Yao Ming Wine

One of the few class acts in the NBA, Yao Ming, is starting up his own winery, with a view to exporting to China.

USA exporters of wine ruined the market in China for American wine by selling off excess production for dirt cheap.  Why the excess production?  Huge tax breaks and subsidies for the wealthy is behind the boutique winery fad, not market demand.  Excess wine cannot even be dumped in the sewer or poured on the fields, since it is considered hazardous material.  I am not making this up.  So whether you have good wine but too much for your market (and do not want to cut your price in the domestic market) or bad wine you do not want to pay to be rendered un-hazardous so you can dump it, the best bet is to unload it cheap in China.  Then you can at least get something for it.  Result is the AVERAGE price for red wine exported from the USA to China is $3 a litre, or about $2 a bottle.  You think $2 Chuck is cheap?  About 1/2 the Red going to china is cheaper.

Problem is such cheap wine is distributed far and wide in China dirt cheap too, and not provided proper care.  Result?  In the last decade when Chinese open an an American bottle of wine... bleeecccchhhh!

The problem is the subsidies and tax breaks for the rich.  The tea party loves them and the occupy wall street don't understand them. So it ain't going to change.  But what feels good is to blame the Chinese guy for it all.  Google John Spiers for my email and I'll send you a raw trade data spreadsheet on USA exports of red wine for five years running.  Nothing will change if people have no idea what they are talking about.

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