New York Wines Going East【3】

New York Wines to China

There are a lot of parallels between the Chinese wines and New York wines. The parallel being that they are new industries for the most part. Both of them are less than a hundred year old. While the U.S. domestic market looked to imported wines first at the beginning, so did China.

The Long Island wineries are located just 90 miles outside of the New York City. Photo by Jianmin Ren/ People's Daily Online

“I think the Chinese consumers will turn back and look at its domestic products as the years go by and the quality improved. And same is true in New York. The New York residence, New York restaurants and hotels had roundly ignored New York wines for many years, and now they are suddenly discovering that the quality is good, the price is fair, and that it’s an exciting region to discover.”

Right now, only two to three percent out of the total revenues come from Chinese consumers in most of the Long Island wineries. But owners of the vineyards are confident that the figure will increase exponentially over the year.

“I hope someday it will be 30 percent. I’d like it to be that much. China is a market that’s pretty well-off right now. They have disposable income, and they have a tremendous interest in the products. China is a market that’s very adventurous,” Mr. Silver said.