Vintage years beckon for wines with an HK label

Wines sourced from one of the world's premier wine-growing regions. A business established with minimal investment. A city populated by quaffers eager for wines at drinkable prices. Easy money in the bank? If only.

In 2003, Australian Brenda Sawyer and a partner put in HK$25,000 each to found Limestone Coast Wines on the premise that there was a market for unlabelled wines from Australia. These could be imported in bulk more cheaply than the branded varieties and bottled and sold in Hong Kong under their own label.

The idea came to Ms Sawyer while visiting Australia in the final stages of studying for a law degree in Hong Kong. A friend persuaded her to join him in setting up the business in Hong Kong, saying it could be done with minimal investment, since wineries were offering very generous credit terms. Before she knew it, a container of wine was heading to Hong Kong.

In the initial launch, however, Limestone Coast sold just four cases. Reality hit - and hard.

Recognising that no wine, no matter how good the price, sells itself, the partners recruited Angela Rolston, a long-time friend of Ms Sawyer with a professional marketing background, who had just arrived in Hong Kong and was looking for part-time work. Soon, she invested HK$25,000 and became a partner as well.

To keep costs down, the partners did as much as they could in- house, from designing a website to arranging wine tastings to learning 'the art of managing stock and the cash flow', said Ms Rolston. What they couldn't do themselves, such as delivery, they outsourced. That meant no paying rent, or salaries, not even to themselves. 'We were working out of Brenda's apartment with paperwork filed under her son's bed and wine stored in an air-conditioned garage,' she said.

Within a year - after selling quite bit more than four cases - they rented the smallest unit available at Horizon Plaza, in Ap Lei Chau. It was two years before there was any money in the kitty and they could consider paying themselves, albeit minimal salaries.