Influential wine trade and media excited by Australian wine evolution following visit
A group of 22 highly influential wine trade and media from across Asia have returned home this week with a greater understanding of Australian wine and the diversity of our regions following a 10 day tour hosted by Wine Australia.
Christian Zhang, head sommelier of Yacht Club on the Bund commented, ‘This year’s visit makes me understand Australian wines more deeply, especially its terroir and diversity.
‘The harvest season in Australia impressed me a lot. And I will definitely deliver what I feel and learn during this trip to my co-workers and my consumers in my work.’
Another guest, Seora Kim, marketing manager at Shinsegae L&B, a wine distributor in South Korea, was equally impressed.
‘Whilst the Old World sways between tradition and trends, Australia is a country of freedom and evolution – what an experience!’
Geoff Schrapel of Bethany Wines in Barossa was encouraged by the curiosity of guests to learn as much as possible about Australian wine.
‘This was the most engaging group of guests from Asia I have seen in many years,’ he said.
Head of Market Asia Pacific, Hiro Tejima said the Wine Australia Visits Program was a critical piece in promoting Australian wine to the world.
‘The best way to tell our Australian wine story and turn international wine influencers into advocates is by bringing these influencers to Australia to taste our wines in the regions where they’re made, to meet the people and see the places behind our wine brands.’
The highly engaged group reflect strong export figures to Asia in 2015. China, now Australia’s third most valuable export market, saw 66 per cent value growth to A$370 million while Hong Kong is now our fifth most valuable wine export market up 22 per cent to A$132 million. Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, India and Taiwan also experienced value growth in 2015.
Head of Market China, Willa Yang added, ‘This is the sixth year we’ve hosted wine influencers from China and again every guest has been impressed with the wines they’ve tasted and the regions they’ve experienced.
‘They’re all excited to share what they’ve learnt back home and my hope is that they will become promoters of Australian wine in China, helping us to introduce our wines to more consumers as the wine culture continues to grow in this critical export market.’
Regions visited included Barossa and McLaren Vale (SA), King Valley (VIC), and Margaret River (WA). Guests were:
- Anson Mui – general manager, Beijing Wine Master Liquor Co Ltd (China)
- Ben Cheung – buying and brand manager, Watson’s Wine (Hong Kong)
- Chi Sun Lau – editor, Wine Now Monthly (Hong Kong)
- Christian Zhang – head sommelier, Yacht Club on the Bund (China)
- Corinne Mui – chief operating officer and senior wine educator, AWSEC (Hong Kong)
- Echo Zhang – Educator, TasteSpirit.com (China)
- Guo Yang – manager, China National Research Institute of Food and Fermentation Industries (China)
- Jack Xu – store manager, Pudao (China)
- James Dai – founder, Gourmet114.com (China)
- Jicheng Zhan – associated professor, China Agricultural University (China)
- Jing Zhe Lim – business manager, 1855 The Bottle Shop (Singapore)
- Joanna Zheng – product senior director, Amazon.cn (China)
- Kazunari Kondo – wine store manager, mArcohall/Maruto Mizutani (Japan)
- Kobe Hou – beverage manager and sommelier, Kerry Hotel (China)
- Oni Zhou – chief sommelier at Mercato by Jean Georges, Three on the Bund (China)
- Seora Kim – marketing manager, Shingsegae L&B (South Korea)
- Serena Xiang – GM Assistant, Wollemi Fine Wines (China)
- Sophia Liu – wine buyer, CityShop (China)
- Vikneswaran Koonnusagaran – sommelier, Raffles Hotel (Singapore)
- Winny Wang – senior sales manager, The Wine Republic (China)
- Yusen Lin – wine writer (Taiwan)
- Zhiwei Wang – CEO, Penguin Guide (China).