Australia's biggest wine producer Accolade Wines is allegedly scouting vineyards in northwestern China.
Undeterred by China’s crippling tariffs on Australian wines, Australia’s biggest wine producer, Accolade Wines, is exploring a few alternatives to sidestep the tariffs including shipping wine from Chile and allegedly eyeing wine production inside northwestern China.
Accolade Wines, owner of popular brands Hardys and Petaluma, is allegedly scoping vineyard sites inside mainland China to bypass up to 218% punitive tariffs China imposed on Australian wines for a period of five years.
Last month, the wine group’s China team led by Peter Dixon, Managing Director of Asia & Global Travel Retail, visited northwestern Qinghai province on Tibetan plateau to inspect vineyards and wine production.
The group was greeted with a high-level reception by local government. Dixon was received by Qinghai’s head of commerce department, Zhu Longxiang.
In an announcement Qinghai Department of Commerce posted on its official website, it say Accolade Wines aims to make a “strategic investment” in Qinghai’s Baojialong Winery to “jointly promote brand promotion and expand production scale.”
However, when reached by Vino Joy News, the company denied the report by Qinghai government.
“This was a pure business tour for learning better the local wineries in China. We are not planning to invest in partnership with the Chinese winery to promote both brands and to expand wine production,” the company’s PR Manager for Asia, Adrian Liu, replied to us by email.
It’s not clear what caused the contradiction between Qinghai government and Accolade team and it’s unusual for local government to release statement before any official deals are inked.
However, the Australian company admits that they are exploring other opportunities for collaboration inside China.
“We are open for any potential opportunities of cooperation with local partners in China in different forms, but I could not agree this interpretation of our intention from that report,” he added.
编辑：Frida Xu
