But it turns out to be a natural pairing.
“Both parties have observed the rapid rise of white wine in China,” said Vanessa Wu, Greater China marketing manager for New Zealand Winegrowers.
Wu says that China’s wine market used to be dominated by red wines, with white wines either stuck in the sweet category, or having limited appeal due to their dry, complex nature. But this turned out to be a taste mismatch, and both New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc and Germany’s Riesling offer what Chinese consumers are looking for, which is easy drinking and fruit forward wines. Both styles have therefore been able to “carve out a new consumption segment in the Chinese market, injecting fresh vitality”.
Wu says that the popularity of seafood, Japanese cuisines and Sichuan cuisine has created the ideal marketing opportunity for refreshing white wines, “while aligning with the current trends of light and healthy eating”. White wines were once a mere 5% of China’s wine market; today they are 20%.
It’s a rare piece of good news in a wine recession that has even affected New Zealand, producer of one of the most popular and lucrative wine styles in the world.
Trouble ahead
In early August, US President Donald Trump imposed 15% tariffs on New Zealand exports. Given that the US is New Zealand’s largest wine export market, to the tune of €380m, the news came as an unwelcome shock.
“We believe it will have a significant impact on our wine growers,” said Sarah Wilson, NZ Winegrowers advocacy general, in an interview with Hawke’s Bay Today. She said that while the previous tariffs had been a mere €0.05 a bottle, they will now be closer to €0.55. “That’s NZ$112m (€56.8m) extra tariffs that have to come from somewhere.”
Wilson added that New Zealand is now at a disadvantage to rivals like Australia and Chile, which face a tariff of 10%.
The news could not have come at a worse time, as exports of New Zealand wine have fallen from their historic highs of 2023-2024. From July 2024 to January 2025, export volumes fell 24% with value down 22%, though they rebounded somewhat by June 30th, the end of the country’s financial year.
“Overall, exports totalled $2.1bn — the second-highest annual level for the industry, but still down 11% on last year’s record-setting level,” said the 2024 Annual Report.
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