Chinese buyers converge on Adelaide for major event

Hundreds of Chinese wine buyers and distributors are in Adelaide this week for the Adelaide Wine Festival and the China-Australia Wine and Spirit Forum.

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MILLIONS of dollars of wine sales are expected to flow from the Adelaide Wine Festival and the China-Australia Wine and Spirit Forum being held in Adelaide this week.

More than 100 delegates from China are here from June 14-18 for the event, including wine industry entrepreneurs, wine buyers and wine and spirits distributors.

Running for the second year, the event aims to promote economic and trade exchanges.

Langmeil Winery family proprietor James Lindner said events like this were incredibly important to the state’s wine industry. The Tanunda-based winery has been exporting to China for the past decade.

“The growth in the Chinese market has been amazing and one of the most exciting things is that it’s a new wine-drinking nation,” he said.

“Holding events like these is a great way to further educate about the quality of wine, by having people right on our front doorstep.”

The event is run by the Australia Wine And Spirit Association, a not-for-profit run by Adelaide-based Chinese business people, with the aim of encouraging Chinese wine buyers to do business in South Australia.

It also solidifies the status of Adelaide as a member of the Great Wine Capitals of the World to the Chinese market.

Australian wine exports to China have grown by more than 400 per cent in the past five years, with exports exceeding US$700 million in 2017-18. Of those exports, 60 per cent came from South Australia.

China has also overtaken the US to become Australia’s second-largest wine export market by volume, with strong growth across all price points.

There are 48 SA exhibitors taking part in this week’s event with wineries, including Orchid Wine Estate, Australian Ozyard Vineyard, Woodstock Wine Estate, Burge Family, Three Kangaroos, Heartland Wines, Murray Street Vineyard, Maxwell, Axiom, Belvidere, Penny Hills, Fox Creek, Paracombe, GNT Fine Wine, Cooper Burns and Furche Wine.

Event founder Wei Li, who is the Australia Wine And Spirit Association chairman and Swan Wine Group chief executive, said that in the next decade Chinese consumption of wine would continue to grow.

“The Australian Wine Industry Association organised this event to analyse the past and explore the future,” he said.

The event started with the China-Australia Wine Industry Summit Forum at the Adelaide Convention Centre before delegates visit the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale.