California Wine Cellars quenches China's thirst for imported wines

China's love affair with costly French wines is made vulnerable by the growing popularity of American wines, not just in China's restaurants and wine tasting clubs, but inside the homes of the country's newly minted connoisseurs. 

Thanks in part to California Wine Cellars (CWC), a fast-growing wine exporter based in New York, wine aficionados on the mainland can taste and enjoy high-quality yet reasonably priced imported wines particularly from California.

"We organise wine tasting clubs and events to educate the market about the different types of wines," says James Tian, CWC's CEO and general manager. "Our customers can now differentiate the good quality wines, which they then order from us." 

Supplying the finest red, white and sparkling wines from highly rated and award-winning wineries, CWC sources its products from Thompkin Cellars, USA-Mendoza Valley Group, Le Vigne Winery and the 130-year-old Wente Family Estates. The oldest winemaking family in the United States, the Wente family garnered the American Winery of the Year award from Wine Enthusiast Magazine in 2011. 

CWC also distributes its own line of premium wines under the brand One Leaf, which is a sponsor of the illustrious New York Chinese Film Festival.

"For a winemaker to make excellent-quality wines, he has to care for the grapes," Tian says. "We called our wine One Leaf because excellence starts from the leaf of our grapes and flows to the winemaking process."

Working with its investment marketing centre Fujian Huaming Trading, CWC supplies wines to 2,000 wine club members, who are mostly from Chinese high-profile groups, and to more than 200 accounts in the US, comprised mainly of restaurants, retail chains and liquor stores. It seeks to grow its club membership by developing more wine tasting rooms and expanding its sales and distribution networks in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.

To further enhance its business, CWC has launched a cross-border e-commerce platform called eWINE. Through the online purchasing centre, clients can order in the US and pick up the wines in China at outlets in Fujian, Shanghai and Hong Kong to enjoy world-class wines at US prices, with low shipping rates, and with a convenient returns policy. 

CWC's eWINE guarantees the premium quality of the wines, and is available in two languages - English and Putonghua.

"Our eWINE e-business is gaining popularity because it gives our Asian customers convenient access to higher-quality wines, but at a US price with low shipping fee," Tian says. "We also want to make it easy for everyone in China to try our award-winning California wines."

California Wine Cellars (CWC): http://www.cwcwines.com