At some recent international wine exhibitions, the person in charge of an Italian winery revealed to WBO that some Chinese buyers began to pay attention to Italian niche wine grape varieties when choosing wine.
This topic is somewhat interesting, is it the market starting to accept it or is it purely the buyer's preference? The WBO investigated this.
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Chinese buyers are looking for homegrown niche wine grape varieties from various wine producing countries
"In the past, Chinese buyers felt that they preferred to select mainstream grape varieties, but through these two days of contact, they have also become interested in some local and niche local grape varieties." Livio Mazzanti, head of MAZZEI's China region, said.
"The Chinese wine market is experiencing a recovery, and we are confident in our next sales after engaging with Chinese buyers." Pamela Bicchi of ▪ DEMARIE said. Commenting on what kind of products Chinese buyers are interested in, Biki said: "I met several young wine merchants who were very eager to try new styles and were interested in some of the original Italian varieties. ”
At the exhibition, there are indeed importers looking for wines from native Italian varieties, and Mina, which is in charge of wine sourcing at a company in Guangzhou, is looking for some Italian white wines, all made from local grape varieties, such as Soave white wine and Vermintino wine.
Fang Yi, general manager of Changsha Portuguese One Fine Wines, has begun to promote the products of local Italian wine varieties, such as Falanghina, Aglianico, Primitivo, etc., Fang Yi pointed out that these Italian wine varieties actually have some fame in the world, and the quality is also very good, but they are not so famous in China, but they are worth promoting.
In fact, not only Italy, WBO understands that some importers are also making some local varieties of wines from other wine-producing countries, such as Song Xinyu, the founder of Jinan Görinburg Foreign Wine Company, who sells Argentine Torrontes sweet white wine.
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First of all, it is delicious, and secondly, it is cost-effective
Why are Chinese vintners starting to pay attention to niche grape varieties?
In this regard, Mina believes that there is a certain market opportunity for the taste of Italian local brand white wine. She told WBO: "I find that some of the new generation of consumers are starting to like a light taste, and Italian white wines have this quality - refreshing, no tannins, can be drunk casually in social situations, without pairings, just like coffee, casual and casual." ”
Boutique wine seller Cheng Hang (pseudonym) also mentioned the taste problem, saying: "Some indigenous varieties of white wines in central and southern Italy have a very pleasant taste, not so high acidity, very aromatic, tropical style, and greasy in the mouth. ”
Song Xinyu also pointed out: the name is good, refreshing and floral fragrance, with appropriate acidity, ladies prefer it.
The second reason is that many local niche varieties of wine also have a certain price advantage.
"Some of the Italian white wines we were looking for were not very expensive, and the retail price was just over 100 yuan, which was a price that customers could accept." Cheng Hang said.
Fang Yi also talked about the cost-effective problem, he said: "In central and southern Italy, many local varieties of wine have high value for money, and last time I sold a white wine, many people asked me to buy it. The same is true of the Farana variety that I have been promoting recently. ”
"These Italian wines, whether from the production area, winery, or variety of brand effect is not so high, so there is no deliberately increase in added value, of course, there is no market cost investment, creating the delicious and real characteristics of these products." Fang Yi said.
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How to promote
However, since Italian wines are not particularly well-known in China, this also places new demands on the operational capabilities of importers.
First of all, it is to target the crowd. Mina said that the white wine she makes is definitely aimed at different consumers than some distributors' existing customers. "I feel that white wines are mainly loved by younger people, so distributors also need to make some adjustments on the channel and users," she said. ”
Cheng Hang pointed out that those who can accept relatively niche grape varieties are first of all consumers who love wine, and the promotion should be focused.
Secondly, the promotion needs to avoid the important and light, must not overemphasize the variety name, Cheng Hang pointed out: after all, many Italian wine variety names are long and jerky, and the literal translation into China is not good. Therefore, it is better to grasp its style to promote, such as aromatic white wine, full-bodied air-dried red wine.
"Like Amaroni is relatively popular now, but many wine merchants do not promote its varieties, because the variety names are jerky and not easy to remember, but it is easier to sell when it comes to style and taste." Cheng Hang said.
An imported wine merchant Li Xie (pseudonym) also pointed out that the lack of popularity of variety names is the shortcoming of local varieties in various countries, and in China it may not be possible to find a person who can recite the names of all Italian native grape varieties, even in the United States, some very well-known Italian wine brands, consumers do not know their varieties. Therefore, to sell these wines, do not go over and mention the varieties.
Third, it is necessary to capture the mentality that consumers are willing to try early.
"Chinese consumers used to drink mainly French wines, and many French wines used international varieties with strong tannins that were easy to fall in love with, but as some consumers learned more about wine, some began to be willing to try something different," says Wei O. ”
Fang Yi's views are somewhat similar to what Wei Ou said, he told WBO: "Some Chinese have drunk Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for many years, and some lovers are tired of it, and always want to find something different, at this time, there is an opportunity for local varieties of wines that can highlight their personality." And once you have gains, you can avoid the fierce competition and find a way to differentiate yourself from competition. ”
Fang Yi also reminded: taking Italian native varieties of wine as an example, because the style is very diversified, often a winery can do several styles, so it cannot be promoted as a whole like the Rhône Valley and the Médoc, resulting in its Chinese market size is indeed not large. Therefore, even if the distributor is interested and confident, he must purchase carefully according to his own volume when purchasing, unless the product has a certain aging potential. After all, such a wine needs to be pushed slowly.