The world's largest listed pure play wine company, Treasury Wine Estates, will significantly increase its marketing spending in Asia and is warning fellow Australian producers not to flood China with cheap wine and repeat mistakes made by the industry in the crucial UK market.
Treasury chief executive David Dearie said he had developed a three-pronged strategy to better capitalise on growing Chinese premium red wine consumption.
"Our brand spending is small in terms of our total spend, it is less than 10 per cent," Mr Dearie told The Australian Financial Review. "I want to significantly rachet it up."
Treasury launched Australia's most expensive new wine in Shanghai last week and plans to increase staff numbers across Asia and lift the amount of premium wines available to importers, fine wine stores and restaurants.
The aim is to tap into growing demand for wine in the world's most populous nation.
Launching the 2008 Special Bin 620 Coonawarra Cabernet Shiraz, at $1000 a bottle, is part of Treasury's push to build the perception in China that Australia produces great wines.
