Wine Education in China

Edward Ragg Wine Consultant in China gives us his general impression about the wine education in China:

Zhongguo Wine: Could you introduce yourself and all your activities:

Edward Ragg: I combine two roles. I am an Associate Professor at Tsinghua University, where I teach literature but am also establishing the university’s first wine course. I am teaching the pilot version of this course now and hope to have an official wine course running at Tsinghua in 2011. It is hoped that this shall form the academic basis for a wider Tsinghua University International Wine Forum, which would attract visiting wineries and international speakers from around the world. I feel strongly that the future of China’s wine cultures lies in the younger generation(s) and that they should be given as far as possible a chance to taste wines from all over the world.

My other essential role is as a wine writer and consultant. I co-founded Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting (www.longfengwines.com) with my wife, Fongyee Walker (赵凤仪) in 2007. As we have relationships with all the major wine import companies in China, we have a unique view of the market here and provide unrivaled market data and advice. Fongyee is China’s only Master of Wine candidate – passing her MW Theory examinations in 2010 – and heads up the Chinese side of the business as she is a specialist in Chinese culture and translation of wine literature (English-Chinese).

In terms of writing, we co-author articles together, not least in our Sinophile column for The World of Fine Wine Magazine (www.finewinemag.com). But I publish under my own name for both The World of Fine Wine and Decanter, The Beijinger, among other publications. On-line, I am China correspondent for popular wine sites such as Catavino (www.catavino.net), Enobytes (enobytes.org), Visit Vineyards (www.visitvineyards.com) and a contributor also to the recently launched Australian-Chinese site WhatWine (www.whatwine.com).

ZW: As a consultant who are your clients? What services do you provide to them?

ER: Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting handles a wide range of clients. For our popular WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) courses, we provide wine education to the Chinese wine trade, the food & beverage sector and private clients. Other areas of consultation involving education are on behalf of regional trade bodies. For example, Fongyee has worked extensively with Wine Australia, New Zealand Winegrowers and Wines of Spain, among other partners. We do this on an independent and freelance basis. So wine education is a very significant part of our services which reaches a wide range of clients.

Other services include wine events for corporate or private clients. We find that not everyone wants to take an official wine course and often something more casual, but still informative, is preferred. Dragon Phoenix has held tastings for major corporations, both international and Chinese, from Nokia to China Post.

International wineries are obviously also keen to see what is happening in China. We provide a range of services to wineries from around the world. Some want market reports and strategic advice on how their wines size up or might potentially enter the market. Others want to come to China and show their wines to importers or private wine lovers. Thus, we have arranged dinners and tastings for wineries that do not yet have a presence in China, as well as those that do! As we are entirely independent, this means that we offer services wine importers cannot supply to the market and this is attractive to international wineries and, of course, regional trade bodies as well as wine challenges/competitions with an international standing.

Translation is another significant part. Anyone who knows anything about Mandarin Chinese and drinks wine will have noticed the widely divergent translations available for grape varieties and much more serious errors are often made in presenting wines to new Chinese drinkers, purely through translation. Fongyee oversees significant translation projects.

In effect, Dragon Phoenix supports the domestic and international wine industries in just about any area outside the actual sale of wine!

ZW: Could you give us a global view of wine education in China. Who is doing what? What are the best ways to educate Chinese people? What are the Chinese people starting to like?

ER: These are quite large questions to which there are several answers. I don’t think there is anything like an adequate ‘global view’ of wine education in China, however. There is too much misinformation outside of China as to the real nature of the wine market(s) here. Many overestimate how much the Chinese know about wine; or, conversely, they make the critical error of not realizing that some Chinese consumers are learning about wine very quickly indeed! Wine education is still very much in its infancy. The problem is the lack of properly qualified wine educators in the country, although this situation is changing. WSET is the most prominent and most respected of the wine education authorities to have a presence in China. There are lots of myths about the market, however. Because this is a market dominated by red wine, some people make the mistake of assuming that Chinese tasters will not be drawn to white or pink/rose wines. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have to say that it is far easier to teach Chinese people how to taste wine than any other nationality I have experienced in a teaching context. Much of this has to do with a penetrating food culture in which concepts of balance and the relationship between sugar, acidity and overall ‘texture’ or ‘mouthfeel’ is already inherent.

It doesn’t make much sense to talk too generally about ‘what the Chinese like’. There is a strong generational effect and much depends on whether people are drinking for ‘taste’ or ‘face’. Younger consumers are much more open to a wide range of wines from different countries than the older generation (who are fixated on France and Bordeaux).

ZW: Who are the most educated Chinese people in terms of wine? (Where do they live? Are they rich?)

ER: Some of the most educated Chinese people with respect to wine are between 25-40 years of age, male and increasingly female, who have been educated both in China and usually abroad as well. They tend to live in 1st tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai etc.) and tend to be reasonably affluent. They are very inquisitive and are starting to have a keen sense of what wine costs in other parts of the world. This will have significant influence on the wine trade within China.

ZW: How the Australian wines are perceived by the Chinese people?

I think Australia tends to have a positive image in the minds of Chinese wine drinkers. Australia is No. 2 in the import market and not all of that is Australian bulk wine by any means. It is important to make clear that quality control is very high on the agenda for Australians and this is an attractive proposition to Chinese drinkers too. Australia is also a popular tourist destination and wine plays a big part in that.

ZW: How do you think the Chinese wine market is going to change?

ER: The one certainty is that it will continue to change and change dramatically. It is already clear that the large Chinese drinks companies who are now importing wine are changing the face of the entire industry for imports. They have extensive distribution relationships and will put pressure on the market share held by foreign owned wine import companies here. My hope is that the market becomes increasingly dymanic, more professional, more ‘global’ in its awareness of other wine cultures and I would like to see profit margins become slighter. The prices of wines here are usually blamed on shipping, tax and distribution costs. In reality, distributing wine around China is not that expensive and the tax bracket for wine in bottle is not massive compared with other parts of the world. Yes, you have to ship the wine to China and there are only certain times of the year where shipping is advised. But mature markets have moved sizeable volumes of wine around the world without great expense. And that is the key: until China moves greater volumes of international wine – especially wine in bottle – prices are likely to remain high. But I would, tentatively, predict that prices should come down over the long-term, provided wine becomes part of everyday culture and not just a segment of the luxury goods market.

ZW: Thank you Edward!

Lucas Botebol for Zhongguo Wine & China

More information: Dragon Phoenix Wine Consulting Website