March 26, 2018 @ 1:52 pm
Big Rick Hardly Strictly Wine Blog
Just three days ago, a trade group representing California’s vintners issued a report showing China was among the top importers of the Golden State’s wine, bringing in almost $79 million worth of U.S. wine last year.
“China has a rapidly growing middle class that is traveling outside the country and adopting many Western tastes,” Christopher Beros, the Wine Institute’s trade director for China and Pacific Rim, said at the time. “We expect this trend to continue for the foreseeable future.”
So maybe not. China just announced plans to add a 15 percent tariff on a range of U.S. products from pipes, to fruit, to — yes, wine.
A Taste for California Wine
China was the fifth-largest importer of California wine last year