Leigh Francis, Research Manager at the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) feels that the findings could be invaluable to the local wine industry as they have cracked the key to the lucrative Chinese wine market by studying the Chinese palate.
'They can tailor the wines potentially for the way they grow the grapes and make the wines to make sure they do actually have wines with the taste profile that consumers in China are seeking', he said, noting that 'the wine makers were flying blind to some extent, before there would be some feedback from consumers but very little information was available on Chinese consumers, especially detailed information about the tastes and flavours that Chinese consumers appreciate.'
The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) carried out the survey on behalf of the Australian wine sector in June this year with funding from the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation.
Over 300 bottles of red wine were flown into China just before the Olympics and 310 regular red wine consumers were recruited across the three cities surveyed - Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Each consumer tasted fourteen wines in a blind test comparing Australian and international red wines.
The results released reveal that most of the Australian wines were very well liked, while the domestic Chinese were liked the least. A market-leading French wine was also not well liked.
The results reveal that Chinese consumers preferred fruity, berry, and vanilla-flavoured(which comes from oak) Australian wines with a touch of sweetness. "Not all Chinese consumers like the same wines," said Dr Leigh Francis. "We found there were three different groups with the similar taste preferences. One group, around half of the total group surveyed, liked lighter wines, while a third liked the wines with some sweetness and didn't like wines that were sour or drying in taste," said Dr Francis. "The last group, around 20 per cent of the tasters, preferred more strongly flavoured, richer wines. They are more likely to be newer wine consumers."
No such survey has yet been carried out in India, though one suspects the results would be similar. A majority of novice Indians do like their wines to be fruity, juicy and not very crisp, but with a touch of sweetness. Australians are increasing their market share in India, though in numbers they are nowhere near the Chinese imports. |