by Jenny Tan
Singapore is not new to hosting wine conventions, such as the annual Wine for Asia. However, the formats adopted have usually been restricted to the tried-and-tested formula of wine exhibitors taking up a booth, and hoping to meet a potential
distributor during the few days of tastings.
When the BCI-ADHESION GROUP organized the World Wine Asia (WWA) convention at the Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore from 19 21 January, they tapped on their experience from previous projects, such as the VINISUD exhibition and World Wine Meetings in Florida, and introduced an alternative the programmed meetings structure. Producers and merchants from Europe are guaranteed face-to-face meetings with buyers, importers, agents, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, duty-free operators, supermarkets, from markets as varied as Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan. This programmed meetings concept is already recognised for its effectiveness on the export market, and has won the UBIFRANCE Label France approval, which enables a certain number of French estates to enjoy subsidies immediately upon subscription.
The 3-day event attracted 82 producers from France, Spain and Italy, and 87 buyers from Asian markets. Eleven distributors participated from Singapore, even though presence from the more established and reputable players, such as Vinum, Culina or the supermarket chains, were missing. Response, however, seems quite positive. Jimmy Ler from Wine Arcade, one of the participants from Singapore, believes that this is a more organized and efficient way for distributors to look for potential agencies. We were able to interact with the wineries and address both our concerns at once. In fact, I am looking at representing about six to seven of the wineries.
