Sunday, October 28, 2012

Watching USA Wineries Fail

I do not have the passion for wine to be in that business, I am a Carlo Rossi kind of wine drinker, although I can't have champagne that is less than $40 a bottle.

What is aggravating is to watch USA wineries continue to fail in China for lack of a reality-based plan.


Last year saw total wine imports into the mainland rise 27.7 per cent in volume, year on year, but French wine imports grew 40 per cent over the same period, amounting to about HK$4.9 billion. While the figure still trails the likes of the United Kingdom (HK$12.2 billion) and the United States (HK$8.7 billion), the Chinese are closing in fast on these traditional leaders of the wine-consuming world – a fact that is expected to be confirmed when the final tallies for 2012 are released at the end of the year.


To be heavily subsidized is to be blinded to reality.  And I am afraid most USA wineries have no idea they are in fact subsidized.  A big mistake in life is to believe your own PR.  American wines are not competing against USA wineries in China, they are competing against Australian and Chinese wines.

The huge advantage USA wineries have in China is the USA market.  By importing and distributing Chinese wines in USA, USA wineries would earn an entre into the Chinese market.  Even a small winery could do this, or any winery with a distribution network that can give valid and reliable feedback on Chinese wines in USA.  The big USA wineries will not bother with this technique because they enjoy export promotion dollars from taxpayers which Chinese distributors enjoy.

And there is so much innovation and money to be made in wine!  Here is one USA entrepreneur who left USA for far better place, Argentina.  He developed a product for which the market is even better in Asia, so he moved to Hong Kong.  The idea of course is very good.


Entaste is a specialist provider of digital data and software applications to the wine industry. In simple terms, the company creates software that helps restaurants put their wine lists on computer tablets. The information for each wine comes directly from the winemaker, who can thus engage with the consumer.


It is distressing to see entrepreneurs finding it better to leave the USA than try to thrive here.  I am afraid that either Obama or Romney might win the election, which either way will be terrible news for entrepreneurs in USA.  All we can do is build our businesses and hope.

Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/20/USDA-slashes-care-subsidies

Wineries still being subsidized. Can one actually build a business on government subsidies, then wean the company off of the subsidy after getting market share and more customers? Subsidies are like free money, it's a waste to see it go to waste. Just a thought.

John Wiley Spiers said...

Well, look at families on welfare. Can one build a happy and prosperous family on welfare? Maybe so, but it sure looks doubtful.

I love a tax refund, and if you are in the wine business and you get some sort of subsidy, then it is a tax refund, no? Loopholes are lovable too.

But trying to build a biz on one and then wean it off, I doubt it. There is management of gimmes and management of customer demand. Pick one.