VOA慢速英語:American Wine Producers Target China

From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語經(jīng)濟報道。

American wine producers are hoping to increase their sales in China, where the country's growing middle class is drinking wine. The United States exported just $74 million in wine to China last year, but exports are growing at a rate of nearly 20 percent a year.

美國葡萄酒生產(chǎn)商希望提升他們在中國的銷量。中國日益壯大的中產(chǎn)階級開始喝酒。美國去年出口到中國的葡萄酒僅為7400萬美元，但出口幾乎以每年20%的速度增長。

Two years ago, former basketball star Yao Ming launched a wine company called Yao Family Wines. It is based in California's Napa Valley, one of the top wine producing areas in the world. Tom Hinde is with Yao Family Wines.

兩年前，前籃球明星姚明開辦了姚家族葡萄酒酒業(yè)公司。該公司總部設在加利福尼亞州的納帕谷(Napa Valley),該地區(qū)是全球最頂級的葡萄酒產(chǎn)區(qū)之一。湯姆·欣德(Tom Hinde)就職于姚家族葡萄酒公司。

"We've made five vintages together. Actually, we're working on the 2013 right here. You can see that these grapes will be ripe sometime this fall, and we get to do it all over again."

他說，“我們已經(jīng)生產(chǎn)了5種葡萄酒。實際上，2013年我們就致力于此。你可以看到這些葡萄今年秋天某個時候即將成熟，我們將再次用它生產(chǎn)葡萄酒。”

Yao Family Wines is a small winery that produces a costly product. Tom Hinde says the vineyard grows only Cabernet Sauvignon grapes because many people in China like red wine. The winery's top cabernet sells for $625 a bottle.

姚家族葡萄酒公司是一家生產(chǎn)高端產(chǎn)品的小酒廠。欣德表示，該葡萄園只種植赤霞珠葡萄，因為在中國很多人喜歡紅酒。該酒廠的頂級赤霞珠葡萄酒售價為625美元每瓶。

Many moderately priced wines are exported to China, they including some from the San Antonio Winery in Los Angeles. Fifteen percent of its production goes to China.

許多中等價位的葡萄酒也出口到了中國，其中就包括來自洛杉磯市圣安東尼奧酒廠的一些產(chǎn)品。該廠15%的產(chǎn)品進入了中國。

The Wine Institute represents more than 1,000 wineries and allied businesses through California. Linsey Gallagher of The Wine Institute says her group is always receiving request from China. But she says the country is a problem for marketing.

美國葡萄酒協(xié)會代表了遍布加州的1000家酒廠和相關企業(yè)。該協(xié)會的琳西·加拉格爾(Linsey Gallagher)表示，她們組一直有收到來自中國的需求。但她表示，中國市場很棘手。

"They know a lot of the aspirational, iconic things about California, whether that's Hollywood in Southern California or the Golden Gate Bridge in Northern California or our previous governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. By and large, they have no idea that California is the fourth largest wine producing region in the world and makes great quality wines at all price points."

她說，“他們知道很多有關加州的標志性東西，無論是南加州的好萊塢，北加州的金門大橋，還是我們的前任州長阿諾德·施瓦辛格。但總的來說，他們不知道加州是全球第四大葡萄酒產(chǎn)區(qū)，生產(chǎn)各種價格的優(yōu)質(zhì)葡萄酒。”

Winemakers hope to expand the market for fine dry wines, including white wines, which are now a small part of the Chinese market.

酒商們希望擴大高級干葡萄酒的市場，其中包括白葡萄酒。目前白葡萄酒只占中國市場的一小部分。

Adam Beak of Bank of the West works with California winemakers. He knows they are competing with European companies, some of which entered the China market many years ago.

美西銀行的亞當·比克(Adam Beak)同加州的酒商們一起合作。他知道這些酒商在和歐洲公司競爭。一些歐洲公司已經(jīng)進入中國市場多年。

"And they've developed a brand there. They've developed a name, especially for the French companies on the fine wine side, they're developed a real strong market presence. The U.S. is still in its infancy. "

他說，“歐洲公司在中國做出了品牌，做出了名聲。特別是法國公司在高端酒方面開發(fā)出了一個非常強大的市場地位。美國則正處于起步階段。”

But China's middle class is growing fast, Tom Hinde of Yao Family Wines is hopeful that more Chinese will develop a taste for imported wine.

但中國的中產(chǎn)階級增長迅猛。姚家族葡萄酒公司的欣德對更多中國人愛上進口葡萄酒充滿信心。

"They'll want to drive certain cars, and they'll want to live in certain types of apartments and houses, and they'll want to wear certain clothes and enjoy certain types of wines."

他說，“這些中產(chǎn)階級將會想開特定品牌的汽車，住特定類型的公寓或別墅，穿特定的衣服，喝特定的酒。”

And he hopes many of those wines will come from California.

他還希望這些酒中的大部分將會是來自加利福尼亞州。