Richer Asians get into the spirit of wine drinking
Richer Asians get into the spirit of wine drinking
By Valerie Lee
SINGAPORE (Reuter): Asians, armed with fat wallets and backed
by burgeoning economies, are getting into the spirit of wine
drinking -- the more expensive the better.
"Far East" buyers dominated a vintage wine auction at
Christie's this summer, paying a total of 88,880 pounds
(US$138,200) for six lots of rare wine and champagne, one factor
in the auction house's decision to hold its first southeast Asian
wine auction in Singapore in October.
At a Sotheby's auction in April, a Far Eastern buyer spent
more than 63,000 pounds on several lots of a scarce French
vintage, Le Pin.
"In terms of overall volume, Asian buying is not so important
but in value it's very, very important," said Ch'ng Poh Tiong,
editor and publisher of Singapore's Wine Review magazine.
"It's the kind of buying that says "I must have the most
expensive and the most high-priced wines'. If you watch Asian
habits, especially among the Chinese. Sharks fin, for instance,
has no flavor except for the soup stock, but Asians must always
have something that is the most expensive, they must have the
best cut. So that is the case with wines," he added.
Asians' tipples of choice remain beer and hard liquor but wine
drinking has been on the rise with distributors in Thailand, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and China reporting increasing wine
sales.
Ronnie Reyes of Jardine Wines and Spirits Philippines Inc said
the wine market in the Philippines has posted 15 to 20 percent
year-on-year growth over the last five years.
In Singapore, some 200,000 cases -- 1.8 million liters -- of
wine were consumed in 1995 and in the last five years consumption
has grown 10 percent every year.
"It has to do with more affluence, a growing sophistication
and also more education," said Jean-Francois Balusseau, head of
SOPEX, the French quasi-government body which promotes French
foods and wines.
Balusseau said Asia, excluding Japan, still makes up a "very
teeny market" for French wine exports but that he expected the
figures to grow every year.
Aldo Bartovic, export manager of Australia's Petaluma Wines