随着中国对澳大利亚葡萄酒的需求持续攀升，中国投资者不仅仅满足于品尝那些来自澳洲的佳酿，更希望从源头上掌控供应链。如今，中国人正以史无前例的速度在澳大利亚购买葡萄酒厂，其中巴罗萨谷（Barossa Valley），这片闻名世界的葡萄酒产地，其高达10%的葡萄园已经被中国人买下。这场收购潮不仅涉及私人投资，也包括了中国最大的葡萄酒生产商张裕，他们似乎将澳大利亚定位为最新的海外投资热点，这一热度甚至超越了传统的大品牌波尔多。
作为第二大进口来源国，澳大利亚对中国市场出口创造了历史新高。今年4月初，它们对内地市场出口额首次超过10亿澳元，使得它成为出口额最高的市场之一。随着需求不断增长，中国投资者的兴趣也扩展到了生产葡萄酒的地产。据报道，在巴罗萨谷，那里最著名的葡萄酒产区中，有高达10%的人持有权归属于这些来自远方的大亨。
巴罗萨谷与葡萄酒协会（Barossa Grape and Wine Association）的首席执行官James March在Prowine China举办的一次活动中证实了这一情况，他指出，中國投資者已經成為該產區所有買家中“增長最快”的群體。
这种对于Australian grapevine’s frenzied purchases主要是由于其在China market growth. Besides, the tourism industry is another major attraction for Chinese investors. In 2017, China became Australia's largest source of tourists with over 1.4 million visitors, surpassing New Zealand.
Under this backdrop, Chinese wine investors are frequently making deals on Australian wineries. Recently, Chinese wine giant Yunda Wines announced a cash injection of A$2060.5 million to acquire Clare Valley's Kilikanoon winery while another well-known winery Weilong has invested A$1341 million in acquiring a 1235-hectare vineyard in Australia as part of their A$12 billion investment plan in the country.
The smaller wine factories like Chateau Yaldara and Swan Wine Group also fell into the hands of Chinese people.
Andreas Clark from Wine Australia believes that helping develop Australian wine brands and increasing local employment is an positive thing for the grape-growing regions. "I am very confident about 'connection', it is a factor driving long-term commercial success," he said." I think it is very strong; we build connections through tourism and investment."
He added that foreign investments come not only from China but also France, America and Britain while Australians themselves invest overseas too." The most promising market potential lies with those owned by Chinese," he pointed out." These brands show strong growth in connection with the Chinese market."
When asked if zero tariffs next year will significantly boost Australian wine exports as expected, Clark replied: "Australian wines have already benefited from tariff reductions; they continue to grow sustainably on this track." He said: "We have strong strength here to continue growing; it won't last forever when your base grows higher - so does the difficulty of growth."
