For the past 5,000 five years, I have heard regular rumors in Beijing wine circles that Decanter will launch a print edition here in simplified Chinese characters to pair with the one in traditional Chinese characters that it publishes out of Taiwan. When I finally met Decanter’s Sarah Kemp in February, she told me no print edition is in the cards for this year but there would be an online project. That project has now been announced and comes on the heels of Wine Enthusiast announcing its own China web presence via a tie-up with high-volume online wine retailer yesmywine. From Decanter’s web site:
DecanterChina.com will be bi-lingual, in English and simplified Chinese text (used in mainland China) and is dedicated to the country’s ever-growing audience of wine lovers….
Two new editorial staff, based in IPC Media’s London-based Blue Fin Building, have been assigned to work on the site.
They will report to editor John Abbott, and will be joined by a host of top-name contributors from across China, creating content especially designed for this new audience.
Built by multi award-winning brand strategy and communications firm Eight Partnership and set to launch in autumn 2012, the new site will focus on education, and will include a translation glossary for key wine terms, event listings as well as the latest wine news and top recommendations. It will be fully integrated with the hugely popular Chinese microblogging website, Weibo.
No details yet on who the contributors will be but I expect Decanter contributors Ch’ng Poh-Tiong in Singapore and Jeannie Cho-Lee in Hong Kong to be involved. Will try to follow up on this if I get time.
Also, Kemp said, ‘The fact that Decanter has always put consumers first has built its international reputation.” I’m not sure how one would verify such a fact but it will be interesting to see if Chinese consumers come to the same position.
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