“When I choose a wine, it should be ripe,” said Palette Vino’s founder and managing director, John Gai, as we tasted two wines at its Dongsi Yitiao location. Swirling the glass thoughtfully he added, “And it should taste ripe and balanced.”
John Gai, founder and managing director at Palette Vino's
For the 41-year-old Beijing native, chef and wine expert, wine appreciation is an education that need not be expensive.
And it is this idea that forms the foundation of his two Beijing-based businesses: Palette Wines, a wine wholesale and distribution company, and Palette Vino, bistros he opened to bring affordable foreign wines and his passion for fine dining together.
Palette Wines, the main importer for Palette Vino restaurants, is how Gai manages to keep prices reasonable.
“Seventy percent of our wines we import ourselves,” he said. “We negotiate the lowest price from producers, vineyards and agents and then ship them to China, where we manage that cost as well.”
Just how Gai got his passion for wines and fine dining has been an odyssey, and spans the entire Eurasian continent.
In 1992, after a job opening a Chinese restaurant in Hungary fell through, he took the time to travel around the Baltic States and fell in love with Talinn, Estonia’s capital city.
“It was a beautiful, medieval city,” he recalled.
“It was right after it gained its independence from the Soviet Union, so I saw an opportunity to open the first Chinese restaurant in all the Baltic States,” he said.
However, it was only when Gai returned to Beijing in 1996 that he started managing the CourtYard hutong restaurant and became closely involved with wines.
Two years later in 1998 he met members of the Zonin family, who run Italy’s largest privately owned vineyard and winemaking business, at a Beijing wine exhibition and they took him on as their manager for China.
“It was my job to look for the importers and distributors for the company, analyzing local market trends and reporting it back to the family,” he said.
“I also helped train the staff to know about wines.”
In September 2002 he founded Palette Wines, a name suggested by a close friend to impart a rich variety of flavors and colors.
Until recently Palette Wines sold exclusively to hotels, companies and private customers.
But in 2005, it opened the first Palette Vino restaurant and wine bar in Shunyi district near Pinnacle Plaza, then a second in Central Park (a retail wine store), and by the end of 2008 another in Dongsi Yitiao.
Palette Wines claims the largest South African wine portfolio in Beijing, using nine different vineyards and each with two or three different wines, plus extensive Spanish, Italian and Australian portfolios.
But his diverse selection is being overlooked by inexperienced and wealthy taste buds.
“Some people drink names, not wine,” he said declaratively.
“They just don’t know enough, which is why the industry of importing wines into China tends to be big business.”
Gai said the costs of wine are dropping in developed markets such as the US and parts of Europe, Holland and Germany.
“It seems costs became more reasonable over time because it became more competitive, and people would not accept these high prices,” he said.
“This trend has not really reached big hotels and restaurants here.
Despite his best efforts to keep the cost of wines available at his bistros low, Gai’s business struggles to expand beyond Beijing. Gai admits he has had a tough year.
“I think, for now, finance is a big issue,” he said.
“It really depends on how we look at this as a long-term investment and whether or not we copy it to another location.”
To show off some “absolutely, very delicious” Spanish wines, reasonably priced from suppliers between 200 and 300 yuan, Gai served up a bottle of Abrego 2006, made from Tempranillo grapes found in Castilla, Spain (200 yuan).
With its low tanning, caramel and prune accents with a medium body, it demands to be served all by itself.
“The grapes were picked at the right time,” he remarked.
“This vineyard picks them at night and quickly transports them to the winery, and the barrels are medium-toasted oak so as not to overpower.”
His full bodied and rich personal insights are evidently present in every bottle he sells.
Globowines first mentioned Wine for Asia 2009 back in April (see post) earlier this year. Fast forward 6 months and the time for the big show is upon us.
Just a reminder to all those readers out there in Singapore — Wine For Asia begins October 22 and runs until October 24.
Wine For Asia (WFA) 2009, the most comprehensive international wine exhibition in the region, returns to Singapore from 22 – 24 October 2009 with the promise of another bumper event.
An exciting exposition that help you expand your footprint into Asia’s burgeoning wine market, WFA 2009 offers a one-stop opportunity to keep abreast of the latest wine offerings, complete with a myriad of first-class business, educational and networking opportunities and lifestyle pursuits. Exhibitors and visitors can look forward to three days of non-stop business, networking and learning opportunities.
Click here to visit the Wine for Asia home page for more information.
Mir Global Marketing LLC has completed it’s summer tour of China, and what a journey is has been! What do we have to report? Well, quite a bit. Since it is too much to compile into one simple blog entry, I have decided to begin with some travel advice and general words of wisdom about doing business in China.
July 13 — New York City –> Beijing (12.5 hours on Continental’s direct flight.) Highly recommend anyone traveling to China from the New York City area and not obligated to any specific carrier book their ticket on this flight. You save between 4-8 hours in additional travel time / transfer time at airports. You do not risk missing a connecting flight, and the service on the plane is quite good for a US owned airline. The one negative side is the cranky American flight attendants, which you do not find if you’re traveling JAL, Cathay, Asiana, etc.
Arrival in Beijing was quick and easy. Customs allowed me to pass with more wine than I was probably legally allowed to bring, I recovered from jet lag quite fast and was out on the town showcasing our wines from Chile and Argentina by my second night.
After reconvening with Xu Wenquan, Mir Global Marketing’s director of sales in China/ Asia we set out a game plan for how to best approach diverse selection of potential buyers / contacts. We would need to fine tune our marketing strategy for three different market segments.
- Chinese government owned entities.
- Chinese entrepreneurs / business owners of bars and night clubs which cater China’s rising middle and upper class. In other words, the sons and daughters of wealthy Chinese who are looking to make a name for themselves and are have chosen to start a business. Not with the goal of attracting foreign customers (although they would not object), bur rather China’s new consumers looking for a good time and some nice drinks.
- Western operated and privately owned establishments in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. These type of businesses cater to China’s trendy, diverse, metropolitan cultures. I define this group as a mix of foreigners and urban Chinese you would find at a popular bar in a major city like Beijing.
Now, I present a few words of wisdom for those considering to do business in China. These are my own opinions, and I welcome those who would like to discuss any of these points. Please add your comments below or drop me a email, bennett.reiss (at) gmail.com
1. The more interaction you have with China, and the longer you stay, the more you realize how little you truly know and understand the country. Don’t think a mere semester or two of studying in China, speaking Chinese, reading books about “doing business in China,” foreign policy or cultural communication classes make you a expert. They do not.
2. What you learned in business school will not necessarily apply in China. You must cautiously and selectively archive into the back of your mind what you have come to accept as common business practices. What you learned in all those over-priced business classes will usually not apply in China. This is especially true when dealing with Chinese partners, be it from the private sector or a government owned entity.
3. Smile. Even if you are impatient, frustrated, mentally a mess, cranky, jet lagged, suffering from heart break, or angry with life itself… Smile and put a face that mixes happy, calm and confident all in one. The moment you allow what you have bottled up inside to show, vis-à-vis body language or with words, you have lost the battle. You will fail at negotiating a cheaper hotel, you will fail to convince your taxi driver to take the shorter route and you will fail in business negotiation. A calm, collected persona and a smile go a long way in China. Remember this.
4. Keep an open mind and remain flexible as to adapt to any given situation you face. It is popular in western cultures to look for a logical explanation for something you do not understand or a problem you may face. Westerners also tend to believe it is possible to control things like your schedule. Many times in China, there is no logical answer, and controlling things is quite difficult when you are operating in a country as complex and large as China. Accept this now, before you lose your mind, and therefore compromise all the elements I described above in point #3.
5. Dress to impress if you’re doing business. Even if its hot and humid, put on that suit and leave the tie and jacket behind. As they say, you only get one first impression. When you’re dealing with a Chinese businessman/ woman, it is incredibly important to do all in your power to make your first meeting as professional as possible.
** Reminder to all readers, opinions expressed in this entry are my own and should be not treated as fact. Thank you.
~ Bennett Reiss – International Trade Consultant at Mir Global Marketing LLC
Wine For Asia (WFA) 2009, the most comprehensive international wine exhibition in the region, returns to Singapore from 22 – 24 October 2009 with the promise of another bumper event.
An exciting exposition that help you expand your footprint into Asia’s burgeoning wine market, WFA 2009 offers a one-stop opportunity to keep abreast of the latest wine offerings, complete with a myriad of first-class business, educational and networking opportunities and lifestyle pursuits. Exhibitors and visitors can look forward to three days of non-stop business, networking and learning opportunities.
Come feel the pulse of wine business in the fast-changing wine scene in Asia!
Sums up the current preoccupations of his company, which celebrates its 60th birthday this year. The accent is on investment overseas.
Sud Ouest : Two thirds of your activities are based in France, but you now wish to develop your export business. Why?
Pierre Castel : Business is difficult in France at the moment and potentiel development now lies outside of our borders. In 2008, due to the global economic crisis, our activity will be on the decline. Wine sales to the hotel/catering business have dropped by 20%. Luckily, our merchant brands, which are important reference points for consumers, are still selling well on the French supermarket shelves. I have been in the wine and beer business for sixty years and I have always adapted to suit the market.
S.O. : Where do your priorities lie in the exportation market?
P.C. : Definitely in China and Russia. We have a small office in Shanghaï which works with five distributors. With the 10 to 20 million bottles we hope to sell there in 2009, China will become our number one export market. Hypermarkets, restaurants, bars and night clubs….all these market niches need to be developed. In Russia, the situation is different because we possess our own bottling centre just outside Moscow, which has a capacity of 300,000 bottles per day. The authorities are setting the market in order and it’s expanding. However, I do not believe India is a viable export market. I have had dealings with Indian businessmen in my activities in the African beer market and I do not intend take it any further with them….
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