Maxence Dulou, estate director at Moët Hennessy-owned Ao Yun, knows this all too well. “The majority of people prefer the guarantee of a 200-year-old brand compared to an adventurous fine wine like Ao Yun,” he says. It takes time, but younger, hyper-aware consumers and modern life help. “We are ready to spend many years establishing Ao Yun as an iconic wine.”
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Indeed, Asian wines are gaining traction. “We definitely see our customers showing more interest and acceptance compared to a few years back,” says Phebe Wong, marketing manager at UK retailer Berry Bros. & Rudd in Hong Kong. “It is going to be a slow process but in time Asian wines will get accepted, as long as there is sufficient and reliable information in the market that customers can easily access. Like many undervalued or alternative wine regions, if the regions were able to get key influencers, sommeliers and restaurants on board for promotion … Customers will gradually learn to appreciate and understand the value of the wines.”
Asia produces everything from entry-level table wines to fine Bordeaux-style vintages sitting at premium price points. South Korea has been making modest amounts of wine since the mid-1970s, mostly by Lotte-owned Majuang, and with less-than-ideal terroir and climatic conditions.
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In Thailand, the diverse soils of the Khao Yai region mean it has most of the country’s best vineyards, growing Chenin Blanc and Syrah grapes among others. Thailand is also blessed with a tourist-friendly environment and so like vineyards in California, Italy or New Zealand, many offer accommodation along with wine activities, among them GranMonte Vineyard and Winery in Khao Yai and Monsoon Valley in Hua Hin (a sparkling wine specialist).
Japan has concentrated its grape growing in Yamanashi and Katsunuma – despite disease threats – since roughly 1970, focusing on cabernet sauvignon, Chardonnay and the local Koshu grapes. This year, William Reed Business Media (which runs the 37-year-old International Wine Challenge) voted Chateau Mercian’s Mariko winery in Nagano prefecture one of the world’s best wine tourism destinations, yet a bottle of Chateau Mercian (Yamanashi), perhaps the best-known Japanese wine, can retail in Hong Kong for as little as HK$260 (US$34) – if you can find it.
Unfortunately, most major retailers do not have an Asian section, leaving consumers in the dark and producers out in the cold. Consumers are often surprised to discover wine is made in Texas, much less someplace like Japan. “People are astonished to know that India makes wine,” says Sula Wines’ chief winemaker, Karan Vasani. “There’s a high curiosity to try it, for sure. And we believe it’s important to have curiosity as it leads to awareness and eventually converts to demand.”
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India’s population makes it the world’s second-biggest potential market, and though wines of some sort have been made there since the 4th century BCE, it’s only been since the 1980s that 10 per cent of its grape production has gone to make wine. Indian consumption is among the fastest-growing anywhere, and 60 per cent of that is domestic, chiefly from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where Sula is located.
India’s climatic regions lend themselves to innovative terroirs and Sula has cultivated a reputation for intense whites. Like many European producers, they emphasise sustainability and have embraced wine tourism. Sula has India’s first tasting room and visitors can stay at The Source at Sula, a heritage resort opened in 2017. It became the first Asian winery outside China to sell over one million cases, from between July 2017 to July 2018.
China may seem like a newcomer to the wine game, but grapes were introduced in the second century and Shandong’s Changyu has been producing wine since 1892. China is the fifth-largest producer in the world (according to United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation), and Great Wall and Changyu rank in the top 10 of global bottlers by volume. The elite industry is relatively young but investments keep coming: Huadong Winery was set up by Briton Michael Parry in 1985, Lafite Rothschild launched Domaine de Long Dai in 2011 and luxury brand LVMH established Ao Yun in 2013 to name just a few. Nonetheless it lags on exports.
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As Wong sees it, consistent quality, accurate messaging and pricing are the biggest challenges facing Asian wine producers right now. “Even though there are superb wines in the mid-to-high price bracket, customers might be hesitant to try, and rather step back into their familiar regions,” she argues. And Asian wines are not necessarily cheap. That same surprisingly inexpensive Japanese Château Mercian can climb to HK$1,080 (US$140) depending on vintage, and Ao Yun wines can top HK$2,000 (US$260): the 2014 Ao Yun runs to HK$2,480 (US$320) at BB&R and the 2016 Yunnan retails for HK$2,590 (US$334) at Watsons Wine. Domaine Long Dai’s new Hu Yue 2018 – the blend’s first vintage – retails at the Qiu Shan Valley cellar door for HK$1,100 (US$142).
Among the challenges facing the industry – aside from perceptions – are state excise controls (in India), climate change, and in Dulou’s opinion, full expression of a terroir despite improving quality. Consistency may be the goal, but Asian producers are also leaning into their singularity. India is a subcontinent; China is the size of Europe. Dulou points out that Ao Yun is working with previously unknown Himalayan terroirs.
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“Usually winemakers work on the same terroirs for decades, or centuries, and know them perfectly. This is not our case and so we need to be very flexible and creative,” he says. “I jumped into this adventure because it was my dream to participate in the discovery of new terroirs and all the learning and creativity involved with that.”
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