Michael Parr of Wente Family Estates. [Photo/China Daily]

Adjusting plans

With Chinese wine producers going aboard to grab value-priced bottles, foreign producers themselves are readjusting their strategies in China as well.

Michael Parr, vice president of international sales for Wente Family Estates, 70 kilometers east of San Francisco, says: "For the past 20 years, drinking wine has been all about mianzi (face). Now China is changing, and it's becoming a true, true, wine market.

"People are drinking wine for the flavor, for the way that it makes them feel, and how it goes with well food. But mianzi, the whole concept of face, is still there. That's why our brand is perfectly positioned."

Selling wine in China is still about guanxi, or connections, Parr says.

"But it's not the same guanxi as three years or fours years ago."

Now he is working with different importers in different provinces that can focus on Wente Vineyards wines, and in their own city, and build the brand.

"It really depends on what city they grew up in, what city they went to high school in, their friends and their family. It might be one city, and that's where they tie in the guanxi.

"In late 2016 and into 2017 I will be working on a national marketing campaign to support the sales and marketing efforts of these provincial importers."

Parr says he has noticed that many Chinese wine drinkers who were fortunate enough to be regular attendees at many of the government-sponsored lavish banquets of the past are apt to skip buying what might be called entry-level wines and opt for medium-priced ones.

"They fine-tuned their wine palates during those freewheeling years of lavish spending from 2008 to 2012. They began to acquire a taste for fine wines during this time while being hosted at these high-end banquets.

"So what will happen if thirsty Chinese who can appreciate a good bottle of wine, but can't afford to buy it out of their own pocket? These consumers are not looking for cheap wine; they are looking for reputable and authentic wine at a reasonable price."

That means about 200 yuan, which most people can afford, he says.

Maxime Lu, a wine industry commentator in Beijing, says that with the new industry participants in China getting into imported wines, with e-commerce changing the way marketing is done, and with the influx of venture investors, traditional importers will have to change their strategies.