Red sales in the Shanghai sunset
Freezing relations between Canberra and Beijing have warmed up export prospects for SA winemakers …
“We forget that the US is really, really good [at logistics]. We can deploy troops halfway around the world and feed them lobster The Russians can’t even supply their troops 50 miles from their homeland … with unexpired [ready-to-eat] meals.”
Mark Cancian, a retired US Marines logistics officer
SA winemakers may have cracked the biggest future market of all, if The Times of London is to be believed.
China whacked a 212% duty on Australian wines in 2020 in the wake of Aussie leader Scott Morrison saying he supported calls for a probe into the origins of the coronavirus. In other words, did the virus really hop over to humans from a bat in that Wuhan market, mate, or was there something more sinister going on in your labs?
Still, unlike the clarinet, which funny guy Bob Hope said was an ill wind that nobody blew good, that fat China tariff may be blowing a welcome breeze into the sails of SA claret.
There are some caveats, though. Chinese consumers prefer corks to screw caps, whites are apparently eschewed in favour of reds (red being a lucky colour) and labels should have lots of red, gold and silver on them.
It remains to be seen if SA wine sales to China will reach the lofty heights of the $1bn Australia earned
in 2019. Last year’s figures showed SA’s wine exports to China of about $31m, so there is a way to go.
So far so good. Just as long as SA keeps things sweet with a country known for enjoying the odd tipple and that neither our politicians nor the Stellenbosch mafia screw (cap) things up. “Gan bei”, which means “bottoms up” in Mandarin.