Today’s Cabernet Merlot forum in Hawke’s Bay was pretty technical and I won’t bore you with the in-depth canopy management and Cheval Blanc’s study on the clonal variability in Cabernet Franc. It certainly gave my brain a work out.
The forum didn’t start out well with a speech from producer Corbans turning into a PR exercise. Oh no, please let this not be another WineFuture. But Hong Kong’s Simon Tam allayed my fears, giving the industry an entertaining insight into the Hong Kong and Chinese market. If his career in wine ever goes sour, he could turn to stand-up.
Everyone wants a piece of the burgeoning Asian market and the ripe Bordeaux-style produced in Hawkes Bay is well-suited.
“Hong Kong is a free-for-all as long as you have something good to sell,†Tam told Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand producers.â€
“The latest trend in Hong Kong is Portuguese wines because they got off their derrieres and went to Hong Kong. If they [consumers] can wrap their tongues around bacalao then they can certainly say Hawkes Bay.â€
But jumping headlong into the Chinese market before testing the waters in Hong Kong is a big mistake, he warned. “It’s a bun fight to get into China,†he said. “Hong Kong is so easy: use it to acclimatize. If you can master Hong Kong, when you go into China you will be much more culturally savvy.
He also pointed out many wineries sold their wines in China through international hotel chains but did not actually sell wine to the Chinese! Producers must get off their backsides if they want to make any inroads.
The Hawkes Bay showcase tasting at the end of the day drew something rather disappointing marks and comments from UK wine experts, Neal Martin, Matthew Jukes and Oz Clarke. Having tasted a range of wines from the region just six weeks ago I am inclined to agree that the wines weren’t up to expectations today. Too much new oak masking what was great fruit. Hopefully producers will take note.
