Basketball and soccer sponsorship boost Australian wines in China
Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), the Australian company behind brands Penfolds, Rawson's Retreat and Wolf Blass, is reaping the benefits of sponsoring China's two most popular sports, US basketball and English soccer. Sales increased 51%, including an 87% rise in premium bottles, in the year to March, including a Manchester United-branded Wolf Blass wine. The Chinese market is worth AUD500m ($372m) to Australian wine exporters, with education about the product and links to restaurants and distributors seen as the driving forces behind its growth. Australia's free trade agreement with China is also regarded as a decisive factor.
Beijing: Catching the attention of Chinese millennials by sponsoring American basketball and English soccer might not seem the obvious way to promote Australian wines in China.

But the tactic has worked for Treasury Wine Estates (TWE), the company behind Penfolds and Wolf Blass, which has become the top-ranked wine importer in China. The Manchester City-branded Wolf Blass wine label is for Chinese drinkers only.

Peter Dixon of Treasury Wine Estates with Australian wines at Jenny Lou's Shop in Beijing. Credit: Sanghee Liu

The NBA and English Premier League are the number one and two sports watched in China, explains Peter Dixon, TWE's managing director for North Asia.

China became Australia's biggest wine export market in 2016. The latest data, for the year to March, shows a 51 per cent increase in sales.