Wine Centre expands into Chongming island

Wine trading company Hong Kong Wine Centre is planning to build a wine showcase and museum on China’s third largest island, Chongming, just outside Shanghai.

The site was chosen to benefit from the newly opened bridge and tunnel linking the island with the city of Shanghai, and Chongming’s development as a haven for fine dining and relaxation in a peaceful and still largely unspoilt area.

“The place is like a green haven with just resorts and restaurants and we want to have a wine museum there,” explained a spokesperson for the company, which was founded one year ago by Anthony Wong, an advisor to the Hong Kong government on logistics.

The Hong Kong Wine Centre currently has a wine showcase occupying the entire fourth floor of the Hong Kong International Trade & Exhibition Centre where it displays a selection of 200 wines.

The site is designed for retail and restaurant wine buyers to peruse and handle the wines, which are arranged in a series of spaces according to country of origin.

Currently there is a section devoted to Italy, Australia, Spain, and two areas for France (30% of the entire range is Bordeaux), while a further space for California wines is being built.

“The aim is to give wineries the opportunity to showcase their products,” said the spokesperson, adding: “So we have a front end, as well as a back end – which is ISO standard storage and shipping, as well as partnering with provincial governments in China so we can replicate what we’ve done in Hong Kong elsewhere.”

“We can handle all the documentation for importing wine into China,” the spokesperson concluded.

Company president, Anthony Wong, explained further the ethos of the business. “We want to educate people in China about how to appreciate wine and we see oursleves as wine culture ambassadors," he said.

Interestingly, although Wong admitted that the overriding demand in China was for red wine, based on its perceived heath-giving properties, he stressed: “We see a huge potential for white wine as women begin to learn more about wine. When we do tutored tastings for young couples we find that ladies prefer different wines and there will be a huge market for white wine for women in Asia.”

On the other hand, he added: “We have difficulty trying to push the rosé.”

Patrick Schmitt, 11.11.2010