MADRID: Spain’s world-renowned Rioja wines kicked off a fresh promotional event in China on Wednesday, aiming to attract appreciative consumers in a vast and complex market where it has already established a foothold.
A total of 55 distributors representing 71 wineries from the prestigious Qualified Designation of Origin (DOCa) from the northern Spanish region took part in a new event in the Chinese city of Tianjin, a rich port city close to Beijing that is home to almost 13 million inhabitants. The aim is to gradually hold such events across large cities in the country.
Nearly 500 participants – among them sellers, sommeliers, and private clients – attended the various sessions, which included a wine-tasting for Reserva wines with Sam Chen, the Chinese champion of blind tasting.
Rioja red reservas are wines from the region’s best vintages, with an excellent potential, that have been aged for a minimum of three years, with at least one of those years spent in oak barrels. For white wines, the minimum aging period is two years, with at least six months in wood. The selection chosen for this event were special and of superior quality, the head of Rioja promotion in China, Jose Manuel Chicot, told EFE.
Chicot expressed great satisfaction with Wednesday’s event, which could help deepen personal contact with sellers and clients – a key ingredient for business in the country – as well as draw greater attention to Rioja.
The event was held as the Chinese wine market experienced a period of growth. In 2016, China showed the highest growth in wine imports, with 639 million liters (a 15 percent annual increase) worth 15.73 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) some 22.6 percent more than the previous year, according to data from the Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX).
Spain is the fourth largest wine exporter to China, behind France, Australia and Chile, and according to ICEX figures, Spanish wine has doubled its exports to China between 2011 and 2016, shooting up from 70.8 million euros ($75.1 million) to 142.5 million.
Currently, a total of 160 Rioja wineries export to China, almost 20 more than two years ago.
