Southern California is famous for its sun, beaches and surf. But when it comes to wines, people pay more attention to the North, where is located the world-famous wine location NAPA Valley. But there is another, less well-known wine region outside of Los Angeles, which is increasingly attracting wine lovers and more importantly, investors from China.
We are talking about the Temecula valley, which is located 130 kilometers Southeast of Los Angeles. Here the history of winemaking has been 50 years, but until recently in this place to recount the distillery could be on the fingers of one hand.
Now Temecula is experiencing a kind of Renaissance: the existing wineries are expanding and new ones built. All this was the result of active investments, where the considerable role is played by the cash flows from China. The reason for the increased interest from Chinese «money bags» clear – EB-5 visa. This is a program that allows you to obtain US citizenship for those who are willing to invest at least 500 thousand dollars in the economy. And the wine and tourism industries look most attractive for these purposes.
John goldsmith is the CEO of Europa Village, one of the wine projects, which are largely funded by Chinese investors. Eighty percent of the money that was needed for a luxury wine resort worth $ 110 million, is the Chinese money. And half of these investors — applicants for the EB-5 visa.
But long before investors from mainland China have discovered the Temecula valley, Patricia and Matthew Lin from Taiwan, took a chance and bought the oldest winery in the valley Callaway’s gonna winery in 2005. Although Patricia Lin admits that not easy to earn money in the wine business, love for wine and their belief in potential is what causes them to move forward.
