Eastern consumers developing a taste for wine

With the Asian wine market growing by leaps and bounds, the rest of the wine world is looking to getting a piece of the alcoholic action. Last week Korea hosted the Wine for Asia exhibition, a platform to present wine from around the world to the Asian market. It attracted some big names in the industry, such as Corinne Mentzelopoulos, the owner of Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux, and Michel Rolland, one of the world’s most influential wine consultants. In fact, Michel chose Korea to debut the Rolland-Collection. These are wines that he’s produced himself, rather than ones he’s just been a consultant for. He told ThirtyFifty: ‘Korean people are very nice, they like wine. It seems to me their culture is more French than any other country in the world. So I feel confident in this market,’ he said. And it’s a market with bags of potential, especially as the Koreans are switching from spirits to wine because of the perceived health benefits. In just the first half of this year wine imports to Korea were up by over 22 per cent, according to the Global Agriculture Information Network. And a report, Asia -The Wine Market of Tomorrow, by wine consultant Malcom Tham estimates the growth rate to be over 70 per cent for the next five years.’ As he puts it, ‘Asia is definitely a lucrative market not to be missed.’