There is no clear sign that the widespread media coverage and many events on food and wine pairing in China have directly helped wine sales, according to several importers and distributors.<\/p>\n
\u2018Most of our customers drink wine for business occasions,\u2019 said Christian Zhang, chief sommelier of Noah\u2019s Yacht Club in Shanghai. \u2018They still only have very basic knowledge about wine and pairing. The concept of wine pairing helps, but won\u2019t make a huge difference in sales.\u2019<\/p>\n
At retail stores, \u2018we are rarely asked about food pairing options by our customers,\u2019 said YANG Zuyan, fine wine and projects manager of Pudao Wines.<\/p>\n
\u2018To properly pair food with wine, you need a certain level of wine knowledge. While media and trade professionals are interested in the concept, their buying power is limited. Real consumers, however, don\u2019t have [the] knowledge to be influenced by the concept,\u2019 said Yang.<\/p>\n
\u2018To make a sale, it\u2019s key for us to demonstrate scenarios in which consumers can picture themselves drinking wine,\u2019 said WANG Xiaoshan, Market Director of Joyvio, a wine importer owned by Legend Holdings, which also owns Lenovo.<\/p>\n
\u2018If we start lecturing them on what wine they should choose if they\u2019re going to eat a certain dish, things get too complicated and they won\u2019t remember anyway,\u2019 Wang said.<\/p>\n
\u2018[Food and wine pairing] is additional information for consumers, and may help them to picture themselves enjoying the wine with food, but that\u2019s about it,\u2019 said Ma Tao, general manager of B2B wine distributer Wajiu.com.<\/p>\n
\u2018For the general public, fine wine and dining is still considered as something enjoyed only by the white-collar elites, despite the heavy media coverage on the subject. In most cases, people still drink wines for quaffing and \u201cGanbei (bottoms up)\u201d in China.\u2019<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the concept of food and wine pairing as a branding and communication tool is considered important by producers and regional bodies, which stress that localised and less \u2018textbook\u2019 pairings tend to work better in China.<\/p>\n
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Producers: Non-textbook communication is the key<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018We wouldn\u2019t rely on food and wine pairing events to push sales,\u2019 said WU Xiaoxia, head of marketing in Changyu, the biggest wine producing company in China.<\/p>\n \u2018Culturally speaking, the majority of Chinese consumers care more about who they drink with and what the occasion is, so they pay less attention to what they drink. Plus, they usually have a variety of dishes laid out on the table at once, so the textbook course-based rules of Western wine pairing won\u2019t work here,\u2019 Wu said.<\/p>\n \u2018The key is to focus the pairing around Chinese food,\u2019 said CHEN Lizhong, owner of Xinjiang-based boutique winery Tiansai.<\/p>\n \u2018We used the concept of Chinese food and wine pairing to promote our ros\u00e9, dry white and an easy-drinking red wine range, and we saw some growth in sales.\u2019<\/p>\n The experimental and \u2018fun\u2019 elements of pairing are ideal to \u2018bring Chinese consumers closer to wine\u2019, especially during wine-themed dinners featuring local dishes, said YIN Kai, president of Castel China.<\/p>\n Food and wine pairing is an \u2018important method\u2019 for promoting Australian wines in China, agreed Willa Yang, Wine Australia\u2019s head of market for China.<\/p>\n However, instead of teaching consumers about pairing roles, the regional body focuses more on helping Chinese consumers to \u2018form the habit\u2019 of having wines with food, Yang added.<\/p>\n \u2018Technicalities would ruin the fun and enjoyment of wine drinking,\u2019 said Judy Chan, owner of Grace Vineyard.<\/p>\n \u2018However, when you start to recognise the basic principles of food and wine pairing, you will be better informed when choosing a bottle to buy, and naturally find more enjoyment in the pairing experiments.\u2019<\/p>\n Food and wine: The ideal occasions<\/strong><\/p>\n High-end restaurants that serve Western or Japanese food, as well as the more \u2018westernised\u2019 modern Chinese food restaurants, tend to naturally fit the concept or food and wine pairing, said professionals.<\/p>\n Fine wine and dining experiences are still important for promoting premium wines, said Ma Tao of Wajiu.com.<\/p>\n \u2018\u201dWine by the glass\u201d and special pairing menus are welcomed by our customers,\u2019 said Christian Zhang of Noah\u2019s Yacht Club. \u2018Wine region-themed promotions, such as \u2018Rioja and restaurant week\u2019, also help us to sell,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n Major events hosted in hotels, such as weddings, are also opportunities to promote wine via food pairings, said Wang Xiaoshan of Joyvio.<\/p>\n \u2018The guests tend to pay more attention to the choice of wine and food for the occasion, because they demonstrate the taste of the host.\u2019<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Editing by Chris Mercer)<\/p>\n Translated by Sylvia Wu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By \u00a0Maxime LU\/ \u9646\u6c5f 7 February 2018 \uff08Published on Decanter China, the Chinese version of Decanter\uff09 Food and wine pairing \u2018helps but won\u2019t drastically boost wine sales\u2019 in China, despite the enormous number of wine and dine events being held in the country, said Chinese trade professionals Distributors: Pairings don\u2019t boost sales There is no … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wineblogchina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2222-450x243.jpg\")
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