Brent Marris, the owner of the Marisco vineyard in Blenheim, New Zealand, has concluded a deal which will puts his white wines at the top of the distribution food chain.
Marris said Chinese consumers mainly prefer red wine but buying habits are changing. Chinese housewives are doing more of their shopping at supermarkets where wine is becoming available, and are starting to have more influence on demand. This has led to increasing sales of white wines, particularly styles which are fruitier and slightly sweet.
“That lends itself totally to Marlborough sauvignon blanc,” Marris said.
A distribution deal was concluded last week with Dynasty International Wine, China’s largest premium wine maker and a very big distributor. Marris hopes to ship the first wines to China in August and will base several staff there to work alongside Dynasty.
“It seems ironic that while we were in China signing this deal last week there was a lot of discussion going on in New Zealand about the inability of individual companies to gain a foothold in China, and the wine industry was being held up as an example.”
“We have always said that if you invest in relationships the world is your oyster. We’ve been working hard at our relationships in China for the past year, and it is pleasing to see this hard work pay off.” says Marris.
