 200 wines, most of which will either be imported directly and/or sold under one of the many brand names his firm has already registered.
The future is online
Back in the conference sessions, visitors were given a glimpse of the future by a panel including the head of online specialists Yesmywine, Don St Pierre Jr of ASC and Judy Chen of Grace vineyards. If these experts are to be believed, the future of wine in China lies on the Internet – where Tian’s business will also be featured – and increasingly with female buyers.
That female focus was confirmed at the first ever vertical tasting of Grace Vineyards, hosted by the winery’s owner Ms Chen, and attended by a large proportion of female buyers. The wines, which include an example from the winery’s first vintage 2001 – almost prehistoric in the world of Chinese quality wine – showed well, as did a range of other, younger, Chinese wines which was run by China’s leading wine consultant Li Demei.
Few bottles of these Chinese wines reach foreign shores, and as Deglise admits, it may be some time before Chinese producers are exhibiting their wines at his Bordeaux event, but as their quality, and Chinese appreciation of that quality, rises so will the quality of the market as a whole. As Heather de Savoye, formerly of the Coppola Winery in California and now head of the US branch of the marketing consultancy Terravina, said after her three days at the Vinexpo show, “It all seems to be simply a lot more grown up than last time, less hysterical and more real.” As he prepared to return to Tokyo after a “really successful fair”, Jeroboam’s Carl Robinson agreed. “The offer is much more sophisticated than it was two years ago and the customer is much more sophisticated, too.”
