Although 8 years later the obsession may have cooled down a little bit, this documentary is still relevant and helps us appreciate the impact of the Asian consumer on markets and culture around the world. “Everyone who has not seen this movie yet should watch it”, says Catherine.
Red Obsession was chosen as Solari Documentary of the Year in 2014, and is one of Catherine’s favorite Australian documentaries.
Narrated by Russell Crowe, Red Obsession features interviews with winemakers and wine lovers across the world.
Related Solari Reports:
Let’s Go to the Movies: June 28, 2018 Red Obsession
2nd Quarter Wrap Up: News Trends & Stories Part II with Dr. Joseph Farrell
Thank you so much for this documentary suggestion, as I just finished watching Red Obsession. It is extremely informative and puts Chinese consumerism into perspective. It’s portrayal of the Chinese mindset and culture is insightful. The making of wine, from growing the grapes, the history, the competition and market history was eye opening. Included in that is just how much money is spent on wine and how much China spent to set up a winery. At the end of the movie, I was left wondering how the industry is doing today and what is happening to the vineyards in China.
this is a surprisingly informative article from cnbc, apparently written by a human and not AI:
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/21/china-wine-ningxia-strives-to-be-france-bordeaux-amid-tariffs-on-australia.html
but it hypes the situation too much. china wineries will serve the local market primarily, I don’t believe they are aiming for the export market. the small % of exports /10-20%/ is probably just to see how they measure up and to learn from the industry.
I imagine tariffs or taxes on the high end import stuff will help finance the lower or middle end market local production. the local market is huge. so probably less chances for foreign wine producers to sell low and mid grade wines to china. rich people will always pay more for higher end stuff. also less Chinese money buying foreign vineyards and more of it staying local.
so you will probably see more Australian wine in your local shop, but don’t wait for Chinese wine any time soon.